"Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life", registered Ironman trademark.
What is the Ironman challenge, no it's not the Marvel movie series starring Robert Downey Jr., but its actually the feat Milind Soman at 50 years age accomplished in July 19th accomplished in Zurich.
My friend Jordi has completed Ironman twice; while Sylvie and Thomas are ultrarunners driving themselves to the limits everyday. Inspired, I began digging into these events and this article is the result. I am sure, like me, you too will realize this how unbelievable these feats of human endurance are.
What is the Ironman challenge?
Ironman is a triathlon contest, meaning the participants have to cycle, run and swim one after the other to complete the race. Sounds similar to triathlon competitions you may have heard about right? But where Ironman becomes special is the duration and length of each of these steps:Step 1: 2.4 mile or 3.86 km swim ( within 2 hour 20 min)
Step 2: 112 mile or 180.25 km bicycle rides ( within 8 hour 10 min)
Step 3: 26.22 mile or 42.20 km run ( within 6 hour 30 min)
The overall cut-off for time limited to 16 or 17 hours depending on the course. Any participant who manages to complete the triathlon within these time constraints is designated an Ironman.What is the origin?
The origin of Ironman triathlon could be traced back to a debate at an award ceremony in 1977 O'ahu Perimeter relay among the participants, who represented Runners and Swimmers, about who were more fitter runners or swimmers? At this point U.S. Navy Commander John Collins, added fuel to fire, by mentioning a recent news article claiming Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx recording the highest recorded "oxygen uptake" ever measured and claiming the cyclist to be the fitter than everyone. Then Collin mentioned that he and his wife had participated in triathlon in 1974-75 in California and the debate about who is fittest would be solved by organizing a triathlon event constituting of running, swimming and cycling with the winner being named "Ironman" and attaining eternal glory.He suggested combining the three existing long-distance competitions already on the island: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 mi./3.86 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 mi./185.07 km; and the Honolulu Marathon (26.219 mi./42.195 km) and thus the first event was held on February 28, 1978. Of the 15 men who started the race 12 finished with US Navy Communications Specialist the first to earn the title of Ironman by completing the course with a time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, 58 seconds. Without any promotion 59 participants gathered in 1979 out of which only 15 completed with the run giving the first Ironwoman in Lyn Lemaire, a championship cyclist from Boston. Collin wanted to change the race to a relay to gain more participant, but in a twist of serendipity the event was witnessed by Sports Illustrated's journalist Barry McDermott, in the area to cover a golf tournament, leading to a ten-page account. The rest is history, hundreds of curious participants contacted Collins and since then the Ironman championship is held at the same location every year. Apart from many other off-shoots being organized all across the world.
Progression of Endurance Marathons
Humans have always striven to push its limit, that is how we keep making great progress in all fields. Similarly the endurance limits have been extended more and more with even more tougher races coming to the fore. Following is a list of the three most popular ones and late a table of even more longer races.- Ironman 70.3 (1.8km swim, 90km bike and 22 km run) within 8 hrs 30 mins.
- Ironman (3.86 km swim, 180.25 km bike and 42.2 km run) within 16/17 hrs
- Ultraman (10 km swim, 200 km bike and 84 km run) within 3 days
Distances | Swimming | Cycling | Running |
| Triathlon (Ironman) | 3.86 km (2.40 mi) | 180.25 km (112 mi) | 42.2 km (26.2 mi) |
| Double Ultratriathlon (Ultraman) | 7.6 km (4.7 mi) | 360 km (220 mi) | 84.4 km (52.4 mi) |
| Triple Ultratriathlon | 11.4 km (7.1 mi) | 540 km (340 mi) | 126.6 km (78.7 mi) |
| Quadruple Ultratriathlon | 15.2 km (9.4 mi) | 720 km (450 mi) | 168.8 km (104.9 mi) |
| Quintuple Ultratriathlon | 19 km (12 mi) | 900 km (560 mi) | 211 km (131 mi) |
| Deca Ultratriathlon | 38 km (24 mi) | 1,800 km (1,100 mi) | 422 km (262 mi) |
| 10-Days-Triathlon | every day 7.5 km | every day 200 km | every day 50 km |
| or | every day 3.86 km | every day 180 km | every day 42.2 km |
| Double Deca Ultratriathlon | 76 km (47 mi) | 3,600 km (2,200 mi) | 844 km (524 mi) |
| Triple Deca Ultratriathlon | 114 km (71 mi) | 5,400 km (3,400 mi) | 1,260 km (780 mi) |
Indian Endurance Racers
Indian Ultrawoman ("Ultraman")
Anu Vaidyanathan (First Indian to compete in Ultraman and Ironman event)Indian Ironwomen ("Ironman")
- Solonie Pathania
- Anju Khosla
Indian Ultramen
- Abhishek Mishra
- Anshul Agarwal
- Bipin Kaul
- Subham Kajale
- Manmadd Rebba
- Arunaabh Shah (7 Half-Irons in 7 consecutive days)
- Kaustubh Radkar (20 Ironmans)
- Milind Soman
- Pritiviraj Patil
- Krishna Prakash
Indian Ironmen
- Deepak Raj ( 20 Ironmans)
- Hiren Patel
- Sunil Madampath Menon
- Nagaraj Harsha (3 Ironmans)
- Akshay Samel ( Best time 11 hrs 3 min)
- Raghul Sankaranarayanan (5 Ironmans, best time 10 hrs 57 min)
- Subramani Venkatesh( 7 Ironmans, Fastest Indian, Two sub 10 hrs time, Best 9 hrs 40 mins)
Indian Ironmen 70.3 or Half Iron
- Mehul Ved (2 Ironman 70.3s or Half Ironmans)
- Rishabh Gupta
- Nagaraj Harsha
World records
Following are the participants who have worked so hard to push human boundaries and it's a pity not many know about them. So I make a list of the world record holders for long distance runners:Male
Distance | Athlete | Time | Place |
| Triathlon(Ironman) | Jan Frodeno | 7 hrs 35 mins 39 s | 2016 Roth |
| Double (Ultraman) | Robert Karaś | 19 hrs 44 mins 43 s | 2017 Emsdetten |
| Triple | Robert Karaś | 30 hrs 48 mins 57 s | 2018 Lensahn |
| Quadruple | Søren Højbjerre | 53 hrs 41 mins 00 s | 1993 Ungarn |
| Quintuple | Emanuel Conraux | 74 hrs 16 mins 06 s | 2011 Leon |
| Deca | Richard Jung | 190 hrs 17 mins 17 s | 2018 Buchs SG |
| 10-Days | Richard Jung | 106 hrs 11 mins 53 s | 2016 Buchs SG |
| Double Deca | Dave Clamp | 251 hrs 21 mins 16 s | 2016 Busch SG |
| 30-Days | Jozsef Rokob | 356 hrs 33 mins 17 s | 2013 Lake Garda |
| 41-Days | Ludovic Chorgnon | 533 hrs 41 mins 00 s | 2015 Vendôme |
Female
Distance | Athlete | Time | Place |
| Triathlon(Ironman) | Chrissie Wellington | 8 hrs 18 mins 13 s | 2011 Roth |
| Double (Ultraman) | Sirlet Viilas | 23 hrs 31 mins 38 s | 2016 Panevežys |
| Triple | Astrid Benöhr | 37 hrs 54 mins 54 s | 1996 Lensahn |
| Quadruple | Astrid Benöhr | 59 hrs 15 mins 00 s | 1993 Hungary |
| Quintuple | Shangrila Rendon | 83 hrs 48 mins 04 s | 2015 Leon |
| Deca | Alexandria Meixner | 244 hrs 55 mins 34 s | 2017 Buchs SG |
| Double Deca | Sylvia Andonie | 643 hrs 01 mins 49 s | 1998 Monterrey |
Are you running, swimming or cycling as a hobby. Do you want to push your fitness to the farthest possible limits. Go on choose Ironman. Like the the slogan of Ironman says in the beginning.
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