It had been 10 years since Dobier last contested the event, and he decided to reacquaint himself with the course before the race.
Dobier (29), a car salesman, was highly regarded as a junior athlete, winning several track, cross-country and road titles, but had a tough introduction to the senior ranks. Both Otago and national senior ranks were rich with potential at the time and Dobier, who was juggling work and training, could not devote sufficient time to the latter.
He retained his love of the sport, however, and he began to make a comeback two years ago.
Starting Saturday's race from the 23min mark, Dobier knew he was in for a tough race, particularly with the likes of club mate Brent Halley and Alan Funnell (Leith) starting from the same mark.
"I felt good, actually," he said.
"I felt smooth in terms of my running. It was tough towards the end. I was pretty happy with the way it all went."
Dobier was surprised by the way he handled the three major hills in the first half of the course, considering most of his training had been on the flat.
He said one of the toughest competitors was Graham Sinnamon (Alexandra), who had started from the 21min 30sec mark.
"Graham was running well. I had to work to get past him. But I knew there were still some good runners in front to catch," he said.
"There was quite a big gap coming down past Palmers. I couldn't sort of see anyone for a while, because a guy said I was about eighth coming down through Ravensbourne and I thought I still had two or three to go."
Although Dobier raced past leader Myrtle Rough 100m from the line, he was unaware he had hit the lead until he broke the tape.
Had Rough crossed first, she would have been just the third woman in race history to have taken overall honours.
Dobier's goal at the beginning of the season was to try to break back into the Ariki A team for the national road relays next month, but he knows that despite his victory and achieving fourth-fastest time, he may be in the mix for a competitive B-grade team.
Rough, who turns 69 on Wednesday, gave herself an early birthday present by winning the open women's section.
The mother of New Zealand champion Shireen Crumpton outshone many runners half her age or younger.
She is arguably Dunedin's answer to Super Gran, with many national and regional age-group titles and records to her credit.
Rough finished third overall, after being run down first by Dobier then Simon Kerr (Ariki) just inches from the line, and her time of 1hr 3min 40sec was a remarkable achievement on the demanding 12.5km course.
In the associated junior race for athletes 19 and under on the 4.8km course, Kane Hughes (Ariki) won the junior men's title and Olivia Robb (Caversham) the junior women's title.
In the future champions race for runners 12 and under, Sam Cuthbert (Leith) won the boys title and Heidi Aarsen (Leith) the girls.
