There’s only a handful of sporting events where simply finishing is a monumental feat on its own, and the Ironman World Championships at Kona, Hawaii, is one of those, with both Dale and Richards completing the gruelling 3.8 kilometre swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km run in oppressive conditions on Sunday morning Australian daylight saving time.

It’s the second time Richards has completed the event.

The 33-year-old blitzed this year’s ironman on the world stage, finishing in the top 100 females athletes to cross the line in a strong time of 10 hours, 57 minutes and 14 seconds, impressively bettering the time she set at the Port Macquarie ironman of 11.21:50 where she qualified as the fifth female overall.

Richards was 17th in her 30-34 females age group, while her overall ranking was 925 out of 2367 competitors from all over the planet.

She was the 12th Australian female past the post.

While Dale has just finished her first coming off the back of injury.

Competing in the female 40-44 years age group, Dale produced a stellar time of 11.56:37, beating half of her field to finish in 48th and as the 275th woman - out of the 662 that competed in Kona - across the finish line.

It’s a wonderful achievement by both Orange Cycle and Triathlon Club members.

In Hawaii for the ironman, temperatures swirled around the 35 degrees Celsius mark, with humidity verging on 100 per cent.

German Jan Frodeno was the first to complete this year’s championship, posting a time of 8.14:40.

Swiss triathlete Daniela Ryf claimed the victory in the women’s championship in a time of 8.57:57.