Surf Balm

NYC. Fancy seeing you here . Good to see you too I guess

S.A. 25

IRONMAN Barcelona complete!! 11 hours 44 mins 46 sec

Ironman Barcelona consists of a 3.8km open-water swim, a 180km bike ride, and a 42km marathon.

The swim was challenging to say the least. As I lined up at the start, I braced myself for the gun. I pulled my goggles down and SNAP - the strap on the left side came off. As I fumbled, the gun went off and I staggered down the beach, frantically trying to fix it. Got it! Just in the nick of time. I pulled them on, pushed them into place, and dove into the water arms outstretched and legs flying behind me.

I felt like a pro for a maximum of 0.3 seconds until my face hit the water and my goggles flew straight off. In true jellyfish fashion, I rolled onto my back to fix them when another contestant swam right over the top of me. I flipped over again, only to get kicked in the face by the person in front. Not a great start to the longest day of my life.

Despite that, everything else went relatively smoothly. I finished the swim in 1 hour 10 mins. The bike ride was fantastic, despite a puncture disaster around 100km in. I finished the bike in just under 6 hours, swapped into my trainers, and started the marathon with some very wobbly legs. At this stage, it seemed like competitors were dropping like flies. It seemed like someone collapsed from exhaustion around almost every corner. (Is it bad that it actually made me feel pretty pleased with my progress?)

After shuffling through the last 10km or so, I crossed the line in 11 hours, 44 minutes, and 46 seconds to the load speaker announcing: “Joe Phillips, you are an IRONMAN!”

Thank you so much to everyone who donated. We raised an astoniising £2,646 from 80 individual contributors which is going straight to Alzhimers Reaserch UK to find a cure for such a terrible illness.

Greece 2025

Enjoying the flat

Take me home

Smart / casual

What a trip!

Photographer: Keep still!
Me: Not a chance.