Four hours of racing came down to two seconds to decide the winner of this year's Bay of Plenty IRB Long Haul competition.

Mairangi Bay Surf Life Saving Club took first place in a hard fought battle, with Red Beach settling for second and Papamoa A taking out third.

Eleven teams took part in the event at the weekend. Each were tested with physically and mentally demanding challenges along the 95km stretch of coastline from Ohope Beach to Mount Maunganui.

The IRB challenge tests Surf Lifeguards' ability to respond to a callout or rescue by quickly setting up the IRB and heading out onto the water.

Format for this year's race was changed to a stage race to allow for closer racing. It was set over five stages (Matata, Pukehina, Papamoa, Omanu and Mt Maunganui), where all teams started together and raced side-by-side to the next destination where they completed the stage challenge.

Crews had 10 minutes to recover before the next mass start set them on their way to the next stage.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand Sport Manager Mark Inglis says it was a great day of high speed, adrenaline-filled racing.

'A lot of the details around the challenges, and the race itself, were withheld from the competitors until race day to add to the challenge and the teams handled it very well.

'It was an awesome day of racing along the beautiful Bay of Plenty coastline,” he says.

Results: Accumulated time difference over the five stages

Mairangi Bay, 4:22

Red Beach, 4:24

Papamoa A team, 9:07

Papamoa BBB team, 12:31 (U21 category)

Mt Maunganui B, 18:11

Mt Maunganui A, 30:38

Papamoa C Nug, 36:04 (U21 category)

Tairua, 36:41

Whiritoa, 36:52

Omanu, 36:58

Omanu, Young Bucks 44:08 (U21 category)