The removal of swimming and kayak legs from the Tremains Triathlon because of the contamination of Pandora Pond in Napier did little to dampen the competition in the event with possibly the closest finish in its 25 years yesterday.
The run-bike-run version, with 264 teams, ended with four teams finishing in under one hour, headed by a Central Hawke's Bay College team's 56min 58sec.
The first three in the open-entry male, female and mixed categories finished just 2 minutes 26 seconds apart, first place going to all-male team Pulped Up, finishing in 57min 23sec. The first mixed team, Knock Out 1, was second overall, and the first female team,Abb4-Ness, was 20th overall, in 1hr 9min 3sec.
The event started and ended at the Meeanee Quay Reserve, at Westshore, where most of about 800 participants gathered for the prizegiving.
Because of the contamination issue, organisers made an early decision to replace the swim and kayak lags with a second running leg.