Richard Ussher

For the Irish ornithologist, see Richard J. Ussher.
Richard Ussher
Personal information
Full name Richard Arland Ussher
Nationality New Zealand
Born (1976-06-19) 19 June 1976[1]
Wellington[2][3][4]
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight 79 kg (174 lb; 12.4 st)
Sport
Country  New Zealand
Sport Skiing
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals 1998 Winter Olympics, Men's Moguls

Richard Arland Ussher (born 19 June 1976) is a New Zealand multisport athlete. He is a five-time winner of the Speight’s Coast to Coast multisport race,[2][5] and formerly held the New Zealand Ironman-distance Triathlon record at 8hr 2min 15sec.[6][7]

Ussher represented New Zealand in the freestyle skiing event of moguls at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. He finished 25th.[1]

Ussher is married to Finnish multisport competitor Elina (née Maki-Rautila)[8] (also a two-time winner of the Coast to Coast) and they formed Adventure racing team Adventure Sport NZ, which won the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The team also consisted of Aaron Prince and Gordon Walker the first year. Jarad Kolar and Jay Henry the second year and Marcel Hagener and Nathan Fa'avae the third year. The same team of Richard Ussher, Elina Ussher, Marcel Hagener and Nathan Fa'avae won the race again in 2010 as Team Thule.

After his Coast to Coast win in 2008 Ussher announced his retirement from multisport to focus on Ironman Triathlon events. He cited a lack of professional athletes in multisport providing few challenging competitors. But since has returned to multisport.

Ussher was born and raised in Wellington[3] and attended Onslow College and Hutt Valley High School.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Richard Ussher". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  2. 1 2 3 Maddaford, Terry (17 April 2009). "My life in sport: Richard Ussher". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
  3. 1 2 "Ussher too good in Crazyman". infonews.co.nz. 4 May 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
  4. ↑ According to Olympics at Sports-Reference.com he was born in Queenstown but numerous other sources say Wellington.
  5. ↑ "Previous winners: Speight's World Championship - Men". Speights coast to coast website. Retrieved 2009-03-24.
  6. ↑ "Ussher sets NZ record for ironman". Stuff. FairfaxNZ. 14 July 2009. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  7. ↑ "Richard Usshers racing achievements". AdventureSportNZ. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  8. ↑ "Gripping Routeburn Classic Race". Sportzhub. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-17.


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