Christchurch schoolteacher Martin Lukes smashed the record for the Great Naseby Water Race 100km event by 33 minutes in his first outing on what competitors described as a "slow" track.
Thawing snow on the track through the Naseby forest resulted in muddy conditions underfoot on Saturday for the 84 runners who took part.
Event organiser Jamie Sinclair, of Dunedin, said it was the fifth time the race had been staged and numbers taking part continued to grow every year.
The greatest increase this year was in the teams event, with 21 teams lining up to race 60km. Individual runners had the choice of a 100km, 80km or 50km race, with the 21-strong field in the 50km the biggest.
Lukes enjoyed the course and was keen to return to defend his title.
"It's pretty slow underfoot and mucky as the snow has turned to mud and I slipped over a few times but it's a lovely course, and you never get bored running around it. I'd like to have another go when it's drier under foot."
Lukes completed the 100km in 8hr 21min 6sec, breaking the record set by Dunedin's Greg Hannah last year of 8hr 54min 6sec. Dunedin runner Matt Bixley posted a time of 4hr 6min 7sec to win the 50km section.
Dunedin dominated the teams race, with the top athletes all from that city. The winning men's team was Nathan Harris and Ev Tolerton (4hr 44min 19sec) , the first women's team was Sally Nicol and Elaine Abrams (6hr 26min 43sec) and the first mixed team was Richard Hendry and Sue Cuthbert (4hr 55min 19sec).
Matthew Cavanaugh (Wellington) won the 80km race in 8hr 43min 48sec, and the only female competitor in the 100km, Mitch Murdoch, of Queenstown, finished the event in a time of 10hr 13min 44sec.
