Richard Ussher

For the Irish ornithologist, see Richard J. Ussher.
Richard Ussher
Richard Ussher at Ironman New Zealand 2009
Personal information
Full nameRichard Arland Ussher
NationalityNew Zealand
Born (1976-06-19) 19 June 1976 (age 48)[1]
Wellington[2][3][4]
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight79 kg (174 lb; 12.4 st)
Sport
Country New Zealand
SportSkiing
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals1998 Winter Olympics, Men's Moguls

Richard Arland Ussher (born 19 June 1976) is a New Zealand multisport athlete. He has represented his country at the 1998 Winter Olympics[5] and is a five-time winner of the Coast to Coast multisport race,[2][6] and formerly held the New Zealand Ironman-distance Triathlon record at 8hr 2min 15sec.[7][8] From 2015-18, he was the race director for the Coast to Coast.[9]

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

He 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 Ussher (née Maki-Rautila)[10] (also a three-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,[citation needed] but later returned to multisport. In 2015, he took over as race director at the Coast to Coast from the event's founder, Robin Judkins.[11][12]

  1. ^ a b "Richard Ussher". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 7 March 2009.[dead link]
  2. ^ a b c Maddaford, Terry (17 April 2009). "My life in sport: Richard Ussher". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Ussher too good in Crazyman". infonews.co.nz. 4 May 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  4. ^ According to Olympics at Sports-Reference.com he was born in Queenstown but numerous other sources say Wellington.
  5. ^ "Richard Ussher". Olympedia. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Previous winners: Speight's World Championship – Men". Speights coast to coast website. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
  7. ^ "Ussher sets NZ record for ironman". Stuff.co.nz. FairfaxNZ. 14 July 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  8. ^ "Richard Usshers racing achievements". AdventureSportNZ. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  9. ^ "Coast to Coast race director Richard Ussher to step down after 2018 event". Stuff. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  10. ^ "Gripping Routeburn Classic Race". Sportzhub. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  11. ^ Richens, Matt (10 May 2013). "Judkins was happy to sell Coast-to-Coast". The Press. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  12. ^ Egan, Brendon (17 February 2014). "Richard Ussher new Coast to Coast director". The Press. Retrieved 11 February 2017.