Mount Maunganui College head boy Sam Durrant took top spot in this year's New Zealand secondary schools multisport championships in Rotorua, although he needed every inch of his triathlon experience to head off a couple of unlikely front-runners.
The 17-year-old Durrant finished the 25km Grassroots Challenge, part of the Expand-A-Sign 3D multisport festival, in 1hr 36mins 8secs, after the 6km kayak, 15km mountain bike and 6km run on Lake Okareka and through the stunning Whakarewarewa Forest.
But he overhauled outstanding Rangitoto College female star Danielle McKenzie only on the final run leg, after both had to chase 14-year-old Trident College tyro Campbell Reid, who put in an incredible kayak leg.
Durrant, who was third in his age group at the national sprint triathlon championships in Kinloch earlier this year, had a lot of ground to make up after exiting the kayak in 21st position, nearly 7mins behind the leaders.
"I didn't think I was capable of winning it after that kayak - I was kind of aiming for top-five at that stage - but I pushed pretty hard on the bike and came off as second male, which was a big surprise," Durrant said. "I've had a bit of mountain biking experience and that was definitely the leg where you could make up a lot of time but I still needed to work hard on the run."