Triathlon and Ironman Distance Triathlon

Hello. I am John. I feel very excited because we went to a sports competition yesterday. It was amazing. The competition was called a ‘triathlon’. People who take part in a triathlon are called ‘triathletes’.

There are three parts in this sport. They are swimming, cycling and running. The first part is swimming. Triathletes have to swim 1.5 km. Then, they immediately start the second part, which is cycling. All the triathletes ride a bike for 40 km. When they finish riding, they start the third part of the triathlon, which is running. They run for 10 kilometres and then the competition finishes.

They also told me that there is another type of triathlon, which is called an ‘Ironman Distance Triathlon’. Ironman triathletes are stronger than normal triathletes. In this sport, they swim for 3.8 kilometres. Then, they ride a bike for 180 kilometres. Lastly, they run for 42 kilometres. The ironman triathletes are very tired at the end of the competition because it is very difficult. The best Ironman Distance triathlete is Marino Vanhoenacker. He is Belgian. He finished the Ironman Distance Triathlon in 7 hours 45 minutes and 58 seconds in 2011. He became the champion of the world.