As Cameron Brown hobbled on to the winner's stage yesterday afternoon, keen rival Kieran Doe looked up and said ruefully, "that's the slowest you've gone all day".
As much as Doe hated to admit it, he knew he had been beaten by a champion athlete, again.
Brown won his seventh-straight Ironman New Zealand yesterday (2006 didn't count, as the swim was cancelled because of inclement weather) in 8 hours and 24.49 minutes to become the first man in history to achieve the feat in the same event.
Doe might have led for nearly three-quarters of the race, being passed by Brown halfway through the marathon, but really the 35-year-old Aucklander was in control as soon as the cannon went off as dawn broke over Taupo at 7am yesterday.
Doe, who is a strong swimmer and cyclist, needed a 15-minute lead heading into the run. He had only seven.
"It was just a great day," Brown said. "I felt in control. It was a great buildup and nothing went wrong."
It was a different story last year when he spent more time in his bed, and on the toilet for two days before the race and had to call on all of his reserves to beat Australian Luke Bell.
"I wanted to enjoy it and take in what I missed out in last year," said Brown who high-fived the crowd as he ran into the finish line and then went out for a repeat dose. "I'm going to really enjoy this one, then spend the next two weeks on a holiday with the family to the Gold Coast."
Brown was ninth out of the water from the 3.8km swim and improved to second after a 180km ride made all the more difficult by driving rain and a blustery wind. At times on the bike his pace slowed to just 33km/h but this increased to more than 55km/h when the wind was at his back.
Bell, who with Doe was considered one of his main rivals, was hit with a four-minute drafting penalty during the cycle leg and withdrew shortly after the start of the run. There were times when Doe didn't think he would finish but he hung in there to cross the line in third.
The surprise package of the day was Belgian Frederik Van Lierde, the world long distance triathlon champion, who was competing in his first Ironman. He, too, ran Doe down during the marathon to finish second, seven minutes behind Brown.
A lot of interest was taken in Richard Ussher, who was competing in his first Ironman. The three-time Coast to Coast winner headed into the unknown but emerged with a highly-creditable seventh, only a minute off fifth and 24 minutes down on Brown.
"It was a really tough day out," said Ussher, who qualified for Hawaii but said he was unlikely to race in the mother of all events. "It's such a different fatigue to the Coast, so it was definitely a learning experience.
"Ironman was something I always wanted to do. It's a huge event and if you really want to test yourself against some of the best endurance athletes there's no better place than this. I just wanted to see what it was like.
"I'm very, very happy considering I hadn't really done any specific training. In three or four days, when the legs recover, I'm sure I will be raring to go to another one."
If he does turn up to Taupo again, he will find Brown at the start line. People constantly ask the champion when he might retire but he's not ready to give it away yet.
"I would get bored over the New Zealand summer if I couldn't train for this race," he said. "Kieran will win this race one day but as long as I am here I will be trying to stop him. My day will come when I get beaten but I'm not over the hill at 35."