Despite suffering in her first cold-weather triathlon, new star Melissa Rollison scorched to the Australian long-course title at Falls Creek.

Rollison and Sydney’s Tim Reed took out the 2km swim, 80km cycle and 20km run championship on Saturday.

The race was moved forward by an hour and a half because of a forecast thunderstorm.

While organisers dodged the bad weather, the temperature was still under 10 degrees throughout the race.

“It was really well organised, but I’m bringing gloves next time,” said Rollison, who is from Queensland.

“The last 10km of the run was great – I’d warmed up by then.

“It was a tough course and I’m really glad I came here for training and the race.”

Rollison is in Falls Creek in country Victoria for a block of altitude training ahead of the March 3 Abu Dhabi long-course race.

She took the lead early in the bike leg from defending champion Madeleine Oldfield and won easily in four hours 14 minutes and 39 seconds.

Oldfield was next in 4:24:40, also well under her winning time of 4:30:05 in last year’s inaugural Falls Creek race.

“Melissa was up there passing some pretty good men – she is an awesome talent,” said race director Dave Hansen.

Rollison, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist in track running, has been a revelation since switching to long-course triathlon two years ago.

She won last year’s 70.3 (half-Ironman) world title and wants to eventually step up to the Hawaiian Ironman.

Reed also showed his ability, taking the lead on the run for an impressive win.

Melbourne’s Luke Bell dominated the bike leg, but apparently he rolled an ankle during the run and backed off his pace.

Reed won in 3:54:15, also a course record, with Joe Gambles next in 3:55.17 and Bell taking third with 4:03:23.