A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the disciplines included. The word is of Greek origin, from τρεῖς or treis (three) and ἆθλος or athlos (competition).
An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.2 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile (42.2 km) run completed in that order, a total of 140.6 miles (226.3 km). It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.
The World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) is a sports event promotion company owned by conglomerate Advance Publications, that produces the Ironman Triathlon, Ironman 70.3, the 5150 series of triathlon races, and other sports events.
Christopher John McCormack, also known as Macca, is an Australian triathlete. McCormack is a two-time winner of the Ironman World Championship, winning the titles in 2007 and 2010. He is also the winner of the 1997 International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup Series, the 1997 Triathlon World Championships, the 2012 Long Distance World Championships. and inducted into the AusTriathlon Hall of Fame for 2023.
Simon Christopher Lessing, MBE, is a British triathlete who won five International Triathlon Union (ITU) world titles. He also won races at 70.3, ITU long distance and Ironman-distance events. He set an Olympic-distance world record in 1996, and is noted for his 2004 Ironman Lake Placid win, where he set a course record of 8:23:12. In 2008 he retired from professional racing. Simon resides in Boulder, Colorado, United States, where he operates Boulder Coaching with Darren de Reuck.
Luc Van Lierde is a former athlete from Belgium, who has been competing in triathlon since 1990 and who has been a professional triathlon coach since 2009.
Madonna Buder,, also known as the Iron Nun, is an American Senior Olympian triathlete and former religious sister. Buder has the current world record for the oldest woman to ever finish an Ironman Triathlon, which she obtained at age 82 by finishing the Subaru Ironman Canada on August 26, 2012.
An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The "70.3" refers to the total distance in miles (113.0 km) covered in the race, consisting of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run. Each distance of the swim, bike, and run segments is half the distance of that segment in an Ironman Triathlon. The Ironman 70.3 series culminates each year with a World Championship competition, for which competitors qualify during the 70.3 series in the 12 months prior to the championship race. In addition to the World Championship race, Ironman 70.3 championship competitions are also held for the European, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America regions.
Christine Ann Wellington is an English former professional triathlete and four-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion. She held all three world and championship records relating to ironman-distance triathlon races: firstly, the overall world record, secondly, the Ironman World Championship course record, and thirdly, the official world record for all Ironman-branded triathlon races over the full Ironman distance.
The Ironman World Championship is a triathlon held annually in Hawaii, United States since 1978, with an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culmination of a series of Ironman triathlon qualification races held throughout the world. As of 2023, Ironman World Championships split between Kona and France, with the men's and women's races rotating years.
Jason P. Lester is an endurance athlete, the author of the book Running on Faith, and the 2009 ESPY Award winner for Best Male Athlete with a Disability. He is the first disabled athlete to complete the Ultraman World Championships. He is the Founder of EPIC5 Challenge, EP1CMAN and The NEVER STOP Foundation est. 2007.
Milos Kostic from Regina, Saskatchewan is the former world record holder of the Ironman World Championship in the Men's 65-69 age group with a time of 11 hours 29 minutes 45 seconds set in 2006. His time was beaten by William Christopher Wren who finished the course in 2013 with a time of 10 hours, 44 minutes and 31 seconds. He has won his age group there in Kona every time he has raced there, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012. He won his age group at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in 2011 and 2012. In 2011 he set the world record of the Ironman World Championship in the Men's 70-74 age group with a time of 11 hours 14 minutes.
Stefaan Engels, also known as "marathon man", is a Belgian marathoner and triathlete, the first man to run the marathon distance 365 consecutive times in a single year. He previously held the record for the most Ironman Triathlons in a year with 20 over 2007 and 2008 - see James Lawrence (triathlete)
Marino Vanhoenacker is a Belgian triathlete. On 3 July 2011, he set a world best time for Ironman full distance triathlon at the Ironman Triathlon at Klagenfurt in Austria, finishing after 7 hours, 45 minutes and 58 seconds, beating Luc Van Lierde's 1997 time of 7h50m27s. His time was subsequently beaten by Lionel Sanders at Ironman Arizona in 2016; the current world best time is held by Tim Don in a time of 7 hours, 40 minutes and 23 seconds at Ironman Brazil in May 2017.
Sean Conway is a Zimbabwean ultra endurance athlete, author of 6 books and motivational speaker. He broke the world record for completing 105 Ironmans in 105 days. He was the first person to swim the length of Britain, is the only person to have completed a length of Britain triathlon, has completed the world's longest triathlon of 4200 miles and has the world record for the fastest self supported cycle across Europe.
Meredith Brooke Kessler is an American professional triathlete from Columbus, Ohio who races in long distance, non-drafting triathlon events. She took third place at the 2011 ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships and has won numerous Ironman and half-Ironman distance races as both an amateur and a professional. She was named USA Triathlon's 2014 Non-Drafting Athlete of the Year.
Lionel James Sanders is a Canadian professional triathlete winner of the 2017 ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships. In 2017 and 2021, he also placed second at the Ironman World Championship. In 2014 he placed fourth in the 2014 Ironman 70.3 World Championship held in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. Sanders's first professional race was in September 2013 at the Muskoka Ironman 70.3, where he took 1st place over Andreas Raelert.
Heather Wurtele is a retired Canadian professional triathlete who raced long-distance, non-drafting triathlon events. She achieved over 60 career professional triathlon podium finishes and 30 plus career wins, including 25 half iron distance wins and 7 Ironman wins. Her career highlights include placing third at the 2016 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, second at the 2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship and third at the 2014 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. She also placed 3rd at the ITU Long Course World Championships in 2017 and won the North American 70.3 Championships in 2015 and 2016.
Colin Timothy O'Brady is an American professional endurance athlete, motivational speaker and adventurer. He is a former professional triathlete, representing the United States on the ITU Triathlon World Cup circuit, racing in 25 countries on six continents from 2009 to 2015.
Lucy Charles-Barclay is an English professional triathlete specialising in the Ironman and 70.3 ("half-Ironman") distances. She is the 2023 World Ironman champion and the 2021 World Champion in the 70.3 discipline, both under the authority of the World Triathlon Corporation. In between, she won the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in 2022. In 2023, she broke the course record for the iconic Kona Ironman course.
