Even better, he won the event. The only glitch was that his parents arrived at the finish line just a few minutes after his victory.
His father, Matthew, sheepishly admitted misjudging his son's finishing time.
"I'd worked out it would take him between three and three and a-half hours, but he came in just after three hours, so we got here too late.
"Usually, he's racing overseas and we don't get the chance to watch him in action, but this race is pretty much on our doorstep for a change. Never mind ... Tom wasn't too worried we missed the finish."
It was Scully's third time in the race and he became the first Cromwell winner in the event's 13-year history.
Better known for his skill as a road cyclist, the 22-year-old enjoyed the change to mountain biking in the road cycling off-season.
Although he has been based in Invercargill for about six years, he still considers Cromwell home and divides his time, where possible, between Cromwell and the city.
The Gutbuster lived up to its name as a "real good, hard slog", Scully said.
He finished in 3hr 1min 58sec, 56sec ahead of Mathew Lees, of Dunedin.
A field of more than 250 contested the 75.4km event, which starts at Garston.
Riders have to cross more than 25 fords and climb to the 1300m Duffers Saddle before beginning the descent into Bannockburn.
Dunedin cyclist Erin Greene was the first woman home in the gruelling race in 3hr 25min 12sec. It was the second time she had won the women's open section but she had no plans to rest on her laurels, as she raced in the AvantiPlus six-hour enduro race on the Bethunes Gully-Forrester Park circuit in Dunedin yesterday.
Samantha Hope (17), of Dunedin, was the second woman to cross the finish line, 10 minutes after Greene.
It was her first time in the race. Her whole family took part. Her sister Shannon (15) was third in the open women's section, mother Linda was first veteran woman and father Ray third veteran man.
