Photo provided to China Daily

In 2005, Ussher met his wife Elina in South Africa during one race where they spent some time together. A few months later, they met again on holidays in Spain during another race.

That's when they found out that they were in love with each other and the wife decided to move to New Zealand from the far-away Europe. "Being from opposite sides of the world, a long-distance relationship wasn't really an option and she decided to give us a shot," Ussher recalls.

Since 2007, the couple had been active in the adventure races in China and bagged three titles.

"China has been a big part of our racing since 2007 and the main country where we have raced is the team racing. The Wulong Mountain in Chongqing (municipality) has been the main race where in six years we have never been worse than the third place and have three wins," Ussher says.

Ussher is also involved in the business of making kayaks in New Zealand, although he spends most of his time in training and participating in various races around the world.