MULTISPORT: Running from one side of a country to another is one hell of a way to take in some scenery.

But for Lee Taylor it was the perfect way.

The Mackay adventure racer competed in the Coast to Coast Mountain Race on New Zealand's South Island, earlier this month.

"It's a pretty big deal in New Zealand," Taylor said.

"It goes from one side of the South Island to the other. You run, bike and kayak your way across New Zealand, its 243 km."

The race began on the west coast of the country and finished at Brighton Beach.

Taylor said during the event he travelled through all sorts of terrain.

"We did a 55km road bike leg, that was like as if you were riding through Hawaii, it was really lush with all the beautiful vegetation," he said.

"Then you get through the foot of the Southern Alps and cross through there."

Taylor said it was a "spectacular" event.

"You finish at Brighton Beach, and that's actually where they had the big earthquake, the fault line is not far off the beach," he said.

Taylor finished eighth in the open men's category and 14th overall, with a time of 13 hours, 58 min, one second.

It was the first time Taylor had competed in the New Zealand race.

"I do a lot of multi-sport sort of races," he said.

"I do a lot of paddling and running and a bit of biking so it appeals to me."

Taylor said the NZ event was "pretty intense" but the average person could take on the challenge.

"You do have to train for all the disciplines though," he said.

"Probably the hardest thing I found was, because it's an endurance event, you have to do a lot of kilometres.

"It was hard to find the time to do that especially over Christmas."

Taylor is looking at more adventure racing this year, including the GeoQuest event from June 10-13 in Port Macquarie.

"It's a 48-hour navigation team event," he said.

"There's a lot of off-track stuff, they give you a map and you have to go find these checkpoints."

During adventure racing Taylor said the journey was as much a part of it as the exercise.

"I've always liked the journey, you start from somewhere and end up somewhere else," Taylor said.

"It's better than just going around in circles."