Kiama's Ali Day can rightly be considered one of Australia's greatest ever Ironman competitors after tasting overall glory for a fifth time on Sunday.
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Day's fifth Nutri-Grain Ironman Series title came 10 years after the 33-year-old won his first title back in 2014.
He has now won five Nutri-Grain Ironman titles, nine Coolangatta Golds and three Australian tiles.
His latest triumph on Kurrawa Beach came despite Day battling illness and injury in the lead-up to the series' resumption on Saturday.
"It was hard, I wasn't here last year," Day said moments after claiming his fifth title.
"It's hard coming in as favourite, particularly when you lead the point-score, you want to win. It's a tough weekend, there's a lot of pressure to deal with. I'm just happy to come away with the win yesterday and today."
Day, who will become a dad for the second time soon, showed no signs of slowing down on the weekend.
But he conceded he was still coming to terms with latest triumph, adding it takes a village to help him compete at his best, praising especially the support of his family including wife Kel.
"I don't know if it will ever sink in... I won it at 23 for the first time and I am 33 now. Five is an awesome number," Day said
"I wanted to prove to myself I could back up and do another one. It just feels so good.
"To be mentioned in the same sentence or calibre as... some of my heroes growing up like Wes [Berg], Cain [Eckstein], Ky [Hurst] and Shannon [Eckstein].
"Shannon was my favourite. He was a professional and I felt like I was most like him in leaving no stone unturned and being professional. He was down here today and that added a bit of oomph to me.
"Literally right before the gun went, in the last race, I just went 'what would Shannon do?'.
"I said to Zane [Hamill], my coach, after the second race, what do I have to do for the points and he said 'don't worry about the points'. You have got another race to go and execute... thankfully I did."
Lana Rogers also executed on Sunday to be crowned Ironwoman champion.
Rogers said her third crown was perhaps the sweetest of all, admitting her resurgence to form was thanks to the move to the Gold Coast.
"It hasn't sunk in just yet. I didn't think I could beat my [2023] Coolangatta Gold win but this does and it's very special.
"I didn't think it [third Series title] was very realistic, it's just sort of that 'legendary books' for Surf Life Saving... and I've done that and I can't believe I've done it," Rogers said.
New Zealand stars Joe Collins and Olivia Corrin both finished second on the overall Series ladder.