A Tauranga lifeguard and a Piha podiatrist have taken out the Mount Monster event and earned themselves a $9000 payday at Mount Maunganui.
Ben Cochrane and Kirsty Wannan took out the 25km surf lifesaving race, but not without suffering a myriad of setbacks on their way to victory.
Cochrane was forced to battle past cramp and a fierce rival in Mason Bryant to claim first place, while Wannan had to fight back after a slow start to win the women's race.
"I didn't know how to approach it last year, having not done it before, but with one under my belt, I just knew when and where to push a little more," Wannan said.
"I went out with my own race plan and was confident in the training that I'd done that it was enough to get me over the line."
Cochrane spent the last year receiving coaching in Queensland with world champion ironman Shannon Eckstein, and he had to use all his training to make his way past a talented field.
"The boys ran out far faster than I wanted to run and I had to play catch-up," Cochrane said.
"Mason was flying on the ski and he made me work the whole way - it was very disheartening to finally catch him and then let him go but I couldn't feel my legs at all and they kept collapsing."
Meanwhile, Midway trio Tayler Reid, Sam Newlands and Matt Scott won the teams' race with an impressive 2:18.14, in front of Nick Berry and Olympian Steve Ferguson, who crossed in 2:18.52.
Nearly 300 surf athletes raced at this year's Mount Monster event.
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