Sean Conway begins attempt to do 102 irons in 102 days

Ultra endurance athlete Sean Conway has revealed he’s attempting to break the world record for the most number of iron-distance triathlons completed on consecutive days.

To successfully achieve the record and beat the one set by James Lawrence, AKA the Iron Cowboy, he’ll need to complete a minimum of 102 iron-distance triathlons in 102 days.

Speaking in a video posted to his Instagram page at the start of the attempt, Sean said: “I’m taking on the legend, James Lawrence, the Iron Cowboy’s record of 101 consecutive full-distance triathlons.

“I’m going to go for 102, I think. Maybe more, [but] probably now, because James set a very high bar, I’m only going to go for 102 because I think that’s probably enough.”

The challenge will see Sean swim 3.8km, ride 180km and run 42.2km every day. “I’m hoping to do it in about 14-15 hours,” Sean continued, “just to give myself recovery on one end and to not be too fast to kill myself.”

He started his latest challenge on 12 June, the same day he announced it.

This huge undertaking will take Sean all summer and is made even more impressive by the fact that until starting the challenge, he’d never actually completed a traditional full-distance triathlon.

That being said, he’s no stranger to ultra endurance challenges, having swam the length of Britain, completed the ‘world’s longest triathlon’ by swimming, cycling and running around Britain, and broke the speed record for cycling across mainland Europe unsupported.

The cycle across Europe, a journey of 3,890 miles from Portugal to Russia, took Sean 24 days, 18 hours and 39 minutes, while his ‘world’s longest triathlon’ saw him swim, bike and run, 4,200 miles along the coastline of Britain over 85 days.

Head over to Sean’s Instagram page to follow the challenge as it unfolds in real-time.

Top image credit: Josh Raper Media