MONTY'S REVENGE

The Robinson Law Monty’s Revenge is a 55km multisport event, based out of Ohope in the Bay of Plenty. The guy who sparked it all off in the 1990s was Monty McGougan; a local legend and high performer in the local surf club. He had the idea of creating a multisport race as training for the surf club members and it's just morphed from there; past winners are a who's who of multisport from Sophie Hart and Rachel Cashin to Gordon Walker and Ben Fouhy. It involves trail running, mountain biking, and kayaking as an individual, pair, or as a team doing one stage each. I was to be racing in a 2-man mixed team, Team Lysaght Consultants, along with ‘Crazy’ Craig Jones. ‘Crazy’ Craig is another local multi-sporter who I have been lucky enough to train with when I am back at home. He’s a laugh a minute off the course, and an absolute machine on it.

It was a stunning morning in Ohope and a leisurely race start (10am), along with the awesome beach location, meant a series of random photos were in order.
See exhibit A below…

This year’s event began at the Maretotara Reserve, with a ‘Le Mans’ style start to the mountain bike leg. Although being a notoriously gnarly multisport event, this was not your typical dash for the bike; instead we sprinted up a stream which was knee deep in places!  But before long, I was off on my bike and about 10mins in we began an epic climb up and over the hill towards Whakatane. It was around 50mins of grunty climbing before I reached the top, with some sections “kissing the handle bars in granny gear” steep! The 360° views at the top definitely helped dull the pain a little though – Awesome. 

Photo Courtesy of Bruce Belcher

Photo Courtesy of Bruce Belcher

Then the descent; slow and easy for a start, with some pretty dodgy sections of loose gravel; but soon out onto farm land where we had to jump a fence, and scramble up a 15m bank – with bikes in tow. It wasn’t too far from there before I popped out by the Whakatane river and I handed over to ‘Crazy’ for the paddle leg; first female off the mountain bike.

‘Crazy’ Craig smashed it – like totally smashed it; he passed around 10 people, and came away with the fastest overall time for the paddle leg. He handed over the transponder looking like he had certainly left everything on the course. I was soon off up the stairs and into the final leg – the 12km trail run.

Photo Courtesy of Bruce Belcher

 Stairs, stairs, and a hill climb - about 20mins of it! But all worthwhile as it led to a really nice part of the run – undulating bush track – my favourite! I did have a few confusing moments through here though; there was no one around me and tracks were tricky to follow in places. It was a relief when I dropped down onto the beach and saw a marshal. I then continued around the coastline on rocks for a few kilometres. However, unbeknownst to be, I had missed part of the track – along with another guy I was following.  We ended up having to dive into the sea and swim for a few metres (rather refreshing at this time of year!!). Then all that remained was a 3km dash along the hard sand to the finish to also take out the title of fastest female in the run.

All in all, it was a fantastic little local event, with a pretty gnarly course which really kept you on your toes throughout the race. Craig and I managed to take out first mixed team, and first placed 2-man team, along with our individual titles on each of the legs. Gotta be happy with that! 

Big thanks to the EBOP Multisport Club and all those who helped make the event happen; including the major sponsor, Robinson Law. Also, of course, a big shout-out to our teams naming sponsor, and my major sponsor, Lysaght Consultants! Along with all those other businesses and supporters who continue to make my training and competing possible.

Team Lysaght Consultants will be out in the hills again in around a month’s time, this time at the infamous Motu Challenge; can’t wait!