The star Orange triathlete dominated the long course grand prix style event from the get go as he ran, swam, cycled, jumped in the pool again then powered home on foot.

He stopped the clock in a time of 46 minutes, 23 seconds to finish almost four minutes clear of his nearest rival, Bathurst's Nick North.

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In winning for the third time, Thornhill joins North in being the most successful male triathlete in the history of Bathurst's Australia Day event since it was also given status as a round of the Central West Inter Club Triathlon Series.

"It's such a good event, it's so good seeing everyone out here and when you get a cracker of a day like this, it's hard to miss," Thornhill said.

"The type racing I do is super sprint and sprint distance racing, so the different grand prix format really lets me test the waters, try a few different things, so it's really great we have this opportunity here in the Central West.

"It's just a special event on the calendar, I always mark it down and try to get here."

The race began with a 2.5 kilometre run along the banks of the Macquarie river and Thornhill set off like a jet rocket.

He clocked a split of 7:29 to see him open up a 50-seconds gap over nearest rival, Bathurst's Angus Argent-Smith, with Mudgee's Matt Webster third into the pool behind them.

Thornhill was first to complete the 200 metres swim, but as he reached the final stages of the 16km cycle leg which followed, he could feel North closing in.

North did a powerful 22:22 cycle split, Thornhill a 23:57.

So how did the Orange star respond to the pressure? His second 200m swim was three seconds quicker than his first while he still had the energy to extend his lead over North by a further three minutes, 13 seconds in the run.

"On the bike, towards the end, I took a couple of looks behind me and saw him coming, so I knew had to keep my head down and keep moving forward," Thornhill said.

"I'm running really well at the moment, so I'm happy, I just have to carry it through. I knew Nick North was coming up behind me, so I had to put a little bit of time into him."

North crossed the finish line in second in a time of 50:17, with Argent-Smith (50:50) third.

Ben Orford was the best of the Dubbo Hippos contingent and finished in 13^th place overall.

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