Multisport athlete Oliver Thompson has never felt fresher as he prepares for the upcoming longest day event as part of this year’s Coast to Coast.
The 20-year-old is seeded sixth in the 243km event that takes competitors from the heart of the Southern Alps out on to the Canterbury Plains.
“It’s such a long day, it’s called the longest day for a reason,” Thompson said.
“It’s painful, you’re crossing the country in 12 [to] 14 hours and it’s hard on your body.”
The winner of the team event in 2018, the stunning scenery on offer throughout the day keeps Thompson coming back despite the pain.
“It’s such an exclusive event, you can’t get away from it," he said.
“It’s addictive to be honest.”
He does not take anything for granted either, having spent a week in an induced coma after a teams event 18 months ago.
He said he did not recall crawling 2km of the course, or that his family were told to expect the worst after his organs begun to shut down.
“I went to China for an adventure race to compete with New Zealand and coming straight from winter to China summer it was 42C, 100 per cent humidity," Thompson said.
“I went down and got too hot and collapsed, [it] was pretty scary.”
He figured if he could conquer the longest week, he could conquer the longest day.
“It definitely makes you resilient.
“I got back to New Zealand and I thought if I can get through that I can do what I enjoy, which is multisport and I wasn’t going to stop.”
The Coast to Coast event takes place next Friday and Saturday.
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