Mason Wood has taken top honours at St Kilda’s three-kilometre time trial for the second consecutive season, though not without a late challenge from Marcus Windhager on the final straight.

The two were separated by less than a second as Windhager turned on the jets midway through the last lap, forcing another sprint to the finish line at G.R. Bricker Reserve.

Windhager placed first in last fortnight’s initial time trial for the one-to-four-year players, this morning registering a sub-10-minute time alongside Wood, Bradley Hill (third), Dan Butler (fourth) and Ryan Byrnes (fifth).

Wood made his push to the front with two laps remaining, edging ahead of pack leaders Butler and Byrnes to build out a healthy buffer before Windhager’s last-gasp charge.

“We registered some good times on our return and we’re overall pleased with what we saw,” Head of Performance & Conditioning Nick Walsh said.

“There’s obviously a lot of work to put in across the board between now and Round 1, but everyone is striving to get better until we test again.”

The Saints split this year’s time trial into two separate heats of 17 runners, with Cooper Sharman taking out top honours in his group with a time a just shy of the overall top-10.

St Kilda’s full playing list returned to official training duties this morning and will break for Christmas on Friday 16 December.