Sam Clark dominated the individual men's category of the Robinson Law Monty's Revenge in Whakatane, taking out both the fastest mountain bike and kayak times, as well as overall line honours in 2hrs 44min.
 Sam Clark on his way to win Monty's Revenge(Photo: Bruce Belcher; click to enlarge) |
It was a three-peat Monty's win for the local athlete, who at the start of this year was fourth in the Coast to Coast longest day, and a fortnight ago was fifth at the national duathlon championships.
Junior Brad Jones was second individual man, 20 minutes behind Clark, while top orienteer Tom Reynolds was third in 3hrs 6min, after a storming final run. Local Craig Julian was fourth across the line, and third open man in the 55km (approx) event.
The women's race also went to the defending winner, Shona Steel of Whakatane, her 3hrs 31min six minutes ahead of Auckland's Toni Keeling. Lani Julian filled out the women's podium, finishing a few seconds under four hours.
The kickoff to Monty's 2013 was what one older warrior tagged a "mini Coast to Coast", with an 800m dash off the Ohope beach, up the Maraetotara stream to the racked mountain bikes. That lung-opening distance proved enough to split the field into small bunches for the 23km mountain bike, which climbed high into pine forest and the single track trails of the local mountain bike park, before plunging to the Whakatane river.
Extending the Coast analogy, there was even a helicopter whump-whumping its way over the opening minutes, as the local Beacon newspaper gained some spectacular photos.
The paddle has traditionally been the closing stage of Monty's Revenge, but this year it was the midway, followed by the stunning run from Whakatane back over the coastal trails to Ohope beach. As the final stage, the run felt harder, but there seems little question that there's a far nicer flow to the new stage order. There's definitely better opportunity to appreciate the spectacular run scenery. Best of all, race finishes back on the stunning white sand that the Eastern Bay is best known for.
There was some excellent racing across the categories. Dean Sisson took out the veteran men's, and Diana Brown the veteran women's sections. Junior Team Trident Trannies was first team overall in 3hrs 2min, just ahead of veteran men's team Three Wise Men. Of note, Team 197, which included local kayak and running stalwart Noel Jones, had an impressive combined age.
As in past years, in conjunction with the multisport, there was also a duathlon. After the mountain bike, duathlon competitors ran from Whakatane to Ohope via the bird walk, boardwalk, stock track and beach. Veteran athlete Wendy Gatward won the women's racing in 2hrs 48min. Kim King was second woman, while Diane Plant was third.
Aiden Dunster was first overall in the duathlon in 2hrs 13min, just ahead of fellow junior Hayden Wilde. Open men's winner Alex Roberts crossed the line in 2hrs 26min.
For full results, see http://www.sportsplits.com/RaceTecResults/default.aspx?CId=34&RId=2008.
