Records tumbled on the Haumoana course of the duathlon race in Hawke's Bay.
Will O'Connor, 26, of Palmerston North completed The Hits long course of 4km run, 21km bike, 4km run in 1h1m15s on Sunday, eclipsing the time Steve Charles, of Hawke's Bay, set, and who came second to O'Connor at The ZM Duathlon, in a time of 1hr1m25s.
"It was a good battle with Steve," said O'Connor who grew up in Havelock North and turned to triathlon about six years ago.
He was eighth in his age group at the world championship in China in 2011. He also competed in a few elite races but found it was a whole different level of racing, against guys who did it for a living.
O'Connor uses Triathlon Hawke's Bay club races as training while visiting his parents.