Bella stormed to victory after exiting the water in third before quickly taking the lead on the bike.

From that point forward it was a hard solo effort that saw her finish 35 minutes ahead of her nearest rival in a time of 9:49:07.

In the men's race Stephen also finished first with a time of 8:53:59 more than ten minutes ahead of second place Scott Neyeldi, the 2007 winner.

It was the second time that the couple had both won at the same event since becoming engaged, with the first being earlier this year at Ironman South Africa.

Bella said: "I'm really thrilled, I gave it my all and it was fantastic. It was a hard race because I was all alone at the front."

She also gave the organisers credit for creating what she believes is the most challenging course on the Ironman circuit.

She added: "This course was so tough and challenging. It is by far the hardest course I've done all year and I've done Lanzarote and Embrunman. It may even be harder than anything I've ever done."