Palmer (26), a coach and fitness trainer based in Wanaka, cut out the course in 1hr 13min 27sec, to clinch his first Otago senior title.
But he was quick to dispel any idea of the course as being easy, despite its downhill nature.
"There's still plenty of pinches in it to keep you honest," he said.
"It doesn't get any easier after the [Balclutha] bridge, especially when you have to grind it out up the hill to the finish."
Palmer, who earlier this yearfinished second in the men's 20-29 age-group in the Challenge Wanaka iron man, had focused his training on next year's New Zealand Ironman in Taupo and had concentrated more on his biking and swimming in recent months.
He was keen to find out where his running rated.
He mixed it up with Southland middle-distance champion Glen Ballam over the first 5km, passing through the mark in 16min 20sec.
"I had to go out hard to try and put Glen off," he commented.
With Ballam dropping off the pace soon after, Palmer held a handy 1min 23sec lead at the halfway point.
Another Invercargill-based runner, Lee Moreton, had come through and was challenging Ballam for second place.
At the 15km mark, Palmer held a 2min 1sec lead over Moreton, 22sec ahead of Ballam, who faced a growing challenge from Dunedin's Ant Rodger.
With Palmer crossing to record a comfortable victory, the race for the minor places intensified. Moreton secured second in 1hr 16min 4sec and Rodger third in 1hr 17min 27sec.
Wanaka secondary school teacher Merryn Johnston made her trip to Balclutha worthwhile when she won the open women's section in 1hr 28min 4sec, having battled all the way with Dunedin's Sue Cuthbert, who finished 40sec behind. Maria Sleeman (Dunedin) was third, in 1hr 33min 21sec.
Johnston and Cuthbert swapped the early lead, until Cuthbert made a break at the halfway stage and maintained a lead that never exceeded 100m until the 15km mark. Johnston then retook the lead and held it to the finish.
Johnston said the run was about getting herself out of the depths of a Central Otago winter, and testing an Achilles injury that has kept her out of the sport for the past 12 months.
"It's too easy to sink into the couch and stay there," she said.
Because Johnston is not a registered runner with the Otago centre, the open women's title was awarded to Cuthbert.
Timaru-based middle-distance athlete Kelly Palmer won the associated 10km road race in 37min 14sec, well clear of the first male home, Dunedin's Joe Beamish, who cut the course out in 39min 22sec.
Local Balclutha resident Donna Pettitt was the first of the walkers home, taking 1hr 3min 5sec to complete the 10km course.
