The team of Oliver O'Sullivan, Elliot O'Sullivan, Jason Henwood, Mike Wakelin, Douglas Hancock, Caden Shields, Oliver Chignell and Matt Gibbons completed the eight-leg, 38.5km journey in 2hr 9min 59sec, winning from the back mark of 48min.
The runs from the O'Sullivan brothers and Henwood on the demanding uphill stages to Pukehiki, had the team well placed to do the business on the harbour side of the course.
Wakelin, a national cross-country age-group medallist, complemented the uphill work of his three team-mates with a strong 7.1km downhill stage to Allans Beach Rd.
Hancock and Shields then brought the team to within 6min of the lead for the final two legs between Portobello and Macandrew Bay.
Promising runner Oliver Chignell, a year 10 pupil at John McGlashan College, then displayed maturity beyond his 14 years with a blinding turn of speed over the 3.2km leg into Broad Bay, taking his team to fourth place and just 1min 50sec from the lead.
Matt Gibbons picked up third position early on, then 2km into the 4.9km run to the finish at Macandrew Bay, took over second place, eyeing up club-mate and leader Alex McEwan, who was competing for the Hill City-University No 4 team.
Gibbons caught McEwan about 1200m from the finish, and showing little sympathy for his club-mate, applied extra pace to cement the victory by a comfortable margin of 41sec. McEwan's Hill City-University No 4 team was second in 2hr 13min 26sec, and Ariki No 1 third in 2hr 18min 43sec.
For McEwan, it was his second silver medal in the event, but for Shields and the O'Sullivan brothers, it was their second gold medal. The three won the event as members of a team that also competed from the back mark in 2005.
"Ollie just smashed it on leg six," Hancock said of his team-mate, Chignell.
"But in all, you'd have to say it was a total team effort."
