243: TEAMCPNZ PRESENT: CRATER RIM ULTRA 2026 THE 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Just a couple of weeks ago James Kay competed in the 70.3 World Triathlon Championships in Nice - a 1.9km swim in the sea, a 90km bike via Col de Vence (roughly 9.7 km averaging 6.6%), and finishing with a flat half marathon in the heat down the Nice Promenade. Following a solid winter training block, James was keen to test himself against the world's best. This is James's story of how his race went, his highlights and the learnings that he will take forward on his Triathlon journey.

Kathmandu Coast to Coast Podcast is Back – Season 8 powered by TeamCPNZ! We kick off the show with an essential training fundamental: a deep dive into exercise physiology. How hard should you be training and why for specific sessions over the course of your week and your build up to race day. To dial this in we need to have a good understanding of the training zones and how your body is creating energy to fuel our movement at each level. We break down Lactate Threshold and Zone 2 training, explaining how building your aerobic base and anaerobic threshold directly impacts performance and endurance on a course as demanding as the Coast to Coast.

Today we catch up with TeamCPNZ Athlete Darrin Bull who recently completed the Sydney Marathon. He had a great build up in which he completed his training throughout the course of winter only to get sick a couple of weeks out from race day. Following his doctor's clearance he stood on the start line with 41, 000 other marathoners to run the streets of Sydney. Darrin shares his story of his day, the learnings, and what it was like to cross that finish line.

In this episode we catch up with Letecia Hughes who has an incredible story to tell, which is one of adventure, pushing the limits and choosing what is important in life. I have worked with Leticia for a number of years and she has recently come back on board after a couple of years away sailing in the Pacific Islands. In this podcast Leticia shares her story of what that was like to up sticks and go and live on a boat in the tropics cruising amongst the islands. It all sounds pretty idyllic. But It was on the way home from the islands 300NM north of Cape Reinga when they had to make the call to abandon ship with nothing more than the clothes that they were wearing.

THIS EPISODE of Community Connect, we're catching up with TeamCPNZ athlete Helen Gillespie. Helen is an athlete who loves a challenge, thrives on adventure, and always makes sure she's having fun along the way. Earlier this year, we shared her Longest Day build-up story on our Kathmandu Coast to Coast podcast (S7E6, published February 8, 2026). In this episode, we reflect back on that build-up, how race day unfolded, what she's been up to in the seven months since, and her plans to take on the 2027 Kathmandu Coast to Coast. Helen is an amazing human, and one we felt our community could learn a lot from, which is exactly why we wanted to share her story.