A total of 653 mountain runners lined up for the The Wild, in distances ranging from the 9km "Beast of Beetham" to the 75km ultra marathon, with 3900m of vertical gain.
Due to forecast strong winds, the V5000 course was changed, cutting out the traverse of Vanguard Ridge and reducing the course from the planned 85km distance.
Rhind, who described the course as "pretty brutal", said he was absolutely shattered after crossing the finish line in 8hr 23min 1sec.
Wilson finished 35 minutes behind.
Rhind had no choice but to put on the after-burners, with Arrowtown’s Benje Patterson, one of the pre-race favourites, hot on his heels.
"I was running with Benje for the first 40km, but he was having some cramp issues and I managed to get ahead.
"I was petrified he was coming round the corner for the last 10km.
"That last hill almost killed me — whoever put it in the course deserves a special place in hell."
Organised by Wanaka mountain runner Malcolm Law, The Wild was a celebration of trail running, which also raised funds and awareness for native habitat restoration projects in the area, owned by the Wild for Nature Trust.
Wilson won the women’s field over an hour clear of her nearest rival, Eszter Horanyi, of the United States.
She said she almost pulled out a couple of weeks ago.
"I emailed Mal and told him I couldn’t even run a bath, let alone a race, but straight away afterwards I thought I would be missing out and got back in touch to say I was in.".
Christchurch’s Vajin Armstong won the V3000 64km event in 7hr 5min 14sec ahead of Dai Lawson, while Louise Murray, originally from Ireland, won the women’s title.
Paulius Auryla, of Lithuania, won the 30km V1600 title — his first trail race — in 3hr 33sec, with Nancy Jiang, fresh of a second place at last weekend’s Kepler Challenge, taking the women’s win.
Kate Morrison backed up her win in Friday’s 9km Beast of Beetham, recording the fastest time in the women’s field for the 11km "Beast of Brow" on Saturday — that event was won by Finn Lydon, of Scotland, in 1hr 21min 31sec.
Mr Law said The Wild had been in the planning for five years and work was already under way for the 2024 event.
— Staff reporter
