Sean Conway starts second attempt at 102 irons in 102 days

You may have heard Sean Conway’s name mentioned before. That’s because the ultra endurance athlete has undertaken a series of mammoth challenges over the best part of a decade.

There was the time he swam the length of Britain. Then there was time he swam, cycled and ran around Britain, creating the ‘world’s longest triathlon’ in the process.

In the intervening years, Sean has also broken the speed record for cycling across Europe – all 3,890 miles of it – entirely unsupported.

That challenge took him a total of 24 days, 18 hours and 39 minutes, but it’s nothing compared to the time it’ll take him to complete his next challenge.

This week Sean has begun his second attempt to beat James Lawrence’s record of 101 iron-distance triathlons in 101 days. To do so, he’ll need to do one more iron-distance triathlon than the Iron Cowboy did.

Sean initially made an attempt at the record in June last year, but came unstuck just seven days in when he came off the bike and sustained an ankle injury.

Unfortunately, it meant he was unable to continue the challenge at that time, but Sean promised to make another attempt at the record.

And here we are… On Monday 10 May Sean took to his local swimming pool at Mold Leisure Centre and swam the 3.8km in one hour and 17 minutes, kicking off the challenge for the second time.

It’s where he’ll start each day, before embarking on a 180km bike and 42.2km run in the local area.

You can follow along in real time by heading over to Sean’s Instagram page.

Want to get involved?

Fancy joining in? Sean is keen for people to come and join him on the bike and run to help support his efforts.

To join him on the ride, you can catch him as he sets off from Mold Leisure Centre, just west of Chester, at around 6.30am each morning, or head to Ferry Lane, Chester, which the team is using as a base.

Riders can pop down at any time between 7am and 2pm to join in.

For more information, and to see his live tracker, head over to Sean’s website.

Images: Justin Fletcher Photography