Christchurch’s Bevan Jones who lead for most of the Mountain Run stage was pipped at the Klondyke corner finish line by Marcus Woutersen, a dairy farmer from Cambridge.   

“I had no idea he was on my tail,” said Jones, “so he must have had a strong 5k or so, I could kind of hear someone behind me for about the last 100 meters and then he literally passed me right on the finish line.” Jones added.

 “I’m reasonably strong paddler so hopefully I can make us some more time on the river (tomorrow) and get in a group on the bike into Christchurch to set myself up for a podium finish”, Jones said at the finish.”

Woutersen finished in 4 hours 39 minutes and 41 seconds, with Matthew Clough holding third spot in 04:47:13.

In the women’s two-day individual event Hannah Lund holds a three-minute advantage over Trish Hastie with the pair coming home in 5 hours 18 minutes 51 and 05:22:11 respectively.  Samatha Owels currently sits in third as well as leading the veteran women in 5:26:23.

Te Anau’s Devon Grant’s efforts to get to the start line paid off, wining the women’s Mountain Run stage in 3 hours 11 minutes 25.

 ‘We nearly didn’t make it because of the flooding (in Southland) but we got through in a convoy last night, so this is a good reward.”

Like the two-day racers, the Mountain run competitors also raced across the Plan B course due to the river levels in the Deception and Otira Rivers being too high to make a safe crossing for all competitors.

“I thought it was actually quite fun really. It was a bit steep coming up the viaduct, if anyone could run up there it would have been impressive because I had to walk but it was really nice because it was undulating and pretty rocky, there wasn’t anywhere near as much on the road as people were saying.”

Former All Black Cap Richie McCaw and teammate Rob Nicholl, who suffered through severe cramp sit in third in the men’s Tandem competition, 28 minutes behind Josh Harris and Dave Slater who lead the category in 05:06:40.

Ben Williams snuck in just under the 2-hour 30 minute mark to win the men’s Mountain Run, finishing 10 minutes ahead of second placed Rob Lord with a time of 2 hours 40 point 42.

Top Sport lead the three-person mixed team category after Daniel Jones cantered across the Plan B Mountain Course, which saw the competitors run alongside Highway 73 to Otira, over the Otira viaduct before ducking into the Bealey River. Jones set the fastest time of all competitors across the day, storming home in 2:14:51

Forest Wines lead the men’s three-person team, while the Girls Are On lead the women.

Greymouth High School lead the 3-person school category over Wakatipu High School, who are five minutes behind, but lead the mixed team section who are competing for the inaugural Sport Canterbury Trophy.