A squall that swept up the harbour just before the start of the sprint distance event, had organisers making last-minute course adjustments, abbreviating the swim to 500m from 750m, and the biking to 17km from 20km.
Despite the changeable water conditions, high school pupil Michael Gray put in an amazing performance and handled the choppy water at the top end of the swim course, to hold a handy 1min 3sec lead at the transition at the cycle course.
Guy Carter and Josh Harris led the rest of the field through transition, with Harris getting away first, mainly due to Carter becoming entangled with a metal pole while mounting his bike.
But the two were soon wheel-to-wheel and had chased down Gray by the 5km mark. Then the jinx fell on Harris, when his rear tyre blew, forcing him to withdraw.
From then on the race was all Carter's. Holding a 90sec lead at the transition to the 5km run, he had doubled this margin by the halfway stage, That was enough to hold out a fast-finishing Greg Hannah, who impressed with his turn of pace coming off the bike on to the run.
Carter finished in 52min 5sec, Hannah was second in 54min 9sec and Simon Frost third in 58min 9sec.
Carter (23), an accountant with Audit New Zealand, is fresh from an age-group victory early last month in the Lake Hood South Island Half Iron man event and is training in Matty Graham's Exponential Performance group, in preparation his first full iron man in the Wanaka Challenge early next year.
Taking a break from mountain biking yesterday was Mary Gray (17), a year 13 pupil at Otago Girls' High School next year, who dominated the open women's field with an impressive all-round performance.
Despite feeling the cold at the start, Gray quickly warmed to the task, and raced down her younger brother Michael, who led the field from the water, passing him mid-way through the cycle stage, to finish third overall and win the open women's section in an impressive 56min 5sec. Audrey Phelan was second in 1hr 5min 22sec.
Triathlon will continue to play second fiddle for a while yet for Gray, as she focuses on the national mountain bike championships in Nelson in late January.
The race jinx also played its role in pulling Romain Mirosa from the associated duathlon course. after he had opened up a sizeable lead on the initial 5km run. His rear wheel buckled 5km into the 17km cycle stage. Yoan Feillet went on to win in 54min 41sec. Kerry Rowley, who was credited with the same time, won the open women's section.
