Ten months after the first attempt, Josef Ajram returns to the Canary Islands to try to complete seven Ironman-distance triathlons and successfully complete the Red Bull 7 Islands challenge. The Catalan triathlete's adventure began on Monday in El Hierro, today it will be La Gomera's turn and he will finish his odyssey through the rest of the islands on Sunday in Lanzarote. Last year he found his limit in La Gomera, an island in which he had to be hospitalized for several days due to heat stroke and was unable to fulfill the challenge of participating in the 2012 edition of Ironman Lanzarote.
At 07:45 on Monday, Josef Ajram's Red Bull 7 Islands challenge began in El Hierro. The Catalan triathlete entered the sea at Roque de Bonanza to complete the 3.8-kilometer swimming segment, taking one hour and ten minutes to complete the course. With the first rays of the sun, Josef Ajram began pedaling around the island of El Hierro to do the 180 kilometers of the bicycle segment.
Josef Ajram commented that "the climb to the port has been the hardest part and I have done a positive difference in altitude of 2,900 meters." The triathlete explained that "in some sections we have made loops, on this island there are no plains and all the time you are going up or down" and added that "the good thing has been the absence of wind, which always helps."
"A very lonely marathon"
Josef Ajram took six hours and twenty minutes to complete the 180-kilometer bicycle segment, leaving the 42.2-kilometer run. The last sector began in Frontera and the final part took place in one of the most emblematic tourist spots in El Hierro, such as the Hotel de Puntagrande, which is considered the smallest hotel in the world. "It has been a very lonely marathon going along a track and not through the urban center," commented Josef Ajram and added that he had felt "very comfortable," recalling that he managed to get rid of the thorn from last year in which it took him more than 13 hours to complete the first of the seven challenges.
Josef Ajram took more than eleven and a half hours to complete the first triathlon of the Red Bull 7 Islands challenge. A nutritionist has constantly monitored the caloric expenditure of the Catalan triathlete, who has ingested more than 4,600 calories consuming bananas, ham, turkey and tomato sandwiches and completing the diet with nuts and even chocolates. Despite not being a very hot day, Josef Ajram has consumed about 7 liters of water to keep his body hydrated throughout the test.
He completed the first of the seven triathlons of the Red Bull 7 Islands challenge. Early in the morning this Tuesday he moved to La Gomera, and will have to face the island in which he had to withdraw last year due to a severe heat stroke.
