Wanaka athletes Tony Dodds and Nicky Samuels won their races at the latest round of the Contact Tri Series in Taupo on Saturday.
The races also doubled as the national sprint championships.
For Dodds it was his first win at a Contact series while Samuels was an all-the-way winner.
The women's race quickly turned into a procession as Samuels put on a clinic for the largely young field, clearing out from the moment she got on the bike to win by almost three minutes from under-23 champion Teresa Adam, of Auckland, and under-19 winner Maddy Brunton, of Waikato.
Samuels did not taper for the event but showed the benefit of her current heavy training workload nonetheless.
"I felt the legs in the bike and the run, especially the quads, so I know I have been doing some miles but that felt great," she said.
"To lead the swim out was great as I haven't been doing much on the swim so I was surprised to have such a good swim and was stoked to lead out of the water."
Dodds, the runner-up in the Wanaka event last month, was one of a pack of 11 who stayed clear on the bike and the only one who could stay close to Ryan Sissons who surged early on the run, only to fade allowing Dodds, Clark Ellice, of New Plymouth, and Ben Pattle, of Auckland, past on the second lap.
"Some of the bike didn't feel great at all and I wasn't sure how I was going to run," said an elated Dodds.
"When Ryan went quick early I honestly didn't think I would hold on. I can't surge like that so had to hold back and build gradually into it. At that point it was more about tactics and resisting the urge to go with Ryan.
"I haven't won a Contact race before.
I've always been second so to win and grab a national title feels awesome. This is a big thing for me. It isn't a peak for a lot of the guys but it is great to get the win."
When asked about his preparation given he had suffered from a calf strain in the lead up, Dodds said he might have found the secret formula.
"Aqua jogging, I think that might be the answer as that is all I have done for a week is jog in the pool."
The victory gives Dodds an edge in the early season racing to lay claim to being the third best triathlete in the country behind Bevan Docherty and Kris Gemmell, both of whom will line up at Takapuna in two weeks.
