He had enjoyed the dash from Turoa over to the 84km mountain bike from Ohakune along the cycle trails to Whakahoro, finding it a good technical challenge with the mixture of gravel and seal.
However, Saturday's 90km paddle up the Whanganui River to Pipiriki, proved "mentally very challenging", given the warm weather conditions of recent weeks had brought water levels right down.
Having planned to complete the kayaking section in around six and a half hours, Goodall was feeling it when he was out there for an extra 45 minutes.
He had also enjoyed the historic cycle route into Wanganui yesterday, but by then everyone had their eyes on the task at hand with Sutton closing fast.
"If the time differences weren't so small, it would have been much more scenic and relaxing," Goodall said.
"There was a lot of cat and mouse stuff going on."
Among the local entries, Wanganui's Malte Hagener was third in the Veteran men's division. The F'Hair Less team of policeman Jason Page and Brian Scott were the winning two-person team, followed by fellow Wanganui "Pecka Heads" in Ashley Christie and Bruce Baldwin, who also entered this year's Speight's Coast to Coast.
In the three-person groups, the "Peer Pressure" team of the Pawsons Gus, Ken and Hugh were second.
The Whanganui Iwi foursome came runner-up in their grade.
In total, there were 16 individual competitors six Open men, nine Veteran men and one Open woman along with 26 two-person teams, 21 three-person and three four-person groups. The total of 75 entrants was below the 100 that the organising Wanganui Events Trust had planned for, but given it was the first race in two decades, general manager Mike Cronin was more than satisfied.
Planning was already underway for next year, he said.
"We'll debrief this year's event next week and get planning underway for what will be a significantly bigger and better M2C in 2015. "The weather was perfect and the competition fierce. A great combination.
"I was particularly thrilled with how well the competitors and support crews enjoyed the hospitality of the Ruapehu and Wanganui communities."
Results
Open Men 1. Sam Goodall (Whangaparaoa); 2. Tim Sutton (Wellington); 3. Dan Moore (Picton).
Veteran Men 1. Tane Humphrey (Palmerston North); 2. Liam Drew (Wellington); 3. Malte Hagener (Wanganui).
Two Person Teams 1. F'Hair Less (Jason Page, Brian Scott); 2. Pecka Heads (Ashley Christie, Bruce Baldwin); 3. T.O.F's (Murray Hicks, Gerald Gates).
Mixed Teams 1. 56 Shades of Grey (Marilyn Gammeter, Brett Watson); 2. Gravity (Chonel Addenbrooke, Mike Buchanan); 3. Mixed Blessings (Sandra Hicks, George Rowley).
Three Person Teams 1. Repeat Offenders (Ian Davidson, Stephen Timings, Charlie O'Hara-Smith); 2. Peer Pressure (Gus Pawson, Ken Pawson, Hugh Pawson); 3. Malvern Mongrel Mob (Mark Buckland, Nick Stubbs, Marcus Stubbs).
Four Person Teams 1. The Sappers (Andrew Good, Kevin Fee, Shane Chadwick, Emma Roche); 2. Whanganui Iwi 1 (Hinurewa Poutu, Graham Bell, Aaron Rice-Edmonds, Anjelica McGuckin).
