It was a Whakatane double as Sam Clark and Corrinne O'Donnell claimed the major spoils from the 243km Coast to Coast on Saturday.

Clark returned to win his fourth elite men's title, which he described as his best yet, while O'Donnell tasted success for the first time in her fourth attempt at the women's race.

Clark, who sat out last year's race, held off defending champion Dougal Allan from Wanaka by 7 minutes and 42 seconds to finish in a tick over 10 hours, while Christchurch's Rhys John completed a long-held dream of beating his father Steve's best time, crossing the finish line in 11:17:56 to earn the final spot on the podium. Maketu dairy farmer Bobbie Dean slipped into fourth.

"I left absolutely everything out there. I've never worked that hard in my life for a victory," a spent Clark said.

"Out of all my victories, yes that's got to be the best. Dougal and I are so evenly matched, we race together, he's one of my best mates, it's just a shame we have to go out there and battle each other like we did today but that's the way it was always going to be. Him or me going home empty-handed, but this was an opportunity for both of us to lift our game and we did.

"I know how much Dougal wanted it, and to be honest my biggest fear today was that he wanted it more than me. That when it came to crunch time I wouldn't be able to do what I needed to do to get it across the line but I managed it."

Ryan Kiesanowski crossed the tape first at the end of stage one to set a new record of one hour 35 point 28 seconds, before Clark built his lead through the gruelling 32km mountain run, even swimming during the bitterly cold first river crossing of the Otira River. "As soon as I got swept off my feet I was going please, please let there not be any big rocks there, because they could have taken me out just like that."

"To be honest I was gutted with the conditions, they couldn't have been worse for me," said Allan as he sat recovering from the race.

"I would have liked a hot day, I would have liked an easterly on the last ride, I would have liked a low, long paddle on the river but these are all excuses to be fair, but I knew I was going to struggle in the cold and I wore as much as I could but I'm probably better suited to the hot weather.

"He deserved to win the race, I certainly wasn't on my A-game, but the tank is empty, and I think it's a pretty fair reflection of where we are both at."

In the women's race, a "pretty stoked" O'Donnell had a mighty battle with Alison Wilson before nudging her by 3 minutes and 5 seconds, with Fiona Dowling a further 5 minutes back in third place. Four-time Longest Day champion Elina Ussher finished fourth in her 15th consecutive Coast to Coast.

"It was pretty nerve-wracking on that last bike," O'Donnell said. "I don't know if I rate myself much as a biker so I was just going as hard as I could. I know Ali is an awesome cyclist, so I was pretty worried on the bike."

O'Donnell was a little unsure of her chances of holding onto her lead, but suggested the cold conditions played into her hands. "I was feeling pretty average on the run, it might have been my slowest run time I've done over the course, so after the run I was just like let's see how the day goes."

Wilson, whose background has been in triathlon, was spent after the duel but indicated she'd be back for another crack.

"Someone was giving me splits but man, I was just cooked. If someone could give me some paddling lessons I'd very much appreciate it.

"I went for a swim, haha, that bloody wind was strong," said Wilson referring to falling out of her kayak.

"That wind just blew down that gorge and pushed me on to a rock and I went for a spill and it was bloody freezing."

Source: Stuff.co.nz