There aren't many things tougher than the Coolangatta Gold.
But 2019 winner Matt Bevilacqua admits the Hawaiian Ironman might be one of them and has studied their methods in an effort to topple seven-time champion Ali Day on Sunday.
Day has made the 41.8km, four-hour, multi-discipline surf race his own - Bevilacqua's victory coming with him injured and not in the field.
The Tasmanian has tapped into the methods used by the world's best Ironman triathletes, whose races often span more than double that time, to bridge the gap.
"They work their arse off and are so fit over eight hours," he told AAP.
"They're really stretching the limit of performance and for the Gold it's easy to draw some similarities around gym maintenance, reducing injury load, increasing muscular endurance and getting the volume up without falling apart."
A favourite is Adelaide man Jack Kelly's podcast "How They Train", whose guests include triathlon coach and doctor Dan Plews, who catapulted Chelsea Sodaro to a surprise Ironman Kona World Championship win last week.
"It's all on paper; (Plews details) why she won because she was able to do this," Bevilacqua said.
"It's pretty incredible stuff and I'm taking it all on board."
Ultimately Bevilacqua knows the key to beating Day will be to somehow stick with him on the 3.5km swim leg.
Despite being one of the field's better swimmers, not even a "30 to 40 per cent" advantage gained from sitting in Day's wake has been enough to keep him - or any other rival - in the conversation.
"I'd love to know how he'd go at the 1500m or 10k open water swim at the Olympics, but we might not ever find out and I'll just have to deal with him in the Gold," Bevilacqua said.
"It is quite baffling how no-one has been able to do that (stay on his feet despite it being easier than swimming in front position).
"But's he's definitely beatable and it's a challenge I'm not shying away from.
"Some guys in our sport shy away from that and jump into the summer and leave some races alone but I haven't stopped doing the Gold just because he's around."
The event, created as part of a movie in 1985, will also debut a downwind paddle race alongside the 21km short course on Saturday.
COOLANGATTA GOLD COURSE - 41.8km
* Ski - 23km Coolangatta to Tallebudgera Creek (return)
* Run - 1km Coolangatta to Tweed Heads SLSC (return)
* Swim - 3.5km Coolangatta to North Kirra SLSC (return)
* Board - 6.1km Coolangatta to Pacific Parade (return)
* Run - 8.2km Coolangatta to Golden Four Drive (return)
