The 45-year-old's three children made enough noise for a crowd several hundred times larger.
And when she took the lead, the calls of ''Go Mummy'' reached a new level.
The diminutive runner skipped up the stairs during the triple stadium challenge event of the Masters Games and appeared to be heading for a win in the exhausting race.
There were about 300 or so steps to climb every lap and competitors went around the course three times.
It is the first time the event has been held and attracted 16 fit-looking people.
Rhodes took the lead on the second lap but was tracked by Australian 41-year-old Graham Bland.
He used his considerable height advantage to power past Rhodes with half a dozen steps left on the last lap and cross the finish line first.
But Rhodes got a hero's welcome in second, as daughters Anya (11), Lila (9) and son Archie (7) enveloped their mother with huge hugs at the finish line.
''His legs were a little bit longer than mine,'' she joked.
''I am a bit vertically challenged.''
What looks like torture to some was ''lots of fun'' for Rhodes.
''It should definitely be a permanent fixture.''
Rhodes hails from Dunedin and runs for the Hill City-University Club.
''I'm a social runner but I think mentally I'm quite tough. I'm used to having to dig in.''
No doubt about that. She climbed close to 1000 steps, only a few days after winning gold in her age category in the 12km road run.
''Hopefully I'm doing the 5km road run [today] and the hill run [tomorrow].''
