08 Race report
The 08 race has now been and gone and a good time was had by all. Check out the results from links on this page.

Before we go any further we just want to make a correction over what was announced on the day: The two man team section was won by the Wildabout Kayak team of Steve Hofmans and Kaegan Williams. Also we did not announce the corporate team winner. This was Team Opus with Grant Christiansen, Garry Wilson, and Chris Humble. We will award prizes to both these teams.

Race day dawned with low cloud and light rain. We had a total of 225 entries. On the first bike Eric Drower broke away to reach the transition at "Out in the Styx" cafe in 50 minutes. First individual in was Neil Parkinson.

Overnight rain had created sticky conditions up there on the mountain for the run. The fastest runner over the mountain to Maungatautari School was Hugh Allison in an amazing 1h 30m. Fastest individual competitor on this leg was Brad Smith in 1h 34m. Fastest individual woman over the mountain run was Katie Rhymer in 2 hours.

Next came the short sharp bike to Horahora domain for the start of the kayak leg, where head winds made the conditions a bit testing for some competitors. First team over the finish line, after the paddle down the lake, were the Boatshed team of Ring-ins, whose kayaker, Paul Dutton, did by far the fastest kayak time of 50 minutes.The fastest individual kayaker was Brad Smith who passed Neil Parkinson on the kayak to take the individual open men's race.

Rachel Cashin was the first woman by only 2 minutes from Sonia Clarke after these two had raced closely all day.

First two man team was "Wildabout Kayaks" and the first two woman team was "Moove It".
In the three man teams, first guys in were "Paul Dutton's" with "Velo Sport Women" being the first three woman team.

Toughest competitor of the day has to be Andy Murdie who was injured coming down Maungatautari, but in spite of the pain, continued all the way to the finish with two broken bones and a torn tendon. He went straight to A&E after the race.

There was a great race in the Classic Men with Gavin Smith just managing to pip Malcom Dunning on the last uphill run to the finish line, beating him in by only 10 seconds.

There was a great prize-giving thanks to the sponsors listed below.

Have you tried the Manuka Boosta that Hayden slipped into your Race Pack?
Honey is the sports wonder food, used successfully since before the days of the Ancient Greeks, who understood its value so well, they conserved it carefully to ensure supply to their highest performing athletes. NZ's unique manuka honey is now acknowledged to be one of the world's highest quality versions of this ancient miracle food. Just research some modern day scientific studies and you'll soon see that it will do a lot more for your health than simply give you energy you need to reach that finish line. There is a rising tide of NZ athletes secretly combining it with lemon juice and minerals for use in place of the usual powders in their sports drinks.

However, it is even more easily obtainable now through the Manuka Boosta bars provided by Hayden Pohio of his family's Nature's Country Gold honey product company. Check out the bars on the Manuka Boosta page of the Nature's Country Gold web site here. Take a close look at the list of ingredients in the recipe and you will have a clearer understanding of why these little treasures could soon become your best friends in endurance sport. You will have had the chance to try them out by now as Hayden slipped one into your Mission race pack.

Our Wonderful Sponsors for 2008:

You can visit the web sites of these sponsors via our friends page.

Maungatautari Mission 2008 results
Maungatautari Mission 2007 results
2006 results (in Excel format)