After completing the gruelling Ironman event, Holtham, who won his first Ironman on Sunday said it was those reminders that got him through.

“Patience is the key to Ironman for me,” he said. "In the end though, I probably didn’t need to be patient because I had such a bad swim and bike leg.

“But it’s a long day out there and they say that the halfway point of the whole race is half way through the run.”

Ultimately it was patience that won it for the Canadian.

The race was very different early on and last year’s winner Luke Bell was blitzing the field.

“I heard at some stage that Luke was walking and I felt a bit of a tingle and I had to tell myself not to get too excited."

The winner credited the crowd that lined the course for the motivation that saw him through to the finish.

“On my right hand is ‘keep running’ and the crowd were phenomenal and supportive,” he said. “That’s what we all want, to win, and so many things can go wrong and that’s why I just needed to keep running.

“The turning point was in the run. The gaps where huge, I mean they were so big but people can just blow up so easily if they push to hard and that’s what I kept telling myself that there’s a long way to go.”

Holtham said he had already accomplished his two main goals but now has his sights set on another goal, winning a hometown event.

“My main goals were to win an Ironman event and to qualify for Kona and I think I’ve done that with this win,” he said.

“It’s not just my win though, it’s my coaches too, he started from scratch with me a few years back and my family they will be excited back home.”

Holtham finished in a time of eight hours, 35 minutes and 17 seconds, followed by Paul Ambrose 8:37.46 and Nick Baldwin 8:41.18.