A relieved Dan Collins is focused on coming back fitter, faster and stronger for next summer's national ironman series after surviving a late challenge for his top 10 spot.
Collins was 15th and 12th in the final two rounds of the series, held in hot conditions at Kurrawa on the weekend.
Tenth before the final weekend, the Redhead club member was in danger of losing his spot in the top 10, and likely requalification for 2023-24, in Sunday's eliminator-style finale.
The 26-year-old fell short of the eight-man, third and final race, where Jackson Borg had a chance to overtake him on the overall standings.
However, Borg was eighth, finishing two points short of 10th spot and Collins, who was disappointed with his results but glad to keep his place.
"Obviously it's not really how I wanted to finish the series, on two, not terrible results, but definitely not my best results," Collins said. "But I'm really happy to walk away with 10th overall and hopefully that's enough for qualification for next year."
In recent years, the top 10 from the previous summer's series have been automatic qualifiers, but that is not guaranteed for 2023-24.
Collins has been on the series since 2017, even though he had to qualify at times through trials. Either way, he is driven to bounce back next summer after dropping six positions this series from his career-best fourth-place in 2021-22.
"I love racing, especially at that level," he said. "I think it's a real privilege to be able to race in that series with those 19 other guys. It's the real pointy end of our sport.
"It's a privilege to come up against those guys and really test yourself. I love it and I'm definitely keen to keep going while I can.
"It's a multi-disciplined sport so there's always little areas that probably need improving or refining, so it's always back to the drawing board to see if you can get fitter, faster, stronger for next year.
"You take it a little bit hard when last year you have your best series, but I think we got dealt up some very different conditions to last year."
In Saturday's specialist round, Collins performed well in discipline races to earn fifth position for the handicap start for the ironman race.
He was close to the leaders until "a wave fell right on my lap" in the ski leg and he dropped back through the field.
He was then forced to make up ground after a slow start in race one on Sunday to finish seventh and avoid the initial cut. In race two, he was also at the rear of the field early, but he was unable to claw his way back again.
"I probably used up a few too many bikkies in that first race," he said of Sunday's round.
"I was a little bit behind at the start and I needed to work back into it. There's such a short turnaround between races, so it was pretty tough to get back to the line.
"[Saturday's] round, they are a tough style of racing so I was feeling a little worse for wear in that second round."
His immediate focus is next weekend's Summer of Surf finale at Northcliffe.
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