What it is like to watch the Ironman UK from beginning to end? NEIL BONNAR attempted to take in the full 18 hours

THE muffled tones of a man on a loudspeaker drifted over the streets outside Pennington Flash at 5.45am.

Hundreds of people crammed by the side of the Flash as 2,500 professional and amateur triathletes prepared to take on a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run.

Mobile food bars were doing a roaring trade in sausage and bacon barms, banners were held aloft and rows of people 20-deep had their mobile phone cameras at the ready.

The Ironman UK was about to start and the atmosphere was electric.

The top pros hit the water at the sound of the hooter. They were off while others slowly shuffled their way to the water’s edge.

Forty minutes later and Harry Wiltshire was first to start the bike ride.

A procession followed and suddenly the cheers were coming from two places, the bike transition area and the Flash where the splashing of front crawl was still everywhere.

It had been an amazing spectacle of sport, now it was time to see the cyclists at their toughest point. I was off to Sheep House Lane.

And that provided the most memorable experience of the whole event for me. I parked near the Crown roundabout and walked four miles to the top of Sheep House Lane to be met by the most inspirational support I would imagine possible.

Five men dressed a Mexican wrestlers complete with masks, bare chests and swimming trunks dancing to music blaring out of their camper van and greeting every cyclist like they were sporting royalty.

They are all Ironmen themselves and go by the name of Sheep House Lane Fancy Dress Party. It does exactly what it says on the tin.

They have been in the same spot for the last five years and were this year joined by the wife of one of their usual number – who was taking part yesterday – and their two children, also in fancy dress.

Their energy and humour was as infectious as it was relentless, and the smiles, high fives and air punches they brought out of the competitors at the end of the toughest point on the course proved their efforts worthwhile.

Sheep House Lane is notorious for sapping every dreg of strength from the legs and walking all the way up it and back gets you within touching distance of the riders for long enough to give you a sense of the sheer effort it takes to master the monster hill.

The support, though, is equally uplifting with spectators lining the road, including Richard Smith of Westhoughton and Fiona Steele of Bromley Cross who donned Superman and Wonder Woman outfits for the day.

With time running out to get to the finish line to interview the winners and local athletes, it was back to Bolton where Le Mans Crescent in the town centre was transformed into a noisy arena.

Spectators lined both sides of the final straight where they were cheered through a victory arch where their moment of triumph was captured by a bank of photographers.

If anything, the atmosphere and noise built as the light faded and the amateurs completed their great day in the hours that followed.

It was clear from the looks on their faces and the victory embraces with their loved ones that this was every inch as much a triumph for them as it was for Estonian Kirill Kotsegorov and Brit Lucy Gossage who became Ironman UK 2016 men's and ladies' champions yesterday.

It was also clear that Ironman UK continues to be a great sporting triumph for Bolton.