Racing over a sprint distance course (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) at Macandrew Bay, Bisley was quick to feature in a competitive field.
Bisley (31), a supervisor at Moana Pool finished second in his 30-34 age group and a creditable fourth overall in the national event. He had spent the past two weeks rueing lost opportunities and was keen to lay a few ghosts in the Otago event.
The national triathlon championships came on the heels of Bisley's top 10 place in the amateur section of Challenge Wanaka, and he realised after the national triathlon championship that he needed to change his approach to the shorter distances of triathlon if he was to be successful.
This approach worked well for him yesterday, as he held a 34sec lead over Angus McDonald heading into transition from the swim to bike. But a speedy transition from McDonald soon had the two together throughout the bike stage and they headed into transition for the run section with nothing separating them.
"There was a head wind all the way out on the bike," Bisley said afterwards.
"So I sat up a bit to take it hard on the run."
This tactic paid off as Bisley had opened up a handy 20sec midway through the run, and continued to build on his advantage, crossing the finish 1min 5sec clear of McDonald in 1hr 2min 30sec. Aaron Giller was third in 1hr 7min 49sec.
Gear failure last year denied Rebecca Grant a chance of backing up several junior titles with her first senior title.
But the 22-year-old sports nutrition student won the open women's crown this year in a time of 1hr 8min 42sec, following a titanic battle with Tess Molloy and Deborah Lynch.
Nothing separated the three throughout the swim and bike stages, and it all came down to survival of the fittest on the run, where Grant just had too much gas.
"It felt as though I was getting stronger with each stage," Grant said.
All three were successful in the national event, Grant fourth in the under-23 elite, Lynch 11th in under-19 elite and Molloy winning the women's 30-34 age group. But while two weeks off did little to slow Grant, Lynch admitted to feeling the pinch over the final stages yesterday.
In a duathlon held in association with yesterday's championship event, Paul Gough dominated throughout to win the 2.5km run, 20km bike, 5km run race in 1hr 5min 27sec. Victoria Stott won the open women's section in 1hr 27min 22sec.
