Richard Arland Ussher (born 19 June 1976) is a New Zealand multisport athlete. He has represented his country at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

and is a five-time winner of the Coast to Coast multisport race, and formerly held the New Zealand Ironman-distance

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

record at 8hr 2min 15sec. From 2015-18, he was the race director for the Coast to Coast. Ussher was born and raised in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and attended

Onslow College Onslow College is a state co-educational secondary school located in Johnsonville, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It had a student population in 2020 of 1250 students. The current principal is Sheena Millar. History Onslow College opened i ...

and

Hutt Valley High School Hutt Valley High School is a State school, state coeducational secondary school located in central Lower Hutt, New Zealand. A total of students from Years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18) attend the school as of making the school one of the largest i ...

. He represented New Zealand in the

freestyle skiing Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, Mogul Skiing, moguls, Ski Cross, cross, Half-pipe skiing, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics. It can consist of a ...

event of moguls at the

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

, Japan. He finished 25th. Ussher is married to Finnish multisport competitor Elina Ussher (née Maki-Rautila) (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 An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a swim, a bicycle ride and a marathon run completed in that order, a total of . It is widely consider ...

events. He cited a lack of professional athletes in multisport providing few challenging competitors, 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 Robin Austin Judkins (born 10 May 1949) is a New Zealand sports administrator. He created the Alpine Ironman and the Coast to Coast, races that are often credited for being the origin of adventure racing. He has published an autobiography, '' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ussher, Richard Living people 1976 births People educated at Onslow College People educated at Hutt Valley High School New Zealand male triathletes New Zealand male freestyle skiers Olympic freestyle skiers of New Zealand Freestyle skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics