For those triathletes around in the 1980s, Rockley Montogmery was synonymous with South Africa's flagship triathlon of the time. With a strong canoeing culture, the nationally televised Leppin Ironman tested athletes across the disciplines of canoeing, cycling and running.
A five-time champion of this event, Germiston-native Montgomery showed his mettle across many a multi-sporting code, with a World Quadrathlon title and victory at the Durban Ultra swim triathlon being but a few of his many dominating victories.
This is his story.
On his entry into the fledgling sport of canoe triathlon:
“Being a frustrated middle-distance track runner that had lost motivation due to not being able to race internationally, I got excited about triathlon, when one Saturday afternoon in early 1986, I was sitting on the balcony of a high-rise flat overlooking the Victoria Lake. Whilst having a beer with Richard Holliday (2nd in the 1987 Iron Man), we witnessed one of the early running’s of a triathlon at Victoria Lake Canoe club. We could not figure out what was going on when we saw canoe’s going around the lake, then cycles leaving the club grounds, then cycles returning, then runners leaving and so on. We went down to the club to find out what this was all about. At the club we bumped into Larry Lombard, a journalist whom I knew from my running days and he filled us in on this new sport that was growing like a wildfire across the country. This was the spark that motivated both Richard and me to go out that very week and buy a bike and a canoe. A few weeks later, I entered my first triathlon race, the VLC champs. I guess the rest is history.”
On the attraction of the Leppin Iron Man competition:
“The early years of the Leppin Iron Man were undoubtedly the most exciting for me. The big plusses for the event at that time included:
- A fixed course, which allowed one to judge performance improvement very accurately and set target times for all level of competitor.
- A course close to the big centres (Johannesburg and Pretoria). This allowed huge numbers of random spectators.
- Seconds were allowed to follow the race, allowing very personal and special relationships to form with support crew and family.
- For the time, excellent prize money, this attracted the best competitors from many different sporting codes.
- Excellent organisation by the two major sponsors, Sunday Times and Leppin, as well as excellent media coverage.
- A huge challenge, much like the Comrades Marathon, but more interesting and in the then Transvaal.
This list is far from complete, but gives a basic idea of some of the attraction at that time.”
On his maiden victory in 1988:
“Winning my first Iron Man was possibly my greatest achievement, as strange as that may seem now after multiple world titles and records. The odds of winning that day were stacked against me. I was a basic novice in the canoe, my cycling could only be called above average at best at that time and due to my Achilles tendons, and I was running on memory rather than training.
"Henk Watermeyer was an accomplished Springbok canoeist, his cycling was very strong and he was a steady to good distance runner. With top paddlers like Bennie Reynders, Graham Pope-Ellis and Keith Ellerker, not to mention Henk’s pre-arranged entourage of Springbok paddlers, the likes of Frikkie Reynders, Christo Engelbrecht and Nico Viljoen entered into the race with the sole purpose of pulling Henk, it looked like I was going to get slaughtered by at least fifteen minutes in the canoe leg.
"Only one person has any idea how tough the above mentioned paddles made things for me that day, and that is Shaun Rice, fellow VLC canoeist who entered the race to assist me. Shaun was in his own right a canoeing master, in the mould of his coach, “old man” Chalupsky and early training partners, Oscar and Herman. Basically, what Shaun had forgotten about paddling, when he joined the VLC in 1987, the majority of the paddlers - myself included - will never learn. With the Springbok team and Henk working against only Shaun, I must exclude myself from our two person chase.
"The front bunch pulled away, only to have Shaun drag us slowly back. This went on until Shaun had to slow down for fear of dropping me off his wave! He kept me within five minute of Henk and the front bunch and a platform to win that race. The pain of that paddle is etched deeply into my brain to this day and in hindsight, that first Iron Man win is squarely thanks to Shaun Rice; without his effort, Henk would undoubtedly have gotten his second win.”
On the controversial 1989 event:
“1989 is memorable for a few things. One was that my cycling was now getting rather good. I was training with the National Panasonic Cycling team, as I was also sponsored by National Panasonic. Training with the country’s top cyclists and doing a number of three and four day stage races soon got me fit enough on the bike to win the provincial 40km Time Trial Championship and set me up to really dominate the triathlon cycle legs.
"The second point was the infamous short cut controversy. The race rules had been changed in 1989 to prevent paddlers just entering the race to assist someone else. After the front bunch settled down, it was Henk Watermeyer, Ronnie Pronk, Frank Sol and I in the front bunch. This meant that Henk had to drop all three of us to get away from me. To his credit he did just that to build about a minute cushion on me and the rest. But, with my cycling at the level it was, I hauled him back in only a few kilometres and never saw him again.
"As we approached the far end of the Hartebeesport Dam, the lead car took a left turn onto a road I knew well. I also knew that this was not the route to follow. I stopped at the point where the lead car had turned off and signalled them to come back. They saw me and stopped, but signalled me to come to them. I turned and blasted down a short way and we had a heated discussion. I told them they had taken the wrong route. They disagreed and said I was to follow them. I did this albeit begrudgingly. After about two kilometres they got word from the organisers that I was in fact correct and they asked me to turn around and follow them back! Knowing the area very well and considering the time lost, I decided that possession was nine tenths of the law. That is if I turned around and ended up not only having wasting precious time stopping then stopping again and then riding along slowly having a fat argument as well as doing about 4 km further than everyone else. All I needed was a possible puncture and then not win the race, to have a very poor appeal at the end of the day. However, if I won the race, I would hold all the big cards, so I kept on and joined the course on the other side of the dam, cutting off a few kilometres, although nothing near the purported 7km. The officials slapped me with a thirty minute time penalty, which roughly translated to 18km in cycling terms. Even after that time was deducted, I still won and Henk, to his credit, admitted that the race was well over before the misleading turn. My only regret with regard to that race was that after the incident which took place in the first third of the cycle leg, I lost my motivation to drive myself to the very limit. I had planned to really have a full go at that Iron Man and give myself an idea of just how good I really was at that point.”
On his 1993 swansong:
“And lastly my last Iron Man, number five from five starts. I had already started to wind-down after having started to win world titles in other disciples; Iron Man training was starting to take a back seat to swimming and preparation to defend my World Quadrathlon title a little later in 1993. I essentially needed to win this race with as little effort as possible but - as usual - this was not to be.
"The paddle leg went pretty much according to plan, with Henk Watermeyer a minute ahead, followed by Darryl Van Smaalen, Oscar Stielau and myself.
"I then had one of my best rides, averaging just over 42km/h for the cycle leg, and feeling like I was at half pace. As it turned out, it just as well I did not go hard on the ride as the run turned out to be an absolute humdinger. Over the years I have had some memorable triathlon runs, beating off some very capable runners in head to heads: Albe Geldenhuis, Ben Jansen Van Vuuren, Nick Bester. By my own standards though, my running in 1993 was nowhere near the level it was only a few years earlier. And unbeknownst to me, Ben Jansen Van Vuuren and Brandon Collyer had come to really race Ironman that year.
"The run started with good old fashion familiarity, running Henk down in the first few kilometres, settling into steady pace and waiting for any word of the others moving up. All went well until halfway, when I heard that Brandon had closed up, and Ben was coming up fast - very fast - although still a fair way off.
"At this point I made one of the few mistakes ever in my five Iron Man races. I did not want a close finish; I had completed the Coast to Coast in New Zealand only a few weeks earlier and I also had to save my legs for the coming World Quadrathlon Championships. Feeling good at the time, I picked up the pace with the aim of opening up my cushion again. This was not a good idea at this point with the heat and the stressed body; I should have just kept going steadily like I had done so many other times and dealt with the challenge when it got real. As a result of this I opened the gap on Collyer and forgot about Jansen Van Vuuren.
I then started to settle down to a steady pace again, but my now steady pace was rather slow. I was still very surprised when informed at the 10km to go mark that Ben was only 2:30 behind. At this point, regardless of the plan to take it easy - to save myself for international racing - I had to pick it up. Ben continued to close slowly, until as we got onto the main road to Sun City with about 5km to go. Running on the right hand camber, Ben took the slip road while I remained on the left side of the road, proceeding down to the T-junction and turning right.
"Just after the turn my second said to me “Ben is behind you”, I said rather angrily, “I know that, how many minutes?” The answer was rather panicked, “No! I mean right behind you, one car length”. Ben had snuck up, running right behind his second’s car and coming down the slipway and my seconds had not seen him; he was now making his challenge. This was the last thing I needed with 5km to go and my pace went instantly from a 4 min/km to sub 3 min/km. We stuck like this all the way to the main entrance to Sun City, where we turned and started up the hill to the finish. As I hit the incline my legs felt like they did at the end of a hard 800m race and it was at this point I realised that if Ben kept up this pace he was going to beat me. All I could do was kick as hard as I have ever kicked in a triathlon. Just as my legs were going to blow I glanced back and saw that Ben had blown first. I eased off and went on to finish with my last win two minutes ahead of Ben Jansen Van Vuuren.”
On his innate versatility across several sporting disciplines:
“I think a lot had to do with my track running background at that point. Once you have really trained with a coach like the legendary Don Peckett, any training seems like a dawdle in comparison. To supplement this mental toughness was having an academic sports science background and understanding how energy systems of the body work, conditioning of the various components of fitness and then possibly knowing how to put them all into the mix to get the optimal result, was crucial. Even today I tend to observe with amazement how clueless some of our top athletes seem to be, when they branch off at a tangent with some “new idea” and totally forget the basics.
"As to dealing with half-standard through to standard distance events, through to double standards and then to Ultras in both the swimming and canoeing disciplines, it was not that easy. It gave me much enjoyment, when in the pre-season, I would do various races that were out of sync with my overall build-up plan and when I obviously was not at the correct conditioning level for that particular event. The media would have a field day, speculating on the imminent demise of the “Indestructible Rock” as they loved to put it. But as the history books will testify, I never got it wrong. Injury was my only “Achilles heel”, no pun intended!”
On his seemingly abstract approach to the marathon leg of an ultra-distance triathlon:
“Unfortunately my marathon training technique would be useless to anyone other than someone with the same running background as myself. Basically, I did not train for the marathon. I used the speed and power from the shortest of events along with strength and muscle endurance from the longer standards and double standards training and the aerobic/cardiovascular component from all the swimming, cycling and canoeing training. I then ran Iron Man marathons on memory; very easy for the first 32km and then serious “vasbyt” for the last ten 10km. That is what made the end of my fifth Iron Man so memorable.”
On the legendary and equally versatile Dr. Eddie King:
"Eddie King was indeed a great man. I would have loved to have known him well. The first and only time I met him was at the JCC classic tri. I had only raced him once before that, and that was when he was in a different league to me, so I think saying I was in the same race as him is more accurate, as he was probable changed and showered before I even finished. But, at the JCC race I beat him, and after the event he congratulated me and asked me two questions I remember to this day: “How old are you? Are you doing the Iron Man?” I know for a fact that had Eddie done the Iron Man when I got my first win, it would have been my first second-place finish; I was at my limit to win that first one and Eddie could have cruised it. Thanks Eddie!”
On other sporting highlights:
“Competing in the Toyota Celebrity Challenge motor racing at Kyalami was great highlight. This included practicing, then qualifying for the national final. I managed to win both my qualifying round and the final. I was great racing against the likes of Francois Pienaar.
"Some other memorable occasions:
- Being invited to the Super C, Super Sportsman competition and managing to win it. Even more memorable was beating the two national footballers, Marks Maponyane and Shane McGregor in the football event, Richard Snell and Hansie Cronje’ in the cricket and two time Olympic champion Daley Thompson overall, only to lose the 1000m track race to Hansie Cronje’. Daley asked me before the 1000m what I thought I was capable of running and I said about not much more than about 2:50, but probably more like 3 minutes. So, when the gun went and I took off at 3 minute pace and after 400m I thought all was good, but Hansie had other ideas. With 600m to go he sprinted away like a mad man and I let him go thinking there was no way in hell he could keep that up. Well history will tell you that with 200m to go, he was still 30m ahead and eventually held me off by a second. His time was 2:49.
- Remembering some of the fantastic people associated with the event. Till and Niels Hannamann, reporters like Jeff Van Blerk, Larry Lombaard, Marshall Howard, Phil Hargreaves, Mark Els and Sam Mirwis to name but a few, Steve Britten and so many great training mates like Malclom Stothard, Colin Simpkins, Roy Pepper, Barry Dingle, Basil Klets and many, many more.
- Being awarded the State Presidents Sports Merit Award.”
