An 80-year-old man has achieved an incredible feat in Cairns after finishing the 226km Ironman Asia-Pacific event in one epic 16-hour day.
George Hulse reached the end of the road eight hours after course records were broken by men’s winner Braden Currie and women’s champion Kylie Simpson earlier on Sunday.
WATCH IN THE VIDEO ABOVE: Epic scenes as 80-year-old finishes Ironman Asia-Pacific in Cairns.
Watch the latest sport on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >>
The event’s sole octogenarian competitor offered plenty of high-fives and two raised fists as he clocked 16 hours, 24 minutes and 39 seconds.
Hulse’s day kicked off with a 3.9km swim that took one hour, 30 minutes and 44 seconds to complete.
After a 16-minute transition to the bike leg, Hulse kept a steady pace across the 180km cycling journey towards Port Douglas and back to Cairns.
He was in the saddle for a total of seven hours, 47 minutes and nine seconds before an 11-minute break before the final leg – the dreaded marathon.
But when you’ve already come this far, why not crack on?
Hulse ran into the night to complete the 42.2km marathon across six hours, 38 minutes and 49 seconds, receiving a rapturous reception at the finish line.
Earlier on Saturday, Australian triathlete Kylie Simpson continues to build up her impressive resume by winning the Ironman Asia-Pacific title for the second time.
Adding more lustre to Simpson’s win, it came after she backed up from winning last month’s Ironman Australia title in Port Macquarie.
Simpson clocked eight hours 40 minutes 53 seconds for the 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km run event, beating compatriot Radka Kahlefeldt by a whopping 18 minutes.
Penny Slater made it an all-Australian podium as defending champion Sarah Crowley faded to fourth after leading at the start of the marathon.
Simpson also won Cairns two years ago and this time sliced eight minutes off the old course record, set by New Zealander Teresa Adam four years ago.
“I just got on the bike and just put my head down and got into a rhythm and just took as much time out of the girls as I could,” said Simpson.
“I knew I was chipping into them, I didn’t know that I was on course for the record so that’s a little bonus.
“Coming into T2 (bike-run transition) and all of us in that change tent together, that was a good moment to realise how close we were and I knew that they (Crowley and Kahlefeldt) can both run well, they’re both champions and I knew what I was up against.
“Sarah’s won here multiple times, she’s been on the podium at Kona, Radka’s been to the Olympics so I knew that I couldn’t let them get away so I had to put as much time into them as I could.”
In the men’s race, New Zealander Braden Currie clocked seven hours, 50 minutes and 11 seconds to take two minutes off the course record set last year by Australian star Max Neumann.
Unlike Simpson, who was more than 12 minutes down after the swim, Currie was among the leaders throughout the race.
He powered clear in the marathon to finish 10 minutes ahead of Steve McKenna, with fellow Australian Tim Van Berkel nearly four minutes further back in fourth.
– with AAP