There’s a huge tidal swell on the coast of Australia where I am at the moment. Surfers have been flocking here to ride the huge waves or, more often than not, get thrown about by them. Sports photographers too have positioned themselves along the higher ground with their wide angle lenses pointing out to see. There’s a few pros out there. The surf photographers, through their massive lenses and experience can pick them out but the rest of us just see heads bobbing about and figure on boards.

Watching this scene as I stood sweating in my kit and Santa hat having run five miles barefoot along the beach, the similarities between surfing and running were obvious. There’s no barriers between the elite and the novice or hobbiest. Unlike golf or tennis where the rich and the good buy their way into certain courses or clubs with money or medals, the beach and the road are open to all who want to give it a go.

Likewise, if you take part in certain marathons you’ll be running in the exact same race as world record holders, Olympians and world champions. You’ll be racing against them just as the world champions are riding the same waves as the surf pros congregating on the east coast of Australia.

This was Christmas Day in Oz. My run along the beach happened as the sun was lowering in the sky and bouncing off the water. The sand was wet and firm and the surfers kept me entertained. It was very different to the past two years when I’ve run through snow but it was still a pretty merry Christmas of running.