The race is a marathon test of endurance held over 46.65km.

Starting at Surfers Paradise contestants undertake a 23km surf ski paddle to Greenmount Beach, a 0.65km beach run to Coolangatta, 3.5km swim to Bilinga, 4km beach run to Currumbin and 5.5km board paddle to Burleigh Heads. A 10km beach run then returns competitors to Surfers Paradise.

“It was a very tough race where you are pushing yourself to the limits for over 5hrs.To have my family as support crew handling the surf crafts and receiving drinks plus encouragement from my children was very special. The race was a great experience especially crossing the line, it made all that training during a long cold and wet winter all worth while,” Searle said.

Searle (44) crossed the finish line in 14th place in the men’s masters 40 years plus category. The competition attracts 442 competitors in the individual and team events from all over Australia, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, France, Britain and the USA.

“At this stage I am leaning towards contesting it again next year, unfortunately I contracted a flu virus only days out from the race which took its toll on me.

“It would have been nice to have finished in the top 10 which would have only taken three minutes improvement in my race time; I think this would be very achievable,” Searle said.