The adventure racing specialist from Melbourne’s Peak Adventure clocked up the fastest mountain bike, paddle and run times to finish the race in five hours, 47 minutes, 10 seconds.

“It was fantastic — it was a postcard day and it’s a beautiful area to race,” Kohlar said.

“I managed to get the fastest run time, which was a bit of a goal of mine, being the final leg it’s hard to get that.

“There are a lot of teams that do the event so sometimes you’re racing against fresh legs — so it was a good day.

“I was pretty consistent — normally I really push it on the bike to make sure I get the fastest bike split and push the paddle.

“But this year I didn’t go as hard on the paddle and saved a bit of energy to try and finish off the run.”

Kohlar had another secret weapon.

Temperatures were high as competitors rode 38 kilometres on mountain bikes, paddled 26 kilometres then did a 25-kilometre run.

Kohlar had ideal preparation with a month spent competing in China.

“I’d done five races over a month in China with temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s with 90 per cent humidity,” he said.

“So while a lot of competitors were complaining about the heat coming out of a Melbourne winter it didn’t really feel that hot at all.”

Second in the men’s open went to Jacob Storey, who finished in 6.04:14, closely followed by Tim Boote in 6.09:17.

First open female across the line was Louise Carrington with 7.33:53.

“It’s definitely a world- class event,” Kohlar said.

“The course is fantastic, it gets a lot of support from the community and the paddle leg is just fantastic on the Swampy Plains and Upper Murray rivers.”