Mike Wakelin, of Dunedin, made the most of his opportunities in the middle stages to surge away and win the Balclutha half marathon yesterday.
Wakelin (44) won the second of his back-to-back titles in 2009, in top company, in his only other two times on the course.
His first time on the course in 2008 he overcame a strong challenge from past champion Glen Ferguson to win the title in 1hr 12min 2sec.
Defending the title in 2009, he recorded 1hr 11min 2sec in a hard-fought affair with Kerrin Williams, Geoff Williamson and Graham Sinnamon.
Yesterday was Wakelin's first opportunity to return to the course since then, and he made no secret of his intentions right from the start.
Conditions were cool, but Wakelin, together with defending champion Jason Palmer quickly turned up the heat, putting distance between them and the rest of the field.
The two remained together until around the 12km mark when Wakelin decided he had to make his move and began to surge away from Palmer.
"I knew I had to go then. I didn't want to leave it until the last kilometre and do battle on that hill," Wakelin said afterwards.
Victory for Wakelin yesterday, backs up his claim to be one of Otago's top distance runners on the road at the moment, following his victory in the Hill Free half marathon last October and his recent victory in the Gore half marathon.
Another Dunedin athlete to compete yesterday after success in the Gore half marathon was Tamsyn Hayes, who finished second to Shireen Crumpton in the open women's section.
Crumpton had finished her shift at Dunedin Hospital at 1am yesterday and almost immediately after the race, she returned to Dunedin to begin another evening shift.
But her class was in no doubt evident, as she powered away from the start, with only Hayes keeping her in close range.
Crumpton finished in 1hr 19min 30sec, with Hayes second in 1hr 19min 50sec.
It was a mammoth result for Hayes, who had incorporated the event into her ironman training.
In two weeks time she will be racing as a professional in the Challenge Roth ironman event in Germany and five weeks later the Challenge Copenhagen in Denmark.
She raced for the first time as a professional in the Challenge Wanaka event earlier this year, finishing seventh.
American Ashton Eaton took advantage of competing at his home stadium to set a decathlon world record at the US Olympic athletics trials in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday, Reuters reported.
The 24-year-old's total of 9039 points improved on Czech Roman Sebrle's 2001 mark by 13 points, an achievement made more stunning by rain and cold weather over the two days of competition.
Eaton's triumph came on the track where he trains and the support he received in the final 1500m leg of the 10-event competition, had made the record special, he said.
