Toddy gears up for City2Surf

Todd Blackadder is our celebrity starter for The Star City2Surf - but he won't linger at the start at Centennial Park, or at the finish at Ferrymead.

Once he's sent the thousands of fun runners on their way on Sunday, March 25, Toddy will dash after them and do the run himself.

And he's thrown out a challenge to city to surfers:

"The deal is everyone I beat has to buy at least one ticket to a Crusaders game!" he said.

"That's my challenge - so if I end up beating you, you have to come to at least one of our games. And I'm going to sprint the whole way!"

Unlike most fun runners, Toddy won't rest after the run.

The Crusaders fly out to Sydney early that afternoon on their way to South Africa, and the rest of the team will be waiting for the boss at the airport.

It's Todd's first City2Surf, and he's targeting 1hr 20min. His wife Priscilla has run several - but this year her role is to get him to the airport in a hurry.

It shows what a good sport Toddy is - but since he looks fit enough to still take the field himself, it's not surprising.

The Crusaders coach is more than 10kg lighter than he started the summer.

With all the travel and some poor eating last year, he decided it was time for a change.

And the Crusaders management team had a New Year's bet on losing weight. "I did win the money, which was very, very hard to get out of Dave Hewitt's hands."

Toddy has been doing 11km runs on the Blue track at Bottle Lake, and also out on the mountainbike.

It was great to see the City2Surf being held again after the earthquake stopped last year's, and was a good sign for Christchurch, he said.

"Exercise is really healthy when obviously a lot of people have gone through a bit of stress, so it will be good to see everyone out there again and getting their lives back to normal."

And if you spot Toddy at your shoulder next week, give him room. This man will be in a hurry.