Why is Ironman so popular? - The Sunday Story

0:00Hey, it's Paige DeSorba from Gagley Squad and this episode is supported by Rothys, the brand famous for chic, comfortable flats. My listeners know I love to start an outfit with the shoes and there's nothing better than a great flat in the fall. Their timeless, they make everything look more polished and Rothys iconic pointed flat, the point, has been reimagined to be better than ever. It now has a cushioned bouncy insol with much more arch support, so it's comfortable enough to wear all day and the point comes in so many gorgeous colors, patterns, and textures. Discover the point at Rothys.com that's r-o-t-h-y-s dot com. For investors at the highest level of sophistication, those with strong advisory support, the natural outcome is two distinct portfolios, one public, one private. Each plays a different role in the overall strategy. Uncover new investment opportunities for you at CreativePlanning.com. Slash new. From the times and the Sunday times, this is the story on Sunday. I'm Manvine Rana.

1:06Picture this. You wake up before dawn to swim 2.4 miles, before jumping on a bike to cycle 112 miles and then, because that wasn't testing enough, you run an entire marathon. How does that sound? And how would you feel about paying a thousand dollars for the pleasure? For fans of Iron Man events, it's the highlight of their year. These ultra-triathlon competitions have boomed in popularity in recent years, particularly among women under 30, despite the brutal distances and some recent safety issues which even saw some contestants die during a race. So, on a freezing cold, wet Sunday morning, sports writer for the times Rick Broadbent went down to Tenby on the South Welsh coast to meet some of the sports' biggest devotees and to take us inside their high-optane world.

2:08Here he is, reading his piece about the experience. It is 5.30am and Tenby is alive. From the pub where Dylan Thomas supposedly once got drunk and left his manuscript of under milkwood, down to pastel painted harbour cottages, the seaside town is buzzing. People of all ages and are obscuring the giant good luck messages carved into North Beach. They are paid upwards of 650 pounds to swim, ride and run 140.6 miles in merc and rain. This is an endurance phenomenon and Tenby is the UK's Iron Opelists. The popularity of Iron Man, a 140.6 mile triathlon, is now snaring new audiences. Today's under 30 population has embraced the beauty and joy of suffering and doing hard things.

3:08Scott DeRue, the chief executive of the Iron Man Group, says, and the growth in women under 30 doing this has never been seen before and is a cultural moment. Last year, the number of Iron women in the 25-29 category grew by 44%. Women now make up 17% of fields, the average age of women competing are dropped below 40 for the first time. This is the drill. Enter by Goscar Rock, the limestone stark guarding the beach for a 2.4 mile swim. Emerge and run up the zigzag just to get to the transition station. Mount your bike for 112 miles of Pembrokeshers harbaking hills. Finish that and run a full marathon around Tenby streets. This stuff is increasing popular, but what is going on? Why the baker is doling out baps at 5am? Why are so many people walking around with Iron Man logo tattoos? We're the most tattooed brand in the world, Darius, says, proudly. And just how did an organisation founded on a whim by a nuclear submariner and his wife come

4:13to be sold to advanced publications owner of the New Yorker for $730 million in 2020? DeRue grew up in a small town in North Carolina with one stop sign, and is an amalgam of businessmen, academic and adventurer. Last year he ended a 17 year odyssey to complete the seven summits, a metaphor heavy climb of the world's highest mountains. He makes his executive staff read unreasonable hospitality and account of turning an ailing business into the world's best restaurant. We are a platform for personal transformation, he says. It is a marathon with bells, goggles, and at least one pulmonary edema, a condition of excess fluid in the lungs. At 7am the sun is rising through the mist, more than 3,000 people in wet suits are now on the beach. High above them are all the people aligning the high street. The DJ pours as the backbeat and land of my father's is pived through the speakers. It segues into ACDC's thunderstruck, and then they are off, pros, pontas and even the oddpot belly.

5:16Iron Man Wales is the best in Britain and has a reported 7.3 million pounds economic impact on 10B and its surrounding areas. Although in a recent council debate about a new hosting lease, one member referred to it as a pain in the arse. This one also clashes with Iron Man's 70.3-wheel championship half the distance in the sunnier climbs of Nice with 6,500 athletes, 40,000 spectators, and a 75,000 dollar bonus prize for the winner out of a total pot of half a million dollars. One day earlier, Nikki Bartlett is attaching her bike to the prime spot in the vast bike park near the prom, where wheels will be locked away and guarded. The 10-year pro is 39, the 2023 women's winner, and was fourth at the 2020 Paralympics when she was a guide for the partially-sited traffic at Alesson Piesgood. Do you think that will be all right, she says while checking her bike in the swirling wind? There's a lot to think about. I ran straight past my bike in the last one and

6:19people in the crowd were shouting at me. I get forgetful and clumsy around a race. Why does she think this is so popular? The atmosphere is off the chart, she says. You get out of the water after the first lap and you can feel the goosebumps all over your body. You get into the traffic and you work your way up, but if you're doing traffic then you have to experience tempe. Every year I persuade people to come. I saw two ginormous jellyfish underneath me yesterday, why do they me? I never remember that on race day. Her parents are setting off at 130 m on Sunday from Tukesbury. Thousands will make similar pilgrimages. Bartlett says she became aware of traffic in 2012 and the success of that year's Olympic champion, Alistair Brownlee, his brother Johnny and later Alex Yee, has implanted it in the British sporting consciousness. Now ordinary people want to push their parameters and purpose. Look around and there are plenty not fitting ultra templates, let alone their running vests.

7:21Olivia Michael is a good runner and one of more than a thousand first-timers. Social media is playing a big part, she says. There's so many people doing marathons and iron mans that you're surrounded by it. Everybody says the atmosphere in London for their marathon is insane, but apparently the crowd here is on another level. She bought a bike in lockdown and thinks the need for a post-COVID community is part of the endurance boom. For Shane Williams, it started as the sort of replacement therapy. Once a flying wing and whales record triscora, he needed something when his rugby career ended. He did the London marathon and then wanted a new challenge in teammates. It takes me back to my playing days when you're running out at the Millennium Stadium, he says, it's the Coliseum effect. I love the social side of it, on bike rides and running, and I love the competition. I did my first one in 2015 and physically it was the toughest thing I'd ever done. I didn't do particularly well, but since then I've been hooked. It takes me to places I've never been

8:21physically and mentally, and I'm getting my butt kicked by people of all sizes and ages, but I want to improve and I don't want to get old. I keep going until I'm in the ground. I've kind of accidentally fallen in love. Williams has been flattened by both all Blacks flancers and Narbath High Street, but he feels lucky because he has rugby friends who can no longer bend over because of Ruins knees. Don't get me wrong, I'll be in bits at the end. I rent a house on the course so I'll hobble back there from the finish line, have a hot bath, and then sit at the front cheering on the Iron Men and Women. Some people are out there taking 17 hours, some finish in the dark in the pouring rain, it's horrendous and great. It is now 2pm on Sunday, and the quasi-spiritual element one-specate has mentioned looks decidedly soggy as athletes crawl at the steepest hills in Saundersfoot. The crowds and kindness of strangers are here too. A truck is on hand to pick up discarded bikes.

9:23Williams will be one of those non-finishes this time, a mechanical problem on his bike putting plates another year of training. We'll be back in just a moment. Losing weight can feel like a roller coaster, full of ups, downs, and being thrown for loops, like when someone brings donuts into the office, or your kids' dino nuggets start giving you that look again. That's why there's noom. They combine GLP ones to quiet the food noise, with healthy habits that help you keep it quiet, even if you get off the meds. Their program is designed to make weight loss a smooth ride, helping you understand what drives you, so you can build better habits to not just lose weight, but keep it off. Noom. Lose for keeps. Get started at noom.com. Not all customers will clinically qualify for medications. Individual results may vary. Standard-sized rugs shouldn't be

10:28the standard. Get a custom-sized rug that actually fits with their nesta. In as little as two weeks, ernesta cuts, finishes, and delivers your rug straight to your door. No more awkward sizing. Just a designer-quality rug made to work within your space perfectly the first time. Visit ernesta.com to explore Ernesta's full range of custom-sized rugs, and get $50 towards any style when you order five samples for only $10. Hello, I'm Monica Reinagle, host of the Nutrition Diva podcast. Summer is here and with it, the hot and sticky weather. A morning working in the garden, or maybe on the golf course, can leave you more depleted than you realize, and plain water isn't always the most efficient way to restore the balance. That's where liquid IV comes in. Its science-backed formula is clinically proven to hydrate faster than water alone. Whether you're exercising, playing outside, or simply surviving a summer heat wave, it's an easy way to stay hydrated. Shop now at liquidiv.com. Liquid IV. Hydration that goes

11:28wherever life takes you. There are a plethora of triathlon businesses such as Supertry and PTO, but Ironman is approaching its 50th birthday. It was created in Hawaii in 1978 by John and Judy Collins, and Kona is still the most revered location. The first Ironman, the nickname of one of Collins' colleagues in a shipyard, cost $5 to enter, and the founder weld the trophies from copper pipes. It was designed for regular people, and 15, including Collins' 16-year-old son, Tok Part. Origin myths have grown ever since, but the real story is rich enough.

12:30The first winner was Gordon Heller, Arufa, X Navy, and a man who had been so ill a few years earlier that he lost 28 pounds in one week and suffered two hernias from convulsions. The runner-up, John Dombar, was a former US Navy seal, and when he ran out of water 10 miles to go, he began guzzling beer. At the end he was hallucinating and accused of support van driver of trying to poison him. Four years later a student called Julie Moss took 30 seconds to crawl the final 15 feet to the finish. ABC captured a scene that sparked a huge upsurging interest. There are now more than 170 events in more than 50 countries and a six million dollar prize pool for pro athletes, but its real selling point is as a mass participation event. The price is high. There are some seriously high tech bikes in the compound, and it is the only event where I've seen dogs dressed in dry robes. Darius says you're looking at a thousand dollars to race, so is he pricing out millions to serve a narrow demographic? Iron Man is a premium brand and a

13:35premium experience he says. Think about it this way. It's the only thing you're aspiring to for the year. We're focused on making the experience worthy of the dreams of our athletes, people are investing in experiences over things now. The lowest point came in 2023 when two people, random wall and Ivan Chittenden died during the swim in a 9-month 70.3 event in Ireland. That led to a bitter rower about the timing of triathlon islands refusal to sanction the event because of the weather conditions. Iron Man Islands said the message only came up as the swim had finished. That was disputed. Triathlon Island has reportedly spent half a million euros on an investigation. The safety of our athletes in community is our top priority, Darius says. We take every precaution. In the swim you've got a large number of people in boats and on puddle boards and jet skis. The Sunday rain in Wales is relentless, but after 8 hours, 31 minutes and 31

14:35seconds, the first professional Finland's Henrik Gewesk arrives at the finish. After 9 hours, 45 minutes and 37 seconds, the first woman follows. It is Bartlett, 28th overall and instantly in tears. She takes the applause and heads into a marquee in search of a coffee and a heater, as her body shuts down. She shows me her lip. I got stung by a bee on the bike, she says. It went boom and I was like oh my god. She hates the rain and she never goes out on the bike in the wet. This time she wore my regolds. But it was like I was dreaming it felt so surreal because it was perfect. The head of gynecology from the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco gives her a congratulatory tap on the shoulder, but begs to differ. Bruno Carl Bonn says he had to pull out after suffering a self-diagonosed pulmonary edema in a swim and a crush on his bike. His arm is bleeding and his lycra shorts ripped.

15:38Heisenlowe's young and old, the finishes will range from 18 to 70. Bartlett goes off to find her family and some fish and chips. By dusk, Tembi is having a rare old Sunday. Tomorrow the circus moves to Weymouth. At the pub with Dylan's homestead face on the side, the bar is still rocking. For some it's a lycra fever dream. For others it's a particularly tough well-being class. It's happy, clappy, cold and sweaty, but in monopolist they are puffing, coughing and raging against the dying of the light. That was Rick Broadbent, sports writer for the Times. The producer and sound designer today was Harry Stott. The executive producer was Sophie McNulty and theme composition was by Malaceto. We'll be back tomorrow. See you then.

16:41Who says Halloween only lasts one day? With Weyfare, one night of Halloween becomes a whole season at home. From larger than life yard decor and moody lighting to festive accents for every room in the house. Weyfare has what you need to make Halloween feel like magic all in one place. Because the best Halloween memories aren't made in just one night, they're made all season long. Shop Halloween decor now at Weyfare.com. Weyfare every style every home. The GLP1 pill you've been waiting for is now on row. Yep, it's finally here with the same clinically proven ingredient now in a pill and now on row. It's the first FDA approved GLP1 pill for weight loss. At the lowest price available, that's one daily GLP1 pill for big results. Now on row, go to row.co-slash-listen to see if you qualify. RxOnly go to row.co-slash-safety for serious side effects and box warning associated with GLP1s.