2018 Ironman Australia in Port Macquarie | photos, social

The 41-year-old created his own piece of history when he claimed the Ironman Australia title in Port Macquarie on Sunday.

Vanhoenacker needed to set a new course record of 8:14:37 to do it as he held off 36-year-old Taree product Luke McKenzie.

McKenzie finished in second place (8:18:10) ahead of New Zealand’s Mark Bowstead (8:26:25).

By the end of it, the Belgian became the first athlete to win an Ironman race on every continent and took his Ironman victory tally to 17.

“I invested really big time in this one and it really felt a little bit like now or never,” Vanhoenacker said.

“I’m turning 42 so I’m not getting any faster from now on.

“I really wanted this; at the end of my career to be able to achieve this in such a strong field like this is a dream come true.”

Vanhoenacker pushed himself to the point of exhaustion for the majority of the race where he battled Mark Bowstead for more than 100 kilometres on the bike.

Before that, the duo left the water at the start of the day in the lead group alongside each other.

“I haven’t been in a lead pack for a very, very long time with these (sorts of) fast swimmers,” van Hoenacker said.

“It felt like it was too fast for the whole swim and it continued on the bike.

“Mark was pushing so hard and I was thinking ‘Mark, please, at least one kilometre an hour slower would be perfect.’”

Eventually, the Belgian had to let him go and trust that he would catch him over the closing stages.

“When he rode past me I wondered if I should just park the bike and hide in the change tent and not come out,” he said.

“Then I started running and for the first 15 kays I got a good feeling and started believing again.”

Vanhoenacker didn’t rule out that his success in Port Macquarie could be the final race of his career.

“Now I don’t have anything left and I’m not sure how to proceed in the season; I left everything out there,” he said.

He said over the last five years he had started every Ironman race as if it could be his last and if it is, it’s an impressive way to go out.

“I can hardly walk at the moment so I’ll celebrate here and when I get home we’ll have a big celebration next Friday,” he said.

“I’ll probably get really drunk and on Monday we start from zero, but you never think about tomorrow because those are worries for tomorrow.”