diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3f7c9af33..c91f952b7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ kind-clean: $(KIND) #EXHELP Delete the kind cluster.
 	$(KIND) delete cluster --name $(KIND_CLUSTER_NAME)
 
 .PHONY: kind-verify-versions
-kind-verify-versions:
+kind-verify-versions: $(KIND)
 	env K8S_VERSION=v$(K8S_VERSION) KIND=$(KIND) GOBIN=$(GOBIN) hack/tools/validate_kindest_node.sh
 
 
diff --git a/hack/tools/validate_kindest_node.sh b/hack/tools/validate_kindest_node.sh
index c1fdcc313..f00632bcc 100755
--- a/hack/tools/validate_kindest_node.sh
+++ b/hack/tools/validate_kindest_node.sh
@@ -4,8 +4,24 @@
 # Extract the version of kind, by removing the "${GOBIN}/kind-" prefix
 KIND=${KIND#${GOBIN}/kind-}
 
-# Get the version of the image
-KIND_VER=$(curl -L -s https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/raw/refs/tags/${KIND}/pkg/apis/config/defaults/image.go | grep -Eo 'v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+')
+GOMODCACHE=$(go env GOMODCACHE)
+
+REGEX='v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+'
+
+# Get the version of the image from the local kind build
+if [ -d "${GOMODCACHE}" ]; then
+    KIND_VER=$(grep -Eo "${REGEX}" ${GOMODCACHE}/sigs.k8s.io/kind@${KIND}/pkg/apis/config/defaults/image.go)
+fi
+
+# Get the version of the image from github
+if [ -z "${KIND_VER}" ]; then
+    KIND_VER=$(curl -L -s https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/raw/refs/tags/${KIND}/pkg/apis/config/defaults/image.go | grep -Eo "${REGEX}")
+fi
+
+if [ -z "${KIND_VER}" ]; then
+    echo "Unable to determine kindest/node version"
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 # Compare the versions
 if [ "${KIND_VER}" != "${K8S_VERSION}" ]; then