Motu Challenge

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Favourites Blown Away

Michael Jacques / 21.10.2004

Gale force winds and bad luck marred the opening round of the Sportzhub.com national multisport series. But when the race had been run, the New Zealand multisport rankings had three new names at number one.

The Telecom Local Directories Motu Challenge hosted the opening round of the Sportzhub.com national series for 2004/05. And as New Zealand’s richest multisport event, most of the country’s best multisporters were on the Opotiki start line. However, when the race had been run the series featured names that have never held the top spot before.

After missing Steve Gurney’s Motu course record by just 90secs in 2003, Auckland’s Gordon Walker was odds-on favourite for the 2004 Motu Challenge. But gale force winds and reigning Speights Coast to Coast George Christison reduced the favourite to a disappointing but brave second place.

Christison was a late entry for the 172km of mountain biking, running, road cycling and kayaking. But coming just six weeks following a hernia operation the Coast to Coast champion’s form was something of an unknown. But the most unknown and unexpected element of this year’s 11th Motu Challenge was an almost black comedy of errors that conspired to defeat the two favourites.

It started on the opening 65km mountain bike when the seat on Christison’s brand new mountain bike started slipping down. This and a lack of recent cycle training following his operation saw the Hawke’s Bay athlete drop behind Walker and Mt Maunganui’s Dwarne Farley. Christison hauled in the Aucklander during the following 17km bush run and as the race transferred to road cycles the bad luck shifted to Gordon Walker.

First Walker arrived at the run to road cycle transition to find that his cycling shoes were nowhere to be seen. But in a show of admirable sportsmanship, Christison’s support crew lent the Aucklander a pair of cycling shoes. As a cycle specialist Walker quickly put this hiccup behind him and half way through the road cycle appeared to have the upper hand. But no sooner was Walker got back in the game when he became one of the 28 casualties of the day’s gale force winds.

For Walker this meant getting his front wheel blown out from under him. To his credit, the defending champion pulled himself together again to eventually claim second place. But Christison was long gone, dominating the kayak to win in 7hrs 38min 37secs ahead of Walker and Mt Maunganui’s Dwarne FarleySee All Event Posts