Mark Bayliss smashes the Enduroman Arch to Arc triathlon world record
Also becomes the first person to complete the challenge without a wetsuit
On Saturday 8 September, at 12:09:12 PM (GMT), after running, swimming and cycling over 290 punishing miles from London to Paris inov-8 athlete, Mark Bayliss, successfully completed the Enduroman Arch to Arc triathlon setting a new world record of 73 hours and 39 minutes. Starting from Marble Arch in London, the event involves a gruelling 87-mile run to Dover, a Channel swim from Dover to Calais and a 181-mile bike ride from Calais to the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.
Mark Bayliss becomes the first person to have completed the ultra distance triathlon without the use of a wetsuit for the Channel swim and only the 11th athlete to have ever finished the Enduroman Arch to Arc.
On being only the 11th individual to finish the Enduroman Arch to Arc, breaking the existing world record and setting a world first Mark (humbly) said, “I went out wanting an adventure and we have had an adventure, it’s going to a take a while to sink in. At the moment it just feels like I am standing on a street corner in Paris.”
He continued: “I know it’s not a normal thing, but since I have been training for years for this, and it was just putting together all the pieces that I do regularly, it doesn’t feel that abnormal and as such hasn’t fully hit me. It just feels, ‘Job done’ and home to friends and family”
Mark’s success will hopefully inspire other committed athletes who in the future will be taking on some of the toughest endurance events in the world as part of the inov-8TM Challenge Series.
Commenting on the Mark Bayliss challenge, Wayne Edy company founder of inov-8TM said: “We are extremely proud of everything Mark has achieved, he has shown that he is the ultimate committed athlete and really encapsulates inov-8TM’s values of pushing the limits of performance. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to our inov-8 Challenge Series and we will be announcing more exciting challenges like this in the near future.”
Having represented England at junior level in water polo and Great Britain at youth level in triathlon and duathlon, Mark Bayliss put his sporting ambitions on hold during his twenties to concentrate on his career as a company director at Wings Transport. However upon turning 30, Mark decided to start training again, this time for endurance events and in 2007 he swam the English Channel solo. Since then he has competed in the Sri Chinmoy Lake Zurich Marathon Swim (26.4km) three times, raced two Ironman triathlons, 13 marathons and 10 ultras including the Marathon des Sables.
Mark is hoping to raise as much money as possible for SportsAid and help the next generation of British athletes. SportsAid helps young sportsmen and women to achieve their ambitions by supporting them during the defining early years of their careers – SportsAid athletes won 47 medals at London 2012 Olympics including 20 golds. You can still sponsor Mark at http://www.justgiving.com/Mark-Bayliss0 or text (UK only) CFWC59 to 70070 with the amount you would like to donate.
For all the latest news about the challenge visit http://markbayliss.wordpress.com/ or watch the latest footage at www.youtube.com/userINOV8run. For more information about inov-8TM products visit www.inov-8.com.
Please note there is no existing direct relationship between inov-8 and Enduroman Events (www.enduroman.com), the inov-8 Challenge series, is a series following committed athletes in their personal challenge. That said inov-8 would like to thank Edgar Ette at Enduroman for allowing Mark and his team to capture in film and photography Mark doing this amazing event.
In addition to inov-8TM enabling this challenge, Mark is supported by Parlee Bicycles (www.parleecycles.com), Gatorade (www.Gatorade.co.uk), GB Cycles (www.gbcycles.co.uk), i-ride (www.i-ride.co.uk), Dynamo Boxing Gym in Croydon and Wings Transport (www.wingstransport.co.uk).
Mark’s Enduroman Arch to Arc times
87-mile run time: 26:20:37
Waiting for tide/boat: 13:59:23
Channel swim total: 11:48:00
Transition to bike: 03:22:00
181-mile bike total: 18:09:12
Total time: 73:39:12
Liz Barrett
220 Deputy Editor 
