IN FOCUS: MOTO MOUNTAIN RUN
2020 saw the return of the multi-sport-moto event, ingeniously dubbed the Moto Mountain Run. 40km Cross Country loop, 20km Mountain Bike loop and a 10km Running loop combined together back to back to back in what could possibly be described as one of the most fun events on the calendar.
Forest Trail events, led by Sean Clarke put on this event that would be outside his usual moto event. The combination of mot-MTB-run was a hit with a lot of dirt bike riders, as well as those outside the motorcycling community. Bringing in different avenues of income from other sports isn’t a bad thing for moto.
The start was your typical Cross Country dash to the dead-engine bike and first to the holeshot gets the clear track. Four waves of classes made the first corner a little easier to navigate.
Paul Whibley would be a favourite for this event. The Axeman notorious for his extreme level of fitness and unprecedented speed on a motorbike. He got a terrible start and was last off the line by easily 30 seconds.
Back for the summer, Rachael Archer has been tearing up the GNCC scene over in the USA. She would also be touted as one to watch when it came to the point end of the results.
Bradley Lauder got the holeshot in the Ironman class and lead the pack into the bush, followed by Jake Wightman (11) and Paul Cameron (18).
Archer scored the Iron-woman holeshot and took off, leaving the pack in her dust. janelle Walker followed Archer round turn one and put her head down, bum up through the 40km loop.
Despite his terrible start, Whibley came through the 40km in the lead. Little did he know (or anyone at the event for that matter) how little the moto section of the event would determine how the race would pan out.
Ironman Warwick Batley put in a great moto time of just over an hour.
Damon Niild transitions from Moto to bike, something that no one had practiced before. This process gave up about 2 minutes on the teams, which ultimately would not matter.
The trick was to have help in getting out of the moto gear with your MTB kit on underneath. Whibley would leave for the MTB in first place, about 30 seconds ahead of Wightman and Nield.
The teams had to change over using a wrist band between each leg of the race. Lance Armstrong made a surprise appearance on the bike.
The 20km MTB started off with some brilliant forest trails, but caught a few people by surprise as the biggest climb of the day came only a few KM into the loop. Here Michael Toulmin enjoys the fun part of the course.
Julia Williams may have been over 15 minutes slower than Archer on the moto section, but she was 7 minutes quicker on the MTB and 8 minutes quicker on the run, giving Julia the Iron Woman class win by just over 2 minutes from Archer. So close after 3:47.
The final 1km of MTB track was spectator friendly and had some nice jumps and up/downs. Though not being in the trees was tough with the sun a real killer on the energy levels. This was either Mark Leishman or John Roberts (who took over from Kayne Lamont - moto), who made passes on the MTB track and emerged from the loop in the overall lead.
More action from the MTB ride that people couldn’t stop smiling through - until they got to the climb!
Just follow the arrows.
The Mountain Bike elevation change across the 20km.
Here Caleb Van Dragt heads off for the run section - he would put in the 6th fastest run of the day to elevate his team into the top 20 overall.
Ironman Mark Galbraith all smiles at the start of the run - less so after.
The fastest man on two feet! Either Daniel Patterson, Rockey Tiro or Eugene Whetu (we think Eugene) blew out the run and was quicker than anyone by nearly 5 minutes. his efforts elevated his team up by over 20 positions to finish the event 6th outright.
The final stretch of the run.
The overall champions for the day went to these boys - Shane Armstrong, Shannon Armstrong and Hayden Power at 3:01:07. It was always going to be hard to beat a team and with all three guys posting top 5 time in each discipline, they won the day by 9 minutes from Steven Andrews, Brendon Colquhoun and Wayne Ryder.
Elevation change during the run.
But hats off to this guy - Nathan Tucker won the Ironman class and finished 7th overall in a time of 3:23:48. He was about 5 minutes off a good time on the moto track, but his fast MTB and run really came into play as he leap-frogged a lot of the teams during the final two hours. Hats off mate - well deserved!
Even though dirt bikes are classed as one of the most physically demanding sports in the world, the moto section of the event played very little part in the overall results. The mountain bike leg saw riders make up to 20 minutes, while the run varies from 10-15. That doesn’t mean those sports, but they sure were tough on the day.
Moto and bike together in harmony.
The moto riders finished the 40km loop, barely breaking a sweat. Whereas the bike and run really took it out of most of the competitors. If you were very good at Mountain Biking, and OK at running, you could have been average at moto and done very well. It was a cool event and I wouldn’t be surprised if more of these events turned up around the country in the future.
How cool would a series be?
Sean Clarke and his merry men from Forest Trail Events ran the Moto Mountain Run.