Kiwi triathlon star Hayden Wilde has had to pull out all the stops to take his maiden victory at Noosa, shattering the course record, despite losing ground in a disastrous transition mix-up.
Wilde trailled his rivals out of the water from the swim, but made his big move on the field during the cycle leg, opening a 30-second margin over Aussie Matt Hauser off the bike.
Imagine everyone's surprise when the pair emerged from transition and began the run together, after Wilde lost his way - and his lead.
"I couldn't find the marshall and next thing you know, I'm about 100 metres away, over the hill, and I had to jump the fence," he told Newshub. "Lucky I didn't pull a hammy.
"I found my way and then realised, 'Ah, Matt's caught me... great!' I had to push the first 2km to build a gap and just held it there."
In September, Wilde suffered a five-second penalty for inadvertently riding through transition and lost another 30 seconds doubling back against traffic, after officials indicated one lap to go on the bike leg at Super League Triathlon Toulouse.
This time, Wilde - one of the sport's strongest runners - eventually drew away to win by 13 seconds in 1h 41m 56s - more than a minute under the previous best.
"The first 5km was great, but the next 5km... I know Matt and I know he's got a good kick, so I was running scared in that last 2km. He might have been 200 metres behind, but the number of times he's kicked in the last kilometre and beaten people, I was running scared."
Wilde missed the break at the start of the 1.5km swim and arrived back on dry land about 42 seconds behind the leaders, but quickly made up that ground on the 40km bike, attacked his opponents on a hill and then "risked it for the biscuit" on a crazy descent that reached 100kph.
His average cycle speed was about 48kph - the local speed limit is 40kph.
"I was waiting for the coppers to come pull me over, but I wanted a bit of a buffer coming onto the run," he joked afterwards.
After tasting success in his first appearance at the event, Wilde is eager to return, if his schedule allows, knowing he left at least half a minute in transition.
Next up, he faces the Ironman 70.3 Melbourne next Sunday.
Aussie Ashleigh Gentle - the 'Queen of Noosa' - lead home the women's field for her 10th victory in the event.
