Ms Monsieur had been an exchange student in Christchurch in 1993 and the Belgian couple decided their honeymoon was the perfect reason for her to return and show her new groom around.
As with many plans in the past few years, Covid got in the way and the couple put off their wedding until December 17, 2022, arriving in New Zealand six days later.
Both ride gravel bikes that they brought with them and, after they planned their New Zealand itinerary, Mr Stillaert found the XS Storage Bannockburn MTB race on the internet.
"I asked my bride-to-be if I could participate as we had planned to be staying in Roxburgh," he said.
With her approval, he reached out to organiser Bill Godsall to see if his gravel bike was suitable, Ms Monsieur said.
"Bill got straight back to him and said, ‘No, you can’t do it on a gravel bike but you can use my mountain bike’."
She said her husband was surprised to even receive a response, let alone be offered a bike to compete on, and finally understood why she had always talked of how friendly New Zealanders are.
With his hay fever acting up, a bike he was unfamiliar with and adjusting from temperatures in the negatives in Belgium to melting bitumen in Central Otago, Mr Stillaert was almost two hours behind Adventure Ride winner Cameron Jones, but winning was never his goal.
He said the 56km ride was beautiful, as it crossed farmland. It also included a 7km descent.
"It was hard, especially the first part of the climb of 11km," he said.
"The descents were very technical."
Mr Godsall said the event was the third of five races in the Subway Cromwell Summer Series and had been held for more than 20 years.
Their were 260 competitors in this year’s event, up from 217 last year.
Results
56km Adventure Ride
U18 male: Eddie Adams, 2:31:15; Liam O’Rourke, 3:11:13; Oliver King, 3:19:07.
U18 female: Zara Mackley, 3:52:54; Eva Nyhan, 4:10:57.
Male 18-39: Cameron Jones, 2:22:06; Tim Rush, 2:28:28, Lukas Schafer, 2:43:58.
Female 18-39: Maeve Kennedy, 3:17:57; Gabby Buchanan, 3:25:43; Laura Bridger 3:26:37.
Male 40-54: Luke MacPherson, 2:47:15; Scott Dickie, 3:02:01; Morne Pienaar, 3:13:50.
Female 40-54: Sarah Moreton, 3:47:09; Bex Thornton, 5:04:37.
Male 55+: Trevor Thomson, 2:36:48; Sebastiano Broadhead, 3:23:59, John Robinson, 3:42:30.
35km Classic Ride
U18 male: Reef Roberts, 1:21:53; James Gardner, 1:23:12; Liam Ramsey, 1:38:18.
U18 female: Katie Lawrence, 1:48:30; Siena Mackley, 1:48:58, Holly Bishop,1:56:27.
Male 18-39: Joshua Haggerty, 1:18:29; Chris Nevill, 1:25:42; Tom O’Neill 1:31:57.
Female 18-39: Sarah Davidson, 1:53:04; Emma Smith, 1:53:40.
Male 40-54: Jacob Grieve, 1:28:55; Greg Finn, 1:30:10; Brett Watson, 1:36:15.
Female 40-54: Nic Kelly, 1:56:55; Rachael Buttar, 2:08:35; Kate Lambie, 2:14:05.
Male 55+: Peter Jackson, 1:41:11; Chris Patchett, 1:50:56; Stewart Eggleton, 1:51:59.
Female 55+: Polly Buchanan, 2:03:06; Sharon Prutton, 2:06:24; Michelle Bain, 2:37:19.
22km Sport Ride
U18 male: Max Wiegersma, 1:19:56; James Watson, 1:36:33; Ryan Gallagher, 1:53:08.
U18 female: Kate Russell, 1:31:18.
Male 18-39: Rob Nesbitt, 1:11:13; Logan Andrews, 1:25:58.
Female 18-39: Pearl Harris-Blain, 1:31:17.
Male 40-54: Edwin Wiegersma, 1:19:58; Gareth King, 1:28:58; Carl Gutschlag, 1:51:20.
Female 40-54: Kathleen Eade, 1:46:23; Tamara Pine, 1:53:07; Meryn Hemmingsen, 1:53:14.
Male 55+: Daryl Haggerty, 1:25:04; Jonathan Salter, 1:51:05; Ross Buchanan, 1:51:46.
Female 55+: Adair Craik, 1:36:31.
10km Recreation Ride
U18 male: Oli Stedman, 23:38; Sebastian Gray, 29:44; Lachie Fletcher, 29:54.
U18 female: Paige Adams, 21:50; Hazel Gray, 29:40; Scarlett Barnes, 29:55.
Female 18-39: Isla Pringle, 31:13; Jade Cottle, 31:18, Georgia Buchanan, 31:19.
Male 40-54: Wayne Keenan, 29:08; Fraser Fletcher, 30:00; Nathan Heineman, 32:39.
Female 40-54: Karen Heineman, 33:45, Sarah Wiegersma, 35:31; Bridget Stedman, 40:36.
Open female: Vicky Stedman, 27:40; Nerolene Free, 35:24.
35km EBike Adventure
Open male: Brad Harris, 1:12:22; Darren Murray, 1:48:39; Jamie Brown, 1:50:15.
Open female: Janeen Brown, 1:53:52; Monica Liston, 3:44:29.
- By Tracie Barrett
