IF going for a long swim, riding a bike for hours or running a long distance is hard enough on its’ own, then putting them altogether in one race is more than tough.
However, two Dursley athletes, Kevin Proctor and Fred Yearsley, did just that last Sunday by completing the Bolton Ironman UK long-distance triathlon.
And, for one athlete, it was a rather large step-up from where he was in his athletics career just a matter of months ago.
The event,  widely considered to be among the toughest sporting challenges to undertake, comprises a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) cycle and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break.
Yearsley has form in triathlons, and has been racing for some years, although this was his first full ironman event.
Proctor, on the other hand, only joined Dursley Running Club last year, starting off with the ‘Walk2Run’ beginners group. His announcement that he would go straight to an ironman triathlon was met with raised eyebrows by the club, but he most certainly proved any doubters wrong with his performance at the weekend. His strength in the open water swim put him ahead of Yearsley, but Yearsley’s speed on the bike practically drew the two men neck and neck.
The finishing strength of Yearsley on the run put him ahead of Proctor and into a well-deserved second place in his age group.
Yearsley finished the race in 13 hours 19.21mins, while Proctor was only an hour behind in 14 hours 22.52mins.
Meanwhile, Dan Anderson ran the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge on Saturday. The hilly course takes in the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, usually in this order. It covers 6.7 miles, and incorporates 1,921 feet of climbing.
The challenge is to finish within 12 hours and  Anderson was well within this with an 11th place overall.
On the local circuit, Antony Ball did the 5K Forest of Dean parkrun on Saturday and his time of 27.56mins was not quite his best.
And six Dursley members ran the Kingsway parkrun with 150 athletes in total turning out.
Mark Brasier came in first for Dursley at 20.11mins for 11th place. Holly Gardner was first women in 21.49mins. Neil Malpass and Claire Searle came through next, with Annette Heylings following closely with a first position in her VW60–64 age category at 27.54mins.
Finally, Nicki Cowle came home in 30.36mins, which was a personal best of almost 30 seconds from her previous attempt three weeks earlier.
Results: 11th Mark Brasier 20.11; 20th Holly Gardner 21.49; 46th Neil Malpass 25.12; 62nd Claire Searle 26.59; 72nd Annette Heylings 27.54 1st VM60-64; 96th Nicki Cowle 30.36 PB
And Damian Lai completed his first 6km race at La Maddalena in Sardinia
There were 300 runners in the race, and Lai posted a time of approx 45 mins for the course. He reported that it was ‘really tough going as it was still roasting at 10pm!’