Angus Bell of Auckland won his first New Zealand title in taking out the New Zealand mountain running title in Nelson on Saturday.

Bell hit out hard on the uphill on the first of three laps around The Grampians to establish an early lead which he held to the finish.

"I'm not as strong on the downhill so I thought I would push ahead on the uphill and hold on. It was tough going on the second and third laps - it felt like snail pace and I was worried that I may be passed," said a relieved Bell at the finish.

He finished the 13.93km in 59m 17s, nearly a minute ahead of Wellington's Glenn Hughes.

Bell said to finish two places better than last year was pretty special to him.

"First New Zealand title, I'm very happy," he said.

Michael Wakelin of Wellington was third with Patrick Meffan fourth.

Sarah Chisnall of Dunedin won the women's title covering the 9.3km in 44m 14s, 13 seconds ahead of last year's junior champion Lucy Oliver of North Canterbury. Chisnall's victory comes on top of her win in the Christchurch marathon last month. Lara Phillips of Auckland was third with Pakuranga's Sarah Devoy fourth.

Ruth Croft won the junior women's 4.77km in 22m 3s, beating fellow Cantabrian Nicki McFadzien. Aaron Jackson of Auckland successfully defended his junior men's title beating David Ridley of Port Hills Christchurch by a wide margin of nearly three minutes.

Both Bell and Jackson are coached by Don Macfarquhar of Auckland. Bell made a special mention of his coach at the finish.

"Unfortunately I'm an average Joe runner who has a very good coach.

"Don put in a lot of effort to get us to this point," he said.