EIMEAR Mullan produced a blistering comeback on the final run stage to win the women’s race.

At one point, during the 112-mile bike ride, the Northern Ireland athlete was 16 minutes behind runaway leader Amanda Stevens, but stepped up the pace to reel in her American rival.

Clocking 3hrs18mins 32secs for the marathon, the 30-year-old put her winning time of 10:08:44 down to the “amazing support” that cheered her every step.

“I could not believe the amount of support there was out there,” said the Portstewart-born champion.

“It was absolutely brilliant, as good as any American races I’ve been to. There were people shouting and banners, it was just amazing. I’d defintely come back, I loved it.”

Despite the level of support, a Mullan victory looked unlikely after a disappointing swim that left her 13 minutes adrift of Stevens.

She briefly fell into third place behind German Annett Kamenz, but pedalled her way back into contention on the moors above Rivington before decimating the field on the run.

“It was a very big gap,”

said Mullan. “There were points on the bike where I thought I was just racing for second place, but when I got off the bike and heard I was 12 minutes down I thought ‘I could do this’.

“I decided just to run steady and see what happened. I got into a lead quite quickly and I just kept it really, really steady.

I didn’t want to go too hard because it’s a long way.”

Few pundits would have expected such a show of stamina in only her second full distance Ironman, although Mullan’s victory in the Ironman 70.3 – halfdistance – earlier this year proved her competitive instincts.

“My first full distance Ironman was last year and I definitely feel like a much stronger athlete this year,”

said Mullan.

“The course is quite hard, the bike course has got a couple of good climbs in it, but I like the climbs and I like technical courses, with all the cornering and descents, so I was happy enough on the bike.

“The run was pretty hard because you are going downhill one way with the tail wind and then up the other way with a head wind.”

Kamenz went on to finish third, while double Olympic champion Rebecca Romero was sixth in her first full Ironman.

Predictably, the 32-year-old track cycling gold medallist at the Beijing Games recorded one of the best bike times of the day, backed up with a sub-four hour marathon to finish first non-pro athlete in 11:10:02.