Competitors battling it out in on foot and bike in Race One of this year's Duathlon Series - faced a third challenge at Hong Kong Science Park in Sha Tin last Sunday - the slippery roads caused by steady rain.
Hong Kong Triathlon Association officials warned athletes to take extra care when cycling in the race.
'I had moments when I was leading the pack in the cycling, but I couldn't increase my speed because of the weather,' said a disappointed Jeffrey Tan Ho-fai, who finished second behind Kenneth Kwok Wing-kan in the Men's elite junior race.
'My rivals were able to catch up with me before the change over to running; next time I will save more energy for running instead.'
The men's elite juniors' (born from 1993 to 1996) and open juniors' (born from 1997 to 2000) competitions involved first running 3.2km, then cycling 12km and finally running a further 3.2km to the finish.
Kenneth, a Form Five student at La Salle College, in Kowloon, overtook Jeffrey over the final 30m to win his first elite junior title in a time of 49 minutes 16 seconds. Jeffery finished only two seconds behind, with Eric Wong Hui-wai third and Abraham Kok Yu-hang fourth.