The Maungatautari Mission

32km cycle, 12km fell run, 15km cycle and 10km kayak: multisport madness but Billybob was up for it (and besides he had told his boss Ian he would be there so there was no backing out) –bugger. The MM event is really a beginners foray into multisports but there were a plethora of iron men, hairy women and hyperactive youngsters all ready to gear up and take on this local quasi triathlon event on a cold but sunny winters morning.

The event held south of Cam- bridge (left) started at 8:20am for initial race briefing which stated that space blankets, whistles and a compass were required for the fell run otherwise instant disqualification would result. Our team did not have a compass as Ian was adamant that this was not required, and he managed to convince the race martial to relent.

The race was away at 9am and saw Ian (right) disappear into the distance on his Specialised racing road bike with super slicks, while Paul was taken to checkpoint 1 by the support crew (Ian’s wife Diane and Stef) in Ian’s shaky Toyota truck laden with bikes and energy bars.

The support crew waited at the café, Paul drinking coffee and eating a few muffins, essential fuel for the Stage 3 and 4. Ian arrived in at 1hour 15mins, not bad for 32km on undulating roads and only 25 mins behind the front man. The scene was awash with bikers screaming into the checkpoint, some handing over their bibs to team mates for the fell run stage. Ian quickly downed an energy drink (a formula which he kept secret from Billybob!), swapped his shoes for a pair of white trainers and kissed his wife goodbye before legging it off over Mt Maungatautari – crazy fool!


The Support team sped off to Checkpoint 2 (left) the other side of the mountain, only to get lost on one of the roads and take a 10km detour! Paul panicked, with images of Ian waiting at the hand-over point before he got there. He need not have worrie; the first runner over took 1 hour 15mins. Paul was expecting Ian in at the 1 h 45m mark but alas 2 hours passed and Billybob had already kitted up twice and eaten two more bananas; still no sign of Ian... no compass my ar*e!

Finally, after 2hr 30 mins(!), Ian arrived looking like the swamp monster from the deep. He was knackered and hardly had enough energy to hand the sweaty mud stained bib to Billybob who sped off on his finely tuned mtn bike customised with new slick tyres, not in the least daunted by all the other lanky riders who were on their sexy road bikes.

By now all the riders and runners were so spread out Billybob (right) was cycling alone (well that was his excuse). The slick tyres made a hell of a difference though and Billybob put in a top time of 36mins. Such was his speed he got to the final transition before his support crew had readied his kayak for the final and last leg!

The 10km paddle was what BB (left) feared the most; his rented boat handled like a barge and made paddling the Karipiro River like walking through treacle with skis. The respectable time that they had first hoped for was slipping away and then lost completely when BB had to get out of his kayak mid river to straighten his rudder which kept making him go in circles. The last few minutes were blood, sweat and tears as Billybob had to wrestle his kayak (now full of water) out of the river and run up the hill to the finish line.

Final time for the day was 6:14:09. A good time for the duo (right) or so they thought until they heard the solo winner came in at 3hrs 50mins! Of the 18 two-person teams Paul and Ian came... last... nice (although, it should be noted, not the last of the all the competitiors to finish). [full results here, Ed.]

(Posted by: Paul)