Robin Judkins | |
|---|---|
 Judkins in 2016 | |
| Born | 10 May 1949 Geraldine, New Zealand |
| Known for | Founder of Coast to Coast race |
| Relatives | Anne Judkins (niece) |
Robin Austin Judkins ONZM (born 10 May 1949) is a New Zealand sports administrator. He created the Alpine Ironman and the Coast to Coast, [1] races that are often credited for being the origin of adventure racing. He has published an autobiography, Mad Dogs: Life on the Edge.
Judkins was born at Geraldine in 1949 [2] to parents Mary Marjorie "Dot" Dwyer (born 1910) and Walter Judkins. He was one of their nine children. The family lived on Sunny Downs farm in South Canterbury before moving to Diamond Harbour when he was ten. They retired to Christchurch in 1964. Judkins' mother died in March 2018 aged 108. [3] [4] The former racewalker Anne Judkins is his niece. [3] Judkins received his schooling at St Bede's College and was an A-grade student, but never showed any interest in education. He was the captain of the school's rugby team for a while. Aged 16, he discovered skiing, which became his lifelong passion. [2] He spent a year at the University of Canterbury and seven months at Christchurch Teachers' College to become a teacher, but he failed "miserably" because he had not learned how to swot. [2]
In his early 20s, Judkins followed the winter whenever he had money to travel, and skied in North America and New Zealand. He competed in ski racing and his best result was a tenth place in the New Zealand nationals in 1973. He had a variety of employers and never stayed anywhere for more than two years. He wrote a book of poetry for which he could not find a publisher in New Zealand, but moved to Australia and utilised the 50% subsidy that Gough Whitlam's government was offering towards Australian-produced literature; Judkins successfully claimed to be Australian to receive the subsidy towards 600 copies of Burning Days in 1976. He then took a job as a travelling salesman for McGraw-Hill Publishing and the luxury of having an expense account turned him into a chronic alcoholic. He refused further travel to stem his drinking and lost his job. Judkins has abstained from drinking any alcohol since. [5] [6]
The redundancy money from McGraw-Hill Publishing paid for a relocation of Judkins and his girlfriend Lorraine to London. They returned to Sydney by 1977 and he became self-employed as a house-painter. In 1979, he moved back to New Zealand. [5] Judkins and his girlfriend got married, and they had two daughters. [5] He split up with his wife in 2002. [6]
Judkins organised his first sports event in 1975, the Coca-Cola Freestyle Skiing Contest. He fell out with his two partners and proceeded alone, vowing to never again team up with others for organising an event. [5] After his time in Australia and London, his next venture into sport as a business was to set up Motatapu Canoes; the idea to do so came to him when he was kayaking the Motatapu River with his friend Peter Tocker. They had a high-profile launch of the company by the local MP, Warren Cooper, who attended as Minister of Tourism. Things went wrong during the launch and, according to Judkins, Cooper nearly drowned. But promotion has always been important to Judkins, and the publicity helped to get off to a good start. [7] Aiming for greater things, they changed the name of the company to Outdoor Adventure Centre. Part of their plan was to offer private expeditions called 'Aspiring to the Pacific', and when he and Tocker did a test run, it took them twelve days to complete it. Somewhere on the Clutha River, the idea came to them that they should have started on the West Coast, so that the expedition went from coast to coast. It was the nucleus of the idea for the Coast to Coast adventure race that began several years later in 1983. [8]
Judkins decided in 1982 to organise the Coast to Coast race, and had secured sponsorship from Macpac through his friend Geoff Gabbites, one of Macpac's former directors. Judkins returned to Wanaka for the summer to organise funding for the Coast to Coast, and he organised three rock concerts; one in Wanaka and two in Queenstown. The first concert had insufficient attendance for Judkins to even break even, the second event was rained out, and it was too cold and miserable for the third concert to go ahead. Judkins sold his house to pay off his debts. [9] The first Coast to Coast race was held in 1983 with 79 competitors. It was not until the 1986 that Judkins made his first profit from the annual event. He invested his earnings in the Ohau skifield, but it was taken out by a major avalanche on day 13 of its operation. [10] In 1987, a television documentary was produced while Judkins held the Alpine Ironman. A lifelong fan of English singer-songwriter and guitarist Chris Rea, he took the opportunity to meet with the Brit while he was on a concert tour. The outcome of this was permission to use three titles from Rea's album Wired to the Moon to be used for the soundtrack. [11] 1987 was also the year that the Coast to Coast became a one-day event. [12]
1992 was very challenging for Judkins. He organised the Coast to Coast, tried to get a Scottish version of the event up and running, tried to find sponsorship so that he could repeat the 1990 Xerox Challenge, and he organised a mountain marathon to be held on the Milford Track – the Milford Mountain Marathon. The latter event was most contentious and caused much angst, including death threats, physical attacks and anonymous phone calls. Judkins fought a very public fight with politicians and conservationists, including Gerry McSweeney, and obtained all the approvals and permits, but cancelled the event. He was exhausted and disillusioned. [13]
He sold the Coast to Coast event to Queenstown-based Trojan Holdings Ltd on 10 May 2013 on his 64th birthday. [14] [15] He acted as race director in 2014 for the final time at the 33rd event. [14]
In the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours, Judkins was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to sports administration. [16]
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It has an urban population of 29,000.
Lake Wānaka is New Zealand's fourth-largest lake and the seat of the town of Wānaka in the Otago region. The lake is 278 meters above sea level, covers 192 km2 (74 sq mi), and is more than 300 m (980 ft) deep.
Wānaka is a popular ski and summer resort town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. At the southern end of Lake Wānaka, it is at the start of the Clutha River and is the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park.
The Milford Track is a hiking route in New Zealand, located amidst mountains and temperate rain forest in Fiordland National Park in the southwest of the South Island. The 53.5 km (33.2 mi) hike starts at Glade Wharf at the head of Lake Te Anau and finishes in Milford Sound at Sandfly Point, traversing rainforests, wetlands, and an alpine pass.
The Alpine Ironman was first held on 21 October 1980 in New Zealand. It was a three-day race featuring skiing, trail running and kayaking. The idea for the event came from Robin Judkins, who became the race's director, and his friend and business partner Peter Tocker; they were running Motatapu Canoes in Wānaka. Judkins was skiing with the general manager of Radio Otago and asked for a job as a radio announcer. A few days later, Judkins was asked to do a voice test by talking about his idea for the Alpine Ironman. He made up a story as he went along, including that Peter Hillary would be competing, and that the first prize would be a trip around the world. When the radio station told him that they wanted to broadcast this recording, Judkins was dumbfounded: "You're joking." They didn't, and Judkins went to Christchurch to find a sponsor, and organised the event within five weeks.
John Howard is considered the central pioneer of adventure racing.
Macpac Wilderness Equipment is a brand specialising in outdoor recreational equipment. It is best known for camping and travel equipment including backpacks, sleeping bags and technical clothing. Macpac was originally a New Zealand company, but is now owned by the Australian company Super Retail Group. Macpac was founded by Bruce McIntyre in 1973.
The Coast to Coast is a non-standard multisport competition held annually in New Zealand. It is run from the west coast to the east coast of the South Island, and features running, cycling and kayaking elements over a total of 243 kilometres (151 mi). It starts in Kumara Beach and traditionally finished in the Christchurch suburb of Sumner, but since 2015 finishes in New Brighton. The event was created in 1983 by Christchurch personality Robin Judkins, who sold the rights to Queenstown-based tourism company Trojan Holdings in 2013. Richard Ussher took over from Judkins as race director in 2015. In 2019, Glen Currie was contracted to continue on from Richard Ussher in the role of race director.
Snow Farm is a ski area near Wānaka, New Zealand, dedicated to cross-country skiing.
Stephen Bruce Gurney is a New Zealand multisport and triathlon athlete. He has won the Coast to Coast race a record nine times.
Robert James "Bob" McKerrow, a native of New Zealand, is a humanitarian, mountaineer, polar traveller, writer and poet. He currently works as Country Coordinator for the Swiss Red Cross in the Philippines working on the Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) operation. When the Indian Ocean tsunami struck on 26 December 2004, McKerrow worked in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia, coordinating Red Cross programmes for people affected by the tsunami for an eight-year period.
Richard Arland Ussher is a New Zealand multisport athlete. He has represented his country at the 1998 Winter Olympics and is a five-time winner of the Coast to Coast multisport race, and formerly held the New Zealand Ironman-distance Triathlon record at 8hr 2min 15sec. From 2015-18, he was the race director for the Coast to Coast.
The New Zealand Winter Games (NZWG) is an international multi-sport event held every two years in New Zealand. The event is organised by the Winter Games New Zealand Trust.
Craig Robert Adair is a New Zealand track cyclist.
Sir Graeme Dingle is a New Zealand outdoor adventurer and mountaineer, who founded the Graeme Dingle Foundation. He is also known for his writing and humanitarianism.
Brian Robert Ford is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A wing, Ford represented Canterbury and Marlborough at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1977 to 1979. He played 20 matches for the All Blacks including four internationals. In 1988, he was one of the first two "celebrity entries"—alongside Kevin Eveleigh—at the annual Coast to Coast adventure race.
Kevin Alfred Eveleigh is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A flanker, Eveleigh represented Manawatu and Bay of Plenty at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1974 to 1977. He played 30 matches for the All Blacks including four internationals. He later captained Rhodesia between 1979 and 1980, and was the coach of Manawatu in 1987. In 1988, he was one of the first two "celebrity entries"—alongside Brian Ford—at the annual Coast to Coast adventure race.
Kathleen "Kathy" Lynch is a retired competitive cyclist from New Zealand who competed both on and off the road. With a talent for multiple sports disciplines, she won the canoeing events New Zealand White Water Downriver and Slalom Championships in 1987 and represented her country at the 1988 Canoe Slalom World Cup. Around the same time, she was also a successful triathlete, but did not continue with that sport. She bought her first mountain bike in 1988 at the age of 31 in order to compete in an adventure sport event, and within a year she had become the New Zealand national cross country champion. Around the same time, she also took up road cycling. She was included in the New Zealand team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games and was assigned as domestique for the top New Zealand road rider, Madonna Harris. Harris and Lynch finished in fourth and ninth places respectively. In September 1990, Lynch competed at the inaugural UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and finished tenth. In November 1990, she became a household name in New Zealand by winning a 22-day multi-sport race the length of the country that had prime time TV coverage every night.
John Jacoby is an Australian adventure racer. In the mid-1980s, he dominated the world in canoe marathon, winning three successive world cup canoe marathons before becoming the inaugural ICF canoe marathon world champion at the 1988 event in Nottingham, United Kingdom. After the 1988 World Championship, he retired from International Canoe Federation (ICF) events and concentrated on adventure racing.
Sir John Stratton Davies is a New Zealand businessman and a former mayor of Queenstown. Through Trojan Holdings Ltd, he is a major owner of South Island tourism companies.
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