Wigan rugby fan aiming to complete seven Ironman events in seven days

Inspired by Kevin Sinfield’s seven marathons in seven days, last year Martyn Clarke, 47, completed 12 miles for 12 days around Wigan, Leigh and St Helens raising £6,500 for Motor Neurone Disease and the Rob Burrow Foundation.

Now he’s decided to go even further and try to complete seven Ironmans in seven days.

Martyn said: “I wanted to do a follow-up on the 12 for 12 but thought if I just do another run it wouldn’t get the same attention.

“I’ve taken part in Ironmans and triathalons in the past, so I came up with this idea because Rob Burrow’s number was seven and his campaign is RB seven.”

To prepare for his challenge, Martyn took part in the Bolton ironman, the Wigan 10k and is to take part in the Manchester marathon in a few weeks time.

Starting at Total Fitness, each day Martyn will complete a 1.2 mile swim before embarking on a 56 mile bike ride through Wigan and finishing off back at Total Fitness to complete a 13.1 mile run.

The challenge has only been attempted once before in England and never in the North West.

“Trying to do seven in straight days is a massive task, it will be rare for me to even finish it.

“The impact on the human body is massive. The last person to attempt this was an ex-professional footballer and he had to stop at day five due to complications with the body.

“Whilst I can usually complete an ironman in seven hours, to make it to day seven will be a great achievement.”

MND are fully supportive of Martyn, who is hoping to create a launch event in October to kick-start the fund-raising.

Martyn added: “MND have met to discuss how they want to market it and I have also reached out to local MPs to see if they can help support it.”

He aims to raise £10,000 for MND, with some of what he raises going towards a state-of-the-art MND Centre in Leeds which is to be named after the former Rhinos star Rob who has the disease.

Leeds Hospitals charity has announced plans to raise five million pounds for the centre, which help them give people with MND and their families the best possible care and support.

The challenge begins on December 11. Follow Martyn’s progress on social media.

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here and viewing our offers.