Daniel Jones smashed the course record in the process of winning his fourth King and Queen of the Mountain title at Mount Main Beach on Boxing Day.
The Whakatane athlete won the gruelling 4.5km race, that includes the gut-busting 231m sprint to the top of Mauao, in 18 min 32secs and eclipsed the record of 18:45 set by Angus Bell in 2007.
Jones' pace was way too hot for a quality field that took on the annual event in ideal conditions. Jones was nearly a minute ahead of second placed Bobby Dean from Te Puke (19:22) and former winner Sjors Corporaal (19:33) in third place.
His win followed his victories in 2008, 2011 and 2014.
"I felt a bit more comfortable this year for some reason. I just got back from Hawaii [Christmas Day] after doing the Xterra Trail Run [World Championship half-marathon] where I got second," Jones said.
"The training for Hawaii and the recovery since then set me up for a pretty good race today."
Jones, who graduated with an MBA in finance from Sam Houston State University in Texas in May, let an enthusiastic group take off ahead of him along the beach from the standing start by Moturiki Island.
But he took the lead at the top of the stairs heading up and never looked back.
"I never really like to start off too hard of course, otherwise you just die out on the hills. I think I paced it pretty good. You hope to bang out the uphill as quick as you can really and you then think the hard part is done.
"But on the downhill you have to keep your concentration. I did roll my ankle one time but not too badly."
The biggest concern Jones had was not running over a member of the public.
"You do try and call out when you see them in front of you but sometimes they don't hear you or sometimes they notice at the last second and swerve into the direction you are going.
"Everyone is loving the day here at the Mount. There are a lot more people than last year out on the course."
The event, organised by Tauranga Ramblers, has been a tradition at the Mount since 1945. Only in 1947 and 1982 has the event not taken place.
The Queen of the Mountain title went to Corrine Smit from Whakatane, with Samuel Tanner from Papamoa the best of the under-19 men and Harry Fountain from Matamata winning the under-15 race.
