Elite mountain bikers fulfilled the promise of a showdown in Saturday's Round Lake Hawea event, comprehensively smashing course records in both the 125km and 95km Round Lake Hawea mountain bike races.
Dougal Allan, of Wanaka, had to fight for his first position in the open men's category of the 125km race after Wellington's Tim Wilding set a furious tempo for the leading bunch over the first 30km to Kidds Bush.
By the time they had reached Dingle Burn, Allan had the upper hand and then turned the screws during the fast final 40km.
Floortje Draisma of Wanaka set off strongly in the women's race but suffered mechanical issues about halfway into the race.
She was delayed at least 14min which allowed Kim Hamer-Hurst, of Upper Hutt, to power ahead for victory.
Jason Blair and Yvonne Pfluger provided a double victory for Christchurch in the 95km races, which also they won in record times.
Blair carved 24min off Oliver Young's 2011 record while Pfluger demolished Lucy Fullerton's 2010 record by 27min.
"There were two reasons why I won. The track conditions and Tim Wilding.
"He was pushing the pace," Allan said of his 4hr 36min 34sec time, which was about 8min faster than the record set by Marcus Roy in 2008.
Wilding, the 2010 race champion, was ruing the loss of several minutes when he failed to turn on to Cemetery Rd, just a few kilometres from the end of the race.
He finished just inside Roy's previous record but trailed Allan by about 7min.
"We were going pretty quickly. I saw Dougal ride at Coast to Coast so I knew he can push a bike.
"I just wanted to hold on as long as I could and see what would happen," said Wilding, a specialist mountain biker who was sixth at the Oceania Championships in February.
It was the first time the pair had raced each other and while Wilding was content to seek a cool beer and lie down on the soft grass after the race, Allan - who is preparing for a multisport race in Brazil - went for a 20km run.
Kim Hamer-Hurst of Upper Hutt was thrilled with her victory in the women's race, after learning a valuable lesson last year when she hit the wall at the 100km mark.
The former British junior mountain biking representative has had a strong summer campaign and won the national masters championships in Nelson.
She finished in 5hr 23min 26sec, carving 3min off Kath Kelly's 2008 course record.
`I came back better prepared this year . . . I wanted to stick with the guys on the road to Kidds Bush and I did that but then I decided setting my own pace would be a bit more comfortable," she said.
Up to 580 competitors enjoyed the hard and fast track conditions.
Many weekend warriors reported personal bests by substantial margins.
Organiser Danielle Nicholson said she very happy with how the event unfolded and the "self-responsibility" ethos being displayed by athletes.
Many were not racing and just enjoying a big day out, she said.
"When the pilot was flying over to pick [injured] people up he said he could see people spread out everywhere eating their lunch.
"He said it seemed some didn't realise there was a race on at all," she said.
Three competitors were flown from the course by helicopter after they fell off their bikes.
Alistair Madill, of Wanaka, fractured his left tibia and was flown to Dunedin Hospital.
Two other patients were flown to the Wanaka Medical Centre for assessment and treatment. One was a woman with suspected broken ribs.
The other was a man with a suspected shoulder or clavicle fracture.
A cyclist who dislocated his shoulder in a fall was driven off the course after being attended by a surgeon who was cycling behind him, Nicholson said.
St John Ambulance volunteers treated several other cyclists for a range of minor injuries.
