By 7.23pm last night, around the 60km mark on the 180km cycle course, reigning Ironman world champion and defending Challenge Roth champion Chris McCormack of Australia had taken control of the race with Doe among the chasing bunch of eight.
However, the weather appeared to be a dominating feature, with heavy rain forcing spectators off the course and causing the cyclists discomfort.
McCormack appeared to struggle in the 3.6km swim, with commentators wondering how he would fare just one week after winning Ironman Germany.
But he was third out of the water, 36sec behind the swim-leg leader Pete Jacobs of Australia (46min 03sec) and 33sec behind the second-placed Doe.
Leading the women in the early stages of the bike leg was Australian Belinda Granger, with Ferguson in hot pursuit.
Ferguson completed her swim in 48min 52sec, finishing fourth behind swim-leg winner Ute Muckel of Germany, and she quickly moved up into third place on the cycle.
Wanaka rookie professional Merryn Greenwood completed her swim in 57min 30sec.
No report of her progress in cycle leg was available at 7.30pm yesterday.
Last year's defending women's champion Yvonne van Vlerken lost her transponder in a collision with another athlete during the swim-to-cycle transition and was not among the front runners during the early stages of the race.
