KEY POINTS:
The $3000 winner's cheque was small compensation for missing the Olympic boat but Terenzo Bozzone's win in the sixth New Zealand Xterra Championship gave him a huge boost in self-confidence.
After leading the record field out of a warmer-than-usual Blue Lake on the 1km opening swim then falling behind on the testing and technical 26km mountain bike leg to trail defending champion Tim Wilding by 3m 38s, Bozzone charged home with the day's best run to grab an unlikely victory.
Unlikely in that he was untried at the off-road challenge but his rookie status was more than compensated for with his determination and the chance to somehow shed some of the disappointment in missing out on Beijing.
He admitted he had been on a bit of a downer after the third triathlon Olympic spot was handed to Shane Reed - whom he had beaten by a dozen places in the final selection race.
Then he struck on the idea of putting his limited mountain bike skills - there were never any such doubts over his swim/run abilities - to the test in a hurried trip to one of the most picturesque parts of the country.
His entry had the lakeside crowd and fellow competitors buzzing but many questioned whether he could deliver in the same way Hamish Carter had in the past.
They did not have to wait long and in the end his storming run on the round-the-lake trail dispelled any doubts that he is up there with the very best.
Bozzone, fourth on to the 11km run, picked off Scott Gore, Wilding and finally Mark Leishman in mastering the tricky switch from the trail to the sandy stretches to eventually win by a comfortable 20s.
Wilding, hampered by a troublesome leg injury, held on for fourth ahead of Australians Klayten Smith and Jason Chalker.
"The uphill stretch on the bike was the grovelling bit," said Bozzone. "The rest wasn't too bad, although I did start cramping when I was running up the stairs around the back of the lake.
"But there is plenty of satisfaction in doing, and winning, something different."
Whether he will follow Carter in chasing the World Xterra Championship in Maui in October is questionable given his determination to get back on the world ITU circuit with his sights set on the world half ironman championship.
But if Bozzone is unlikely to test himself in Maui, three-time national women's champion Sonia Foote has already earmarked her prizemoney as her fare to Hawaii.
Foote, a science teacher at Tokoroa's Forest View School, has been to the Xterra World Championships four times - and has also contested mountain biking cross-country races at Commonwealth Games (2006) and world championships.
Unlike the last time she won here when she admits "I was running scared" she was always in control this time, turning a better-than-hoped-for swim into a dominating 3min-plus victory over Nelson's Susie Wood, with defending champion Gina Ferguson back in fourth, six minutes behind Foote.
