The Team Tiki members grounded their kayaks at Frankton Beach at 11.15am after three days, four hours and 15 minutes of racing and a 47km paddle up the Kingston arm of Lake Wakatipu.
Forne's Team Yealands Family Wines arrived just under two hours later, while Team Swordfox finished at 6pm.
Tiki Tour took the lead of the 406km race several times on Saturday's first day, and maintained its lead over Team Yealands to the finish.
Almost 300 competitors set off on the race from Queenstown Bay on Saturday morning to kayak, mountain bike, trek, raft and climb over 400km of wilderness.
Tiki Tour navigator Tom Lucas, of Queenstown, said the team of his brother, George (Queenstown), Mike Kelly (Queenstown) and Floortje Grimmett (Wanaka) had a pre-race plan to ''go hard'' and stick with three-time adventure race world champion Forne, of Queenstown, and his team of Simone Maier (Wanaka), Dan Moore (Picton) and Dan Busch (Nelson).
''We did the first bit, but we never had to do the second bit,'' Lucas said.
Until this year's race, Forne had been in the winning team of the previous five Godzones.
The two teams tussled for the lead until Sunday, with Yealands Family Wines breathing down Tiki Tour's necks until the final morning.
Lucas said they got away with ''a couple of blunders'', including getting bluffed in Allen Creek as they emerged from the Eyre Mountains near Kingston early yesterday. ''We thought 'here we go - they're going to sneak past'.''
He felt surprisingly good at the finish, despite having only 20 minutes' sleep the previous night, but his team had endured constant stress about holding off Forne and his crew.
''It was very close - we always knew they were right on our heels the whole time.''
He praised his team-mates for being ''towers of strength'', and said he had been driven through the race by a special motivation.
''I promised my wife that if I was doing it again I'd win - so I had to.''
Race director Warren Bates said the event was following his ''dream scenario'', with a spectacular course, close racing and perfect weather.
Tom Lucas had navigated superbly, more than holding his own against Forne, and his team-mates never let up, Bates said.
''They handled the pressure, they were relentless and just kept on going.''
