Cyclone Lusi may have turned the annual Triple Peaks Challenge into a single hill event but organisers say the last-minute course change didn't put a dampener on Saturday's multisport race.
The running, cycling and walking challenge, which has been run for the past 26 years, traditionally includes climbs of mounts Kahuranaki and Erin as well as Te Mata.
But with Lusi threatening to bear down on Hawke's Bay, the decision was made on Friday to confine the event to a single location, in the interests of maximising the safety of the 680 competitors.
"We'd marked out the course and were all ready to go but then the severe weather warning came through and we had to act for people's safety," organiser David Tait said.
"I'm old enough to remember Cyclone Bola [which hit Hawke's Bay in 1988].