Pearson, who won the 10km Jimmys run at Roxburgh on Saturday was in training for the Lake Wanaka Half, an iron distance triathlon. He has won the Goldrush multisport event twice but says swimming is a whole new challenge for him.
The Lake Wanaka Half, held at the same time as Challenge Wanaka, comprises a 1.9km swim in Lake Wanaka, 90km cycle and 21.1km run.
"I'm still really learning how to swim. I've always done the kayaking in other events but never tackled swimming so that's proving a bit of a challenge. I almost drowned last weekend when I was out training for the swimming and had a bit of a panic attack when I was swamped by waves."
The event was staged this year as a run or walk. In previous years, it included the option of a duathlon or triathlon, but the cycle and kayak legs were dropped after numbers for those events declined.
Also, the high level of Lake Roxburgh twice resulted in the cancellation of the kayaking leg.
The event is run by the Roxburgh Multisport Club and this year 34 competitors lined up for the run and 17 for the walk.
Pearson finished in 37min 45sec, while Sam Keenan, of Gore, who won the duathlon section of the event last year, was second in 39.06, just ahead of Michael Wright, of Roxburgh, on 39.07.
Jessica Scanlan, of Roxburgh, won the women's section of the run in a time of 48.04, while Michele Stainburn, of Earnscleugh, won the Treliske Organics 10km walk, in 1:18.24. Kane Johnston (12), of Roxburgh, won the junior run in a time of 52:34.
