NORTH Melbourne's time trial king Sam Gibson has been dethroned, with emerging forward Mason Wood winning the Roos' opening pre-season distance race.

North's 2km time trial was held on Monday morning, with Wood crossing the line first, ahead of rookie Will Fordham and Gibson.

Gibson has dominated the Kangaroos' time trials in recent years, but Wood took advantage of his earlier return to pre-season training at the club's recent high-altitude training camp at Utah.

Wood only managed eight games this year with knee surgery after rounding 16 ending his season.

"It's been a long four years to try to get up the top, (but) I got there today," Wood told NMFC.com.au.

Gibson, 30, did not have the ideal preparation for Monday's race, given it was his first day of pre-season training and came just a week after his first child was born.

"I'm getting a bit old. It's probably still a bit early in the pre-season for me, but Mase ran really well," he said.