Chantel Knox learnt training discipline from the late Duncan Laing and it helped her to win the women's two-day Coast to Coast title on Saturday.
Knox (27), the managing director of the NRG Health and Fitness Gymnasium in Cromwell, won the two-day race in a time of 14hr 44min 57sec.
It was a tight race and she beat last year's champion Kath Kelly (36) by just 37 seconds.
Kelly, a Roxburgh technician, was timed at 14hr 45min 34sec.
Knox (nee Lindsay) grew up in Dunedin and was a member of Laing's squad for four years and competed at New Zealand age group championships.
The dedication that a swimmer needs for the early morning training helped Knox as she learnt the disciplines of multisport, especially kayaking, over the past 18 months.
"Mr Laing's hard training has given me a good base for multisport," Knox told the Otago Daily Times as she drove back home from Christchurch yesterday.
She needed it when the first day of the Coast to Coast became a battle because of severe cramp in her legs, especially on the mountain run in the bitterly cold conditions on Friday.
She was tempted to pull out.
"It was the worst cramp I've ever experienced and I've still got it today," she said.
"It was very frustrating and it tested me.
''It was character building."
There were opportunities to pull out on the mountain run but Knox remained determined to complete the first day and hoped that the weather would be kinder on the second day.
"Every time I passed an official I would not look at them, she said.
''I just had to keep going."
She was helped through the mountain stage by training partner Jeff Walker who pulled a calf muscle and carried on up the mountain gorge with difficulty.
The two crocks helped each other through the pain and they managed to finish the first day.
Walker went on to finish in the top 20 in the men's veteran section.
Knox was in sixth place at the end of the first day and Kelly, who lost ground after getting a puncture on her bike, was seventh.
The starting position for the second day is determined by the placing on the first day.
Knox started in the middle of the pack and Kelly, who lost even more ground, was at the back.
Knox made up ground on the kayaking leg on the second day but did not know where she had finished when she arrived at Sumner Beach in Christchurch.
In the one-day race the first person across the finish line is the winner.
But it is more complicated in the two-day event and time adjustment calculations must be made at the finish.
Knox did not see Kelly, who started an hour behind her, at all on the second day"I had no idea where I'd finished, she said.
I had a lot of ground to make up on the leaders and it was a surprise when I heard that I'd won.
"But I was so happy that all my training had paid off.
''I am busy running a business so I have to make all my training time count."
There were 10 competitors from Cromwell in the event.
They all train at Knox's gymnasium. Amber McMillan, her team-mate when they finished third in the teams event last year, was 18th.
Rachael Mogenson, another training partner, was 21st in the women's two-day event that had 70 entrants.
Knox is undecided about competing in the one-day event next year.
Meanwhile, Wanaka fencer Gordon Blythen (44) was the best performed Otago competitor in the one-day event when he finished sixth in the men's race in 12hr 35min 7sec.
Blythen is noted for his kayaking skills and it was this discipline that enabled him to finish second in 2007 in 11hr 58min 27sec.
Former University of Otago physical education student Dougal Allan (23), who won the two-day event last year, was eighth in 12hr 42min 16sec.
Wellington doctor Dougal Thorburn (28) was third in the two-day event in 12hr 28min 22sec.
He was a prominent Otago middle-distance runner when he was a medical student in Dunedin.
