It came down to the wire - the practical events - for Pleasant Point farmer Tim O'Sullivan who fought off stiff competition to win this year's Aorangi regional final of the National Bank Young Farmer contest.
But he is not yet ready to sit back and relax.
Mr O'Sullivan, who is a member of the Mackenzie Young Farmers' Club, won the contest, at Waitaki Boys' High School, Oamaru, on Sunday, by the smallest of margins.
At the end of the day Mr O'Sullivan had tied with Milford-Clandeboye Young Farmers' Club member Grant McNaughton, of Glenavy, on 222 points, for first place, but was declared the winner because he had scored higher than Mr McNaughton in the practical events.
"I'm pretty relieved that she's all over but it's daunting to think of what lies ahead,'' Mr O'Sullivan said.
"I'm pretty happy. that was what I set out to do. I knew it would be pretty close.''
The Aorangi district final was the last of the Young Farmers' contest's regional finals and so there was not a lot of time to prepare for the grand final which was in Palmerston North, in July, Mr O'Sullivan said.
Mr O'Sullivan works on his family's 1000-cow dairy farm and as an irrigation design consultant, and co-owns a company specialising in irrigation and effluent pond liners.
He said he was spending this week catching up on work and planning his approach for the grand final.