New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) Gaurav Makkar, an Indian triathlete, attempted the five ironman distance triathlons in as many consecutive days on the Hawaiian islands and became the first person from India to complete this challenge. After this, he made it to the list of 38 world class athletes who have finished this challenge in the last 10 years.
Each day an athlete has to complete a 3.8 km swim, 180 km cycling and a 42.2 km run for 5 days. Ironman is one of the toughest endurance triathlons in the world, seeing competitors finish a 3.86 km swim, a 180 km bicycle ride and a 42.20 km marathon run in under 17 hours. Not even 50 people have achieved this feat in its history and only three have this year. Gaurav was one of them.
He is an endurance triathlete and raised the bar for Indian triathletes by finishing 5 ironman in 5 days on 5 Hawaiian islands in the US and recently he has been rated as one of the fittest people in the country.
The Epic 5 Challenge was conceptualized in 2010 when Jason P Lester and Rich Roll achieved this previously thought impossible feat. Since then, every summer, a handful of athletes descend upon five islands in Hawaii, where they attempt to complete five Ironman-distance races on five islands.