Sean Conway (born 1981) is a British-Zimbabwean ultra endurance athlete, author of several books and motivational speaker. He broke the world record for completing 105 Ironman triathlons 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.

Early and personal life

Conway was born in

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

, Zimbabwe, on 6 April 1981. He attended Hilton College in South Africa. Sean Conway is also Irish. In a 2024 video, he confirmed his Irish roots, noting how his heritage has influenced his identity and approach to endurance sports. He lived in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

for a number of years before moving to the Lake District in 2016. In 2020 he moved to Wales with his wife Caroline and two sons. He earns his living as an adventurer, author and public speaker.

Swimming

Starting on 30 June 2013, Conway set out to swim from

Land's End Land's End ( or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

in the south-west of Great Britain, to

John o' Groats John o' Groats () is a village 2.5 mi (4 km) north-east of Canisbay, in the historic county of Caithness, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's north-eastern tip and is popular with tourists. The northernmost point of mainland Scotland is ...

in the north, travelling up the west coast of Great Britain and via the east coast of Ireland. He completed the swim on 11 November, the first person to do so. He swam in 135 days, 90 of which were spent in the water, the others avoiding contrary tides, resting, and avoiding bad weather, sometimes ashore and sometimes on his support yacht. He grew a thick beard to help prevent

jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

stinging his face. He used the achievement to raise money for the charity War Child.

Triathlon

Conway became the first person to complete an "ultimate triathlon" when he finished running from

to Land's End, having already cycled and swum the entire way before. The run was made into a two-part documentary called ''Sean Conway: Running Britain'' for Discovery Channel UK. Conway completed the "ultimate triathlon" unsupported, without the support of a team or lifeboats. In 2016 Conway set the world record for the world's longest triathlon, a 4,200-mile journey around the coast of Britain. This was made into a documentary now on

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

called ''Sean Conway on the Edge''. This record has since been broken by

Jonas Deichmann Jonas Deichmann (born 15 April 1987 in Stuttgart) is a best-selling author, adventurer, extreme athlete, and holder of multiple world records in cycling and endurance. He is a popular motivational speaker at German companies and sports teams. ...

. In 2023 Conway broke the world record for the most

Ironman Triathlon An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a swim, a bicycle ride and a marathon run completed in that order, a total of . It is widely consid ...

s completed in a row. He completed 105 Ironmans in 105 days, surpassing James Lawrence's record of 101.

Cycling

Conway took the record for the fastest, unsupported crossing of Europe by bicycle in March 2018. Starting in Cabo de Roca on the west coast of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, he cycled nearly 4,000 miles, finishing at the Russian town of Ufa in 24 days, 18 hours and 39 minutes. The movie ''Europe or Bust'' covers this trip. The record was superseded by Leigh Timmis in a fully supported attempt later the same year. Conway cycled around the world in 2012 in an attempt to break the world record. However, his attempt came to an abrupt end when he was run over in America. He continued, after three weeks of recovery, to raise money for Solar Aid, returning to London 155 days later. in 2008 Conway cycled from Land's End to John o' Groats, which took him 25 days. He wrote a book about his journey.

Running

Conway has run the length of Britain, which took 44 days. His journey was made into a documentary for Discovery Channel called ''Sean Conway Running Britain''. Conway has run across Iceland, which took 10 days. There is a short film on Youtube about his run. He ran a marathon in each of the UK national parks consecutively: 15 marathons in 15 days. He also ran 280 miles from

Conwy Castle Conwy Castle (; ) is a fortification in Conwy, located in North Wales. It was built by Edward I of England, Edward I, during his Conquest of Wales by Edward I, conquest of Wales, between 1283 and 1287. Constructed as part of a wider project to ...

in North Wales to

Castle Conway Castle Conway is a former castle and stately home in the town of Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland. Today only the ruins of one wall remain. History Originally called Killorglin Castle, a defensive structure was first built on the site next to ...

on the west of Ireland.

The 496 Challenge

Conway came up with the now global challenge called The 496 Challenge. The concept is to run the day of the month in kilometres. On the first of the month, one runs 1 km, on the second, 2 km, and so on, ending the month with a 31 km run. This ends up totaling to a run of 496 km.

Books

* 2012 - ''Cycling Lands End to John O'Groats'' * 2014 - ''Cycling the Earth'' * 2015 - ''Running Britain'' * 2016 - ''Hell and High Water'' * 2018 - ''Big Mile Cycling'' * 2019 - ''The Chronicles of William Wilder - Tempura's Treasure''

Documentaries

* ''Sean Conway Running Britain'' - Discovery Channel (now on Amazon Prime) * ''Sean Conway On the Edge'' - Discovery Channel (now on Amazon Prime) * ''Sean Conway Europe or Bust'' - Amazon Prime * ''The 496 Challenge'' - YouTube short film * ''National Park Marathons'' - YouTube short film * ''Running Across Iceland'' - YouTube short film

Public speaking

Conway does motivational speaking, and has given a

TEDx talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

Championing youth sport

Conway encourages youth sport through the True Venture Foundation. He raised over £100,000 for True Venture during his 105 Ironmans world record attempt. He received a personal letter from Prince William about his efforts in youth sport.

References

Going Solo Adventures Q&A Session with Sean Conway Part 1

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Sean 1981 births Living people Male long-distance swimmers Sportspeople from Harare Sportspeople from Cheltenham Ultra-distance cyclists Cycling writers Alumni of Hilton College (South Africa)