Dude Where’s My Bruno (yes, that’s their name) crossed the line on Sunday in just over 31 hours – half a minute ahead of team APEX. The runners-up boasted Ironman great Guy Andrews and Anaconda champion Christie Sym, and were headed for victory until an inspired piece of navigation.

“No way did it ever enter our minds that we were going to win,” DWMB’s Sam Maffett said, after crossing the line with fellow Victorians Kris Plain, Katrin van der Spiegel and Richard Mountstephens.

“But I helped organise the Anaconda adventure race, so I had a bit of local knowledge. I knew there was a shortcut up over a hill near the golf course, near Boomerang Beach. It won us back 12 minutes, and then we ran and ran because we knew they’d paddle us down later. I guess we never really gave up.”

The course was only revealed Friday night, and took in a vast area from the Barrington Tops to the finish line at Forster Beach Caravan Park. Maffett had been confident about the new rock-climbing component, but the team was always going to be strongest on the bike and run legs. Their fears of struggling in the kayak and raft legs never materialised.

“Kris put that raft together in five minutes while I put on my wetsuit,” Maffett said.

“Then we paddled our hearts out and lo and behold, we managed to hold [APEX] off.”

Finishing nearly a day ahead of some teams, the winners had moments of doubt. “We found we’re human as well, and we crashed to the side of the road at one point just to get five minutes’ sleep,” Maffett said.

“At one stage we had Katrin, who’s a phenomenal cyclist, spewing all over the road.”

Asked if there were any fights, Mountstephens, who’s married to van der Spiegel, said: “Not really, though I convinced Katrin to do the GeoQuest by telling her there’s not much paddling. When I looked at the course I thought, uh-oh. But you’ve got to have a laugh in these races. You’re out there with your mates in a pile of lantana, so you’ve got to laugh.”