With almost 200 competitors, this year’s 25th Gloucester Mountain Man Tri-Challenge ended on a fitting note of sportsmanship, with the two race leaders agreeing to tie to take out the top prize.
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Where they found the energy to discuss the strategy in the last two to three kilometres of a 40 kilometre journey involving cycling, kayaking and running only they will know, but somewhere near the end of the line the competitors threw their rivalry aside to run hand in hand through the finish line. Neither men are strangers to winning the event, with Newcastle’s prolific winner Stu Adams now counting his 12th win alongside Darren Morton, who won it two years prior. Both men ran the course in 2:42:52 and smiled as they crossed the line.
“Stu was first out of the kayak leg with Darren about 200m behind him. Darren ran him down two or three km’s from the end. They would have pushed each other all the way. Darren might have had the legs to outrun Stu but Stu – well, you’d think he could run around the whole world without stopping,” Sam de Witte said, commenting on Adams’ competitive fitness.
“Stu’s a landscape gardener who trains six hours a day.”
Bren Turner was the first woman over the line, beating Newcastle’s Su Pretto by a “fair distance.” Pretto had won the event several times, beating Turner who had come second, but this year the roles were reversed with Turner winning on 3:12: 41, 17min ahead of Pretto.
Accompanied by his $25 hand-me-down kayak, Gloucester’s Brett Radford took home his father’s ‘local individual male’ trophy in 3:23:53. It was an emotional moment for Radford, who had until last year had competed in every event bar one as part of a team until his father passed away, leaving the trophy for local winners. Coming second in the event last year, Radford had expressed his determination to win his father’s legacy in the event.
First local woman across the line was Sue Kingston in 4:34:43, and the first local team was Lenny Mitchell, Graham Mulder, and Anita Blanch in 3: 48:44. Numbers were slightly down on past years, with less individual males in the race.
“There are so many more events on this weekend than when we first started. But everyone has a ball and they keep coming back. They always comment on the friendly atmosphere and the popular carbo dinner the night before,” said de Witte.
On behalf of the event’s organising committee, de Witte thanked the 20 property owners for their cooperation and understanding in allowing access through their land for not just volunteers and support crews, but competitors.
“We accessed three properties for the new bike course, and six for the run. The Stantom family in particular have increasingly given their support for the whole 25 years it’s been going. Without them it couldn’t go ahead,” he said.