They raced 100km across the Whakarewarewa Forest but in the end only six seconds separated Carl Jones from Scott Thorne in the Whaka100 mountainbike race.
The pair were duelling it out from the start in Saturday's race with the sensible money on three-time champion Thorne ahead of elite cross country champion Jones. But Jones, on the back of his toughest week training so far, was able to outpace Thorne.
In fact the duo had to play catch-up to Sam Shaw who broke ahead after about 25km. He was reeled in at the 75km mark and admitted he was spent 5km later.
Jones finished in 4 hours 45 minutes and 11 seconds to add his name to the hall of fame for the first time. It was a different race for his girlfriend Katie O'Neill. She won the women's race in 6hrs 2mins and 11secs, some 25 minutes ahead of her nearest rival.
"This is the time to do the long races," Jones said.
"I was treating this as a training day. I've had the biggest training week yet this week.
"It was pretty hard, I just sat in for as long as I could. I got past Sam on Direct Rd then went hard by myself, then Scott came with me."
Jones could have lost his lead after taking a tumble at the top of be Rude Not 2.
"I took a bottle and had it in my hand but I forgot about turning into the track. I was on my brakes and hanging out sideways."
The fall ate into his lead but not enough to take the win from him.
"It was touch and go," Thorne said afterwards.
"They were pretty strong, it's the changing of the guard I suppose. It wasn't the greatest day but it wasn't [the worst]. Carl set a good pace but it was always going to be a good race and hard."
Thorne missed last year's runningbecause of injury. He said each time he races the Whaka100 he says "never again" but still comes back for more.
"You can guarantee I'll be back, there's nothing else like it."
O'Neill racked up a huge lead over her main contenders early in the course, which meant the elite Under-23 cross country champion could maintain a good pace.
"It meant I could make sure I didn't blow up," O'Neill said.
"100km is a long way. We're only used to racing 90 minutes and you go for it in that time but this sort of race you have to ride conservatively.
"I hurt my knee earlier in the week riding an old road bike so I suffered in the race. I didn't get to put them to their full extent and I think that saved me."
Whaka 100: Men: Carl Jones 4:45:11 1, Scott Thorne 4:45:17 2, Sam Shaw 4:45:53 3; Women: Katie O'Neill 6:02:11 1, Kim Hamer-Hurst 6:27:34 2, Sasha Smith 6:37:14 3; Teams: Male: Bergamont Endura 5:08:15 1, Team Mc'Roper 7:25:13 2, Combat 61 7:49:51 3; Mixed: Team Whaka100.com 5:19:33 1, Team Singleminded 6:04:28 2, Team Nom Nom Nom 6:43:51 3.
Whaka 50: Men: Mikey Northcott 2:21:12 1, Nigel McDowell 2:25:48 2, Bradley Jomes 2:31:56 3; Women: Katherine Prumm 3:06:30 1, Marguerite Ritchie 3:12:31 2, Kylee McFetridge 3:17:33 3.
Whaka 25: Men: Tom Coombes 1:20:24 1; Aaron Perry 1:24:12 2, Sam Dobbin 1:25:27 3; Women: Amber Johnston 1:33:54 1, Kerry Saunders 1:49:38 2, Meridith Simms 1:54:19 3.