The elite triathlete beat Frenchman and housemate Julien Leroy in Saturday's Cobden Football Netball Club event.

Leroy led coming out of the water after the swim leg but McCartney wasted no time catching the early leader.

McCartney hit the front during the difficult bike leg and was able to extend and cement his lead position.

McCartney used the weekend's hit-out as a warm-up for the final round of the Gatorade Triathlon Series in a fortnight's time. He finished the race in 46 minutes and 31 seconds - almost two minutes clear of his French rival.

Leroy crossed the line in 48:24 with Ballarat's Grant Gilbert rounding out the top three in 48.50.

Leroy's compatriot Charlotte Lancerbeau was a clear winner in the women's open event beating second-placed Davina Pickles from Camperdown by more than five minutes (1:01.49).

Warrnambool's Claire Greening finished third in 1:05.04.

Lancerbeau, who won last week's Warrnambool Charity Short Course triathlon, finished 11th overall on Saturday.

The elite course event consisting of a 600-metre swim, 18-kilometre cycle and 6km run was cancelled due to lack of entries and instead all athletes competed in the shortcourse event.

In good conditions, 62 individual triathletes and 37 teams competed in the inaugural event which included a 300-metre swim, 18km cycle and 4km run.

Event organiser Mark Loving said the event was a success with entrants from Bendigo, Maryborough, Horsham and Hamilton all promising to return next year.

McCartney, Leroy and Warrnambool's Rohan Creed took out the open team's event with the second-placed team of Paul Miller, David Lunn and Ralph Iselt also winning the veteran team event.

The all-women's team was won by Katherine Hammond, Kerry McGlad and Emma Beks.

"It was a fantastic day and it was fantastic to see everyone having a go," Loving said.

"We can really build on the event next year and take it to another level."

 The Lake Bullen Merri Classic triathlon was an event organised by the Cobden Football Netball Club on Saturday - not the Camperdown Football Netball Club as reported in Saturday's paper.

The error was made by a reporter.