4 triathlons, 1 day, 4 countries! - Manor Community Academy

4 triathlons, 1 day, 4 countries!

New world record smashed by 14-year-old Ben Turnbull, in memory of beloved family dog

23 April 2022 saw 14-year-old Manor Academy student, Ben Turnbull, complete the painstaking challenge of 4 triathlons across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, in under 24 hours. Ben is a dedicated triathlete who was awarded a regional award in 2018 for his efforts in swimming, cycling and running, in the competition “Hartlepool Young Aspiring Athlete”. Ben has always been hugely supported by Dad Matt (Performing Arts teacher) and Mum Kelly (Health Lecturer), to dream big and pursue his sporting goals.

Ben and his brother Dylan (15) planned to complete this triathlon challenge prior to 2020 but due to Covid this was placed on hold. Dylan unfortunately was unable to take part due to GCSEs, and with the focus needed on his studies, Dylan was unable to commit to the required hard training. Matt, who is also a record-breaking athlete completing 7 iron distance triathlons in 7 days, raising £1000 for Tiny Lives baby charity, happily joined Ben on this challenge in Dylan’s absence.

The challenge

The challenge consisted of a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run in all 4 home nation countries in 1 day. Starting and finishing on Saturday 23rd April, Ben began in Belfast at 4.30am before his ferry to Stranraer at 7.30am. Once the Scottish leg was complete, Ben moved on to Carlisle for an early evening and a late finish in Buckley, Wales to reach the finish line of the challenge.

Ben had a huge support network to prepare him for the day, including kit preparation, taking into consideration clothing, blisters, sores, discomfort, flat tyres and mechanical failures, in anticipation of the 2-3-hour journeys between countries. Food, nutrition and hydration were also vital. This had to be very precise to help Ben get through a day of torture; too little and he risked running out of energy, too much and he risked sickness and gastric issues.

To further prepare for the day, Ben trained 4 times a week for up to 90 minutes, as well as training with his dad at weekends, upping his time and mileage to cope with 4 triathlons in 1 day – all this also had to be balanced with school work.

Ben originally wanted to do this challenge to raise money for The Dogs Trust, in memory of the adored family dog Pepper, but with recent events in the Ukraine, Ben decided to split the charities to raise awareness and funds for the Ukraine crisis, and so added the British Ukraine Aid charity as well. Ben was able to raise just over £2000 for both charities.

With previous knee injuries, Ben was understandably nervous about the challenge but also excited, and with his charities in mind, his motivation was strong. He said: “I am doing this in memory of my dog Pepper and this will keep me strong knowing that thousands of dogs will be helped. It also means a lot to me that children in Ukraine will be saved by people’s donations and I will remember this when it gets really hard and I am in pain, but I will not quit because finishing this challenge means people’s lives will be saved.”

After months of gruelling hard work Ben completed the challenge and achieved a new world record.

Post-Triathlon Interview

In an interview following the event, Ben reflected on the challenge, sharing his thoughts and feelings:

Viewing his Dad as a role model, Ben found inspiration and decided to take on this challenge, to follow in Dad’s footsteps. Due to the recent loss of Pepper and current events in Ukraine, Ben was even more motivated, in the hopes of raising money for Dogs Trust and the British Ukraine Foundation Aid.

Ben’s training regime was tough but vital. With daily training Ben felt confident with both his swimming and cycling, but less confident with the running aspect. To combat this, Ben placed his focus on improving his running performance and with a previous knee injury, training was even more important to strengthen the knee and allow him to succeed. Ben trained at a gym in Brierton to work on his running, went to Millhouse for swimming and used his exercise bike at home for the cycling.

On the day of the challenge, 4.30am on a Saturday morning in Belfast, Ben felt all his emotions at once and even questioned what he was doing. After completing a 750m swim, 20k bike ride and 5k run 4 times in 17 hours, 44 minutes and 48 seconds, Ben, understandably was physically exhausted. The runs had proved to be the most difficult, with the first leg of the run in Belfast being the hardest due to twisting his ankle. But Ben persevered and made it to the end. Luckily Ben had time to rest and recover whilst on the ferry to Stranraer, Scotland. The second hardest part was the 3rd run in Carlisle, whereas the swims and bike rides had gone extremely well. Despite traffic lights slowing Ben down on the bike, he was overall very happy with his performance.

Physically, Ben found the challenge to be incredibly tiring, however, after completing felt he could 100% do it again in a faster time. Ben is eager for someone else to attempt this challenge and beat his time, as this would be another goal to aim towards – to try and beat it again and keep his world record title.
Emotionally, the first leg of the challenge was tough as it did not go as planned due to twisting his ankle. Nevertheless the 2nd and 3rd leg went well. By the 4th leg Ben was feeling very nervous. As the last leg of the challenge the pressure was felt, as this would be the part that would determine his time for the full event. Once completed and a new world record set, Ben felt relieved and overwhelmed about what he had just accomplished and achieved – to celebrate at the end of the day, Ben and his family enjoyed a well-deserved tikka curry in Wales.

With over £2,000 raised for his chosen charities and donations still rolling in, Ben described this as the best part of the challenge – knowing he was doing it for a good cause is what kept him going.

Ben does not have another challenge in mind at the moment, but would happily be open to re-doing this challenge again, should someone beat his time. For anyone who is considering attempting this challenge, or a triathlon in general, Ben’s top tips for success are: get lots of training in as early as possible, continuing this all the way up to the event, make sure you have the right nutrition before and throughout, a massage gun comes very handy for rest and recovery and finally but most importantly, you need to be dedicated.