Mudgee's Matt Webster earns hard-fought podium at Bathurst

Starting earlier than normal gave the competitors a light reprieve from the gruelling temperatures of summer, allowing for a slightly easier competition.

"Overall I was expecting to be very hot temperatures, but the cloud cover kept it down a bit," Webster said.

"It was great to see a whole lot of people there and Bathurst were there in force...I think the race started slightly earlier than previous years. That was a little bit cooler, which helped out.

"I started off pacing quite well. It's something you do have to pace because although the legs are short, if you go out too hard, you'll feel it towards the end. And there were some young kids who got ahead in the first run and swim, but I thought they would struggle a bit on the run."

When Bathurst's Angus Argent-Smith carried just a 10 second advantage after the first swim leg in Friday's Bathurst Wallabies Inter Club Australia Day race it looked like a close battle might be unfolding.

That notion was quickly put to bed once Argent-Smith began pedalling down Hereford Street.

The Bathurst triathlete had the rest of the field at his mercy by the end of the bike leg, and he held more than a three minute margin when he crossed the finish line in a time of 50 minutes and 14 seconds.

Bathurst's Nick North (53:30) and Mudgee's Matt Webster (53:33) were left to fight it out in sprint for second place while Orange duo Tim Robinson (54:15) and Josiah Dirs (54:33) rounded out the top five.

Matt said he was happy with his placing against some of the younger competitors, especially now - as he joked - is 'very old'. He said keeping up with the youngsters was no small feat.

"When the wind really picked up on 11 mile road. Being small kids and on different bikes, I think they struggled quite a bit in the wind. So, I got ahead of them and then onto the swim and managed to keep my position in that," he said.

But I did see Nick North. He's a fantastic swimmer. He's got a good strong swimming background, so he caught up to me in that swim. I was sort of surprised to see him behind me because normally he's ahead of me at this time.

"But I was very happy of how I finished because I'm in a new age group. I've gone up to the 50 to 59, so I'm a very old guy now. So, I was really happy to make it onto the podium and beat all the younger guys as well."

Argent-Smith, 16, became the youngest winner of the club's premier race, the Dave Carroll-Scott Memorial, last year at the age of 15 and has gone up another level since that success.

The Bathurst junior felt motivated to put everything he had into the bike leg after seeing his rivals emerge from the pool right behind him.

"I got swum down in the first swim so I just thought 'I'm going to go as hard as I can on this ride and see if I can stay in front'," he said.

"It wasn't until I came back out of the pool [for the second time] and saw some coming the other way that I realised what the gap was.

"I then knew I could cruise on the last run and I had it from there.

"I'm the type of racer who doesn't swim very well, so I know that if I can set myself up in a good spot out of the swim then I'm doing well."