Mr Edie teamed up for the first time with Dunedin co-driver Tony Johnston and powered his Mitsubishi Evo 8 into the lead early, after competitors encountered snow on the first stage.
They emerged from the second stage with a lead of almost a minute which then extended to 1min 24sec after the third stage.
Mr Edie described the win as by far the highlight of his motorsport career, while the slippery conditions made for "definitely eyeballs wide open and a wee bit of a lottery" over the six stages.
"Some parts were horrible and you just had to get through. I have seen the highs and lows of this sport and I would rather be at this end of things," he said.
Gore’s Andrew Graves led out the 89-car field as the first seed and encountered the worst of the snow and ice in the first two stages.
After the first stage he was in a lowly 35th place but fought back as the conditions improved, his Mitsubishi Evo 3 winning the last four stages of the event and charging to second place, 33.9sec behind Edie.
Derek Ayson, of Gore, had a similar rally to Graves, haemorrhaging time in the first stage, before working his way back to third and the first of the 2WD cars in his Nissan-powered Escort.
Fourth overall went to Christchurch’s Ari Pettigrew in a BMW 318Ti in just his second rally.
He and his father, co-driver David, were seeded way down the entry list at 62 for the event.
Dunedin husband and wife team Richie and Rachel Chadwick were fifth in their Toyota Corolla GT and first in class B for 2WD 1301-1600cc cars, winning the Glen Shirlaw Trophy for the first Otago Sports Car Club crew to finish.
It was their third Catlins Rally and Mrs Chadwick said they were pleasantly surprised by their placing, especially considering the first stage.
"It was just ridiculous. There was just cars off everywhere. Richie just drove so incredibly well," she said proudly.
The couple had their mothers looking after their 3-month-old son Dylan. It was Mrs Chadwick’s first event in back the co-driver’s seat after a year off.
Her brother, Steven Thompson, of Mosgiel, won Class A for 2WD of 0-1300cc, despite bent steering and fuel problems costing him and co-driver Ian Warren an estimated total of about five minutes in their Datsun Sunny Coupe, he said.
