Elina Ussher continued her stranglehold on the Motu Challenge multisport female title, wining her eighth crown over the weekend.

Rarely does an endurance athlete dominate a sport like Nelson's Ussher, and she won the 172km mountain bike, run, road cycle kayak event in Opotiki on Saturday after surviving an early scare thanks to rising star Corrinne Smit.

Motu Challenge winner Elina Ussher. Photo: Supplied

Elina and Corrinne had similar times in the mountain bike, run and kayak stages, but the veteran athlete blitzed the road cycle to leverage an eight-minute advantage which she held to the finish line.

Taumaranui athlete Rachel Cashin, who has won the event twice before, claimed third place.

The men's race was dominated by two-time winner Sam Clark, from Whakatane. Clark scored the fastest stage times in the mountain bike, road cycle and kayak to win with a comfortable 24 minute lead.

Clark was challenged early on by rising stars Hayden Wilde, Bobby Dean and Shamus Christison, with Wilde managing to get within one minute at the conclusion of the second stage 17 km run.

However, none of the men could compete with Clark's classy road cycle time of 1 hour 20 minutes and 8 seconds.

The Motu 160 event was won by veteran Gisborne triathlete Stephen Sheldrake, who triumphed for the fourth time in a row, while the women's winner was another veteran triathlete – Deb Clark from Tauranga.

Sheldrake's time of 4 hours 43 minutes was 18 minutes quicker than Sam Thorpe-Loversuch, Jack Carruthers, Chris Clark Glenn Kirk and Bevan Spratt, who all finished in a bunch sprint.

The Motu 160 event is a 155km cycle event running in conjunction with the Motu Challenge multisport event. Competitors mountain 65km on the Old Motu Coach road to Motu village nestled high in the hills on the Eastland-Bay of Plenty boundary.

Riders then swap mountain bikes for road bikes for a 90km journey back to Opotiki via the picturesque Wiaoeka Gorge.

Competitors, support crews, organisers and spectators were treated to a blue sky day, and race director Marty Madsen, who has been involved in the event since 1994, was pleased to have some good conditions after several years of difficult racing weather.

'It is a tough time for multisport events but the Motu Challenge seems to be holding its own,” says Marty. 'After 22 years the course is still one that multisporters – and now cyclists – want to test themselves on.”