North Melbourne has a new time trial champion – Mason Wood.

With the benefit of an extra fortnight in Utah, Wood finished the strongest in a hotly contested race, ahead of Will Fordham and Sam Gibson.

“It’s been a long four years to try to get up the top. I got there today,” Wood told NMFC.com.au.

Gibson has been the dominant time trial performer since joining the club in 2012, but he certainly had excuses; his first day of pre-season was today, after attending to the birth of his first child last Monday.

“I’m getting a bit old,” Gibson joked.

“It’s probably still a bit early in the pre-season for me, but Mase ran really well.”