Penalty: Matthieu Bonne goes for 8 triathlons in 8 days
If he succeeds in his aim, he will be the first athlete in the world to complete the impressive streak in the Spanish islands. With this stunt, Bonne, a professional lifeguard at LAGO Olympia in Bruges, and his employer, pool manager LAGO, want to inspire children to play sports.
Eight Ironmans in 8 days
“Matthieu Bonne already ran the Marathon des Sables, swam across the Channel and was the first to swim the entire Belgian coast non-stop,” it sounded during the performance this morning.
“He climbed the highest European mountains and in between took part in the heavy TV program ‘Kamp Waes’. But his challenge ‘8 Islands’ really defies all imagination: 30.4 km swim, 1440 km bike and 337.6 km walkor the equivalent of eight “Ironman” in eight days.
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To make it even more difficult, he completes each triathlon on a different Canary Island and aims for a time between 11 am and 1 pm.
Idea from ex-top triathlete Luc Van Lierde
“I can’t take much longer, because otherwise I won’t get to the next island in time,” explains Matthieu Bonne. After all, the movements are mainly done by sailing boat.
The idea for the amazing series came from Matthieu’s coach, the former top triathlete and multiple world champion Luc Van Lierde. He won the prestigious Hawaii Ironman twice in the 1990s and has been guiding Matthieu Bonne for quite some time. He based this on the “7 Islands challenge” where a Spanish athlete failed twice in 2012 and 2013.
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“with mountain bike”
“The journey is going to be a real ordeal. Especially on La Graciosa, which officially became the eighth Canary Island in 2018. No roads have been built, so I have to do the cycling and running part off-road. So I trade in my racing bike for a mountain bike. Those 180 kilometers of cycling will certainly be hellish. La Graciosa also comes at the very end of the list. But I’m certainly not complaining. I love the Canary Islands and its natural elements. Swimming, cycling and running are my passion.”
Follow live
Matthieu Bonne Challenge can be followed live Matthieu Bonne can be followed live during his Ironmans via a tracking system on the website www.matthieubonne.be† He will also describe in a blog every day how the triathlon went.