Laing coached swimming skills to the international triathlete to such a standard that it has become a feature of her many successes.
Although Bryant admitted she was a little disappointed with her time, it was still good to get first.
"It seems I was always getting second in this event. So it feels good to actually win one at last." Those Bryant has finished second behind read like an honours board of Otago distance runners. They include Shireen Crumpton, Maria Akesson and Fiona McKee.
Bryant admits to starting too fast and was forced to drop into recovery mode. Her previous best on the course was 1hr 23min. In winning yesterday, she recorded 1hr 26min 58sec.
Bryant has eight weeks remaining of her dentistry studies.
"I'm looking forward to putting a lot more into it," she said.
Following next month's national road relay championship, Bryant will be straight back into her triathlon work. She is hopeful of basing herself overseas next year to contest several international class triathlons.
Dougal Thorburn (Wellington) made the most of a return trip to Dunedin to win the half marathon section in a personal-best 1hr 10min 55sec.
Thorburn was one of Otago's top distance runners while he was attending medical school and his departure for Wellington five years ago left a void on the local scene.
"It's great to be back," he said. "I really enjoy it here."
Thorburn's enthusiasm for being back in Dunedin was apparent.
He went to the front from the start and applied a solid pace appearing to make it seem easy to onlookers. Only Dunedin's James List was able to match Thorburn's early pace, but had started to fall away as the field entered Ravensbourne.
"I was aiming for less than 71 [min] and I'd have been stoked if I'd gone less than 70," he said afterwards. "That was really nice out there, I just loved it."
Thorburn was thrilled with his result as he had only been able to train around 50km a week, for the past nine months because of injury. The nature of his win surprised Thorburn, as did the fact he could do a personal best in the process.
"It just feels great to be back running in Dunedin. See the beautiful sky and sparkling harbour. It's just magnificent and I think that really contributed to me feeling really relaxed today."
Thorburn represented New Zealand at under-23 level, as a member of a national team to contest the 12km Australian Cross-country championship.
"I've found Wellington hasn't been conducive for me to do a really fast time and I feel that I haven't really busted through yet, but I feel it's there."
