One of Triathlon Australia's rising stars, Birtwhistle paced himself well during the race before unleashing his powerful running leg on the way to a convincing victory.

The former track and field star   is now a full-time triathlete based in Wollongong under international coach Jamie Turner.

``I was feeling good today and I had to keep reminding myself not to go too hard too early,'' said the Australian Youth Olympic champion and OTU Oceania champion.

 ``I tried to stay away from the front, which is hard for me, but I was able to sit in the pack for a bit and put the pressure on in the second lap.''

Birtwhistle was able to time his run to perfection over the back end of the 1500-metre swim, 40km bike and 10km run and powered away to win it in 1 hour and 52.07 seconds.

Victorian Nathan Buschkuehl finished second  (1:52.26), with Danny Coleman (1:52.35) nine seconds back in third in an all-Australian finish.

The race victory sets Birtwhistle up for his first major international escapade, starting with the Chengdu World Cup in China on March 23.

``This race was   pretty important for me today as I am moving on to the World Cups now,'' he said.

``After Devonport (the Oceania Standard Distance Championships) a few weeks ago I was sore, I didn't pull up very well . . . `` I have only just managed to recover in the past couple of days.''