The 51km Missionary Trail bike and run event started at Okaihau with a 13km mountain bike leg along the Pou Herenga Tai cycleway, joining the main Northern Crossing route at Kaikohe. As with the longer coast-to-coast course, athletes could opt out of the kayaking leg to turn it into a duathlon.
Organiser Owen Smith said the addition of the Missionary Trail had made the event more attractive to locals.
"We have a core group of top-flight athletes who relish the challenge of the coast-to-coast Northern Crossing, but we wanted to make the challenge of the event a little more do-able for the average Northlander and I think we've achieved this," he said.
A new event this year was an 8km fun run, the Settlers' Run/Walk.
More winners
Team multisport: Dave Green, Dale Simkin and John Sanderson, Kerikeri, 4h 57m 12s (second year in a row, new course record). Team duathlon: Peter Foote and Teri Robinson, Kerikeri, 3h 56m 19s. Missionary Trail male individual multisport: Geoff Dunn, Kerikeri, 2h 47m 13s (second year in a row); female: Estelle Plowright, Whangarei, 3h 9m 17s (new course record). Missionary Trail male duathlon: Jeff Couchman, Okaihau, 2h 13m 37s; female: Catherine Semenoff-Murray, Kaitaia, 2h 14m 32s. Missionary Trail team multisport: Chris Fewtrell, Tim Hunter, Tess Tayler and Tony Del Beth-Hudson, Kerikeri, 2h 34m 42s. Missionary Trail team duathlon: Ed Firth and Mark Forsythe, Whangarei, 3h 56m 19s. Missionary Trail junior team multisport: Jayden Gibson, Finn Fraser and Tassilo Eisenmann, Kerikeri High School; junior team duathlon: Adam Lee, Hamish Palmer and Grace Morrison, also Kerikeri High. Settlers Run/Walk male: Hamish Fleetwood, Kerikeri, 38m 55s; female: Alison Weinstock, Whangarei, 48m 15s.