The fleetest feet on this final day of the 31st Ultraman belonged to David Kalinowski of Australia, who covered 52.4 miles in 6 hours 32 minutes and 59 seconds. But the superior bike skills wrought by Michael Coughlin of Canada provided a 42 minute cushion before the run and the Canadian hung tough with a 6:48:02 double marathon to preserve the victory. Another form of victory belonged to the woman who posted the slowest double marathon. But Iona McKenzie of Yellowknife, Northern Territories, Canada found her 11 hours 34 minutes and 24 seconds run good enough to earn an official finish despite myriad problems on all three days.

So all 31 competitors who managed to cover the 320-miles involved in the triathletic circumnavigation of the Big Island of Hawaii within the allotted time earned the right to be proud of their post-Thanksgiving quest for aerobic satiation.

All photographs © Timothy Carlson

Adam Fox of Australia takes a big gulp of water running past a passionate red desert flower and some deep black lava. Fox ran 8:28:02 on his way to 14th overall.

Tony O’Keefe (right) and Billy Edwards (left) take off at the 6:00 AM double marathon start.

Will Rogers of Surrey, British Columbia ran 10:59:25 to finish 28th overall. Nice guns!

Kat Calder-Becker of Montreal ran 9:49:52 to place second woman and 21st overall. Here she is paced by crew member Melissa Teri.

Gary Wang of Corte Madera, California ran the double marathon in 10:27:26 to finish 19th overall.

Tony O’Keefe, 54, ran 7:02:55 to finish 4th overall.

Miro Kregar advanced from 7th to 5th with a 6:57:55 double marathon.

The always exuberant Jochen Dembeck of Germany ran 8:12:05 to finish 10th overall in 25:52:39.

Staci Studer of Kailua-Kona ran with crew member to an 8:45:30 double marathon to win the women‘s title and finish 15th overall in in 29:28:29.

Studer hung tough in the shifting winds on Sunday.

Kevin Becker ran 8:51:53 to finish 20th overall - one place in front of his wife Katherine Calder-Becker.

Just 35 miles to go.

Ultraman runners attack a long downhill.

Kevin Willis of Canada took it out hard on the run, staying with early leader Miro Kregar until his 55-year-old legs faded slightly to a 7:34:04 run and 8th place overall.

David Kalinowski pushed bard, coming up with the day’s fastest run split of 6:32:59 which brought him 2nd place overall.

Tony O’Keefe ran 7:02:55 to hold off Miro Kregar for 4th place.

Michael Coughlin’s 6:48:02 double marathon was fast enough to win but fell 2:56 short of the race record.

David Kalinowski earned a kiss from crew member, Olympian and girlfriend Mel Gorman.

Kalinowski kept the swelling down with a post-race ice bath.

The final word after a long day.