I'm sorry but i disagree. He is claiming he is going to do 50 Ironman courses in 50 states in 50 days. He uses the term Ironman. WTC owns that trademark. So I think if he wants to say Ironman he needs to finish in 17 hours. If he uses the term Full Distance then I guess he could be flexible with time. Frankly I'm shocked WTC hasn't sued him yet.

lol @ people arguing over verbiage.

well if you call the green duck brown, i'm not cool with it. But if you call the green duck blue. Yeah, that's cool.

You are free to disagree, but do some research on the first Ironman in 1978 and see if they had WTC rules.

I suppose they could technically, but in reality that would be the ultimate example of a frivolous and petty lawsuit. It would probably lose them more customers in bad press than it would gain them in any way. If they started suing everyone with IM tattoos even though I'm not really for them, I'd have to consider more full distance events with other race organizers. I'm sure many others would do the same. IM is a generally a good thing, but they don't have a trademark on swimming, biking and running, and let's face it the Marvel comic character existed before this sport, so they are lucky Marvel doesn't sue their butts off too.

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You will remain the same person, before, during and after the race. So the result, no matter how important, will not define you. The journey is what matters. ~ Chrissie W.

All this parsing of 50 IMs in 50 days has been almost entirely off base. I've seen one post that was on point.

The requirement is that by the end of day 50, he must have 50 IMs completed. There's no mandate that he do one per day. That's his plan, but it isn't required to meet the letter of the challenge. If he chose to squeeze 7 IMs into 6 days (logistically impossible I realize, but play along), then rest for a day, that'd be perfectly fine.

And there surely is no mandate to finish before midnight, nor any requirement around how long each IM takes, nor any other nitpicky nonsense.

Just be done with #50 by the end of day 50. That's it.

i remember reading somewhere the WTC and Marvel Comics have an agreement

Please stop violating ST rule 14: Thou shall denigrate the efforts of others so that thine own efforts appear inflated

You probably read it here. Dan did a story in the relationship a few years ago. They don't own the MDOT logo trademark either.

Let's all be honest. Let's say for whatever reason, only 25 get finished in 50 days. This would still be a feat of superhuman proportions that I know I personally will never ever come within light years of accomplishing. This attempt alone is worthy of a segment on Briant Gumble's real sports. It's a pretty wild idea in the first place. I doubt I will ever even approach 2 IM in a 50 day period. I'm just trying to train for and finish my first right now and I find that a daunting enough of a task.

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You will remain the same person, before, during and after the race. So the result, no matter how important, will not define you. The journey is what matters. ~ Chrissie W.

There is a lot of truth here.

I think a lot of that is why they are going ahead with the documentary no matter what.

That being said, if you see James talk, or his passion, or his smile, it's contagious.


As each day goes my belief that he will finish gets larger, not smaller.

You sound like the life of the party. Seriously, why get so hung up on semantics. If you'd like to do something as physically ambitious and create your rules around it, you're more than welcome to. But it is easier to sit on the sidelines, judge, and point fingers. Does it make you feel better?

Apparently a lot of readers here don't realize that Ironman racing was around long before the WTC took ownership somewhere around 1990? And that the first Ironman races had no 17 hour finish requirement. I guess it is the same people who don't think anyone who has finished an Ironman distance race directed by Challenge, Rev3 or Norseman can say they are an Ironman finisher.

I think mostly the back and forth stems from a messaging problem of what this thing that James is doing is supposed to be.

Is it a third Guinness World Record attempt? If so, then yes rules matter. If not then who cares.
Is it all about raising funds for a charity? If so, how is this event funded and how much is going to that charity matters.
Is this a family vacation? If so, is anyone in the family besides James getting something out of it. :)

It is easy to just label people haters, it is harder to have meaningful discussion.

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Guiness isn't there. There is no category for what James is doing. This was addressed via Facebook today.
If you look on his web page, and watch the videos, or do a little reading, it will give you all the info you want on the charity. Just like most things like this, sponsors are funding a ton of it.

Last night on the Periscope broadcast it was very very clear how much this meant to James and his family. They are were all happy, and understood what was happening.

oh anthony, if you can, take that baby girl and your baby mama and go over to the fitness club and visit. every account i've read of interactions with the guy have been so pleasant. make an evening of it and then come back and tell us all about it. but only if it is safe. we sat under this storm for 2 days and it was pretty nasty down here. lots of wood damage but no concrete damage.

oh, and his poor, poor kids, what a miserable day they will spend in that pool....

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

I'm not sure how good his facebook or website is but he does a fairly good job of updates on his Instagram account. Full indoor im: brutal :)

If he ends up making a significant amount of money from this (sponsorship deals, media outlets, etc), I will bet you an insane amount of money that WTC gets involved regarding the use of the IRONMAN trademark.

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In 1978, WTC didn't own the IRONMAN trademark. We are in the year 2015....

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So sponsors are funding a ton of his challenge, but yet he's asking for 100k in donations to help him with his documentary? Doesn't make sense

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While most people seem to feel that a full IM indoors would be mentally grueling, i actually think it would be slightly easier than doing it outside, since you're in a temp-controlled facility with your food and drink close at hand, plus no worries about flat tires, cars, potholes, etc. So, if i were to persuade my local Gold's Gym (which is open 24/7 and is only a 5 min drive from my house) to allow me set up my trainer at the gym, and i were to do say 60 indoor "full distance triathlons" in 60 days, would i have broken the record for most back-to-back "full distance triathlons"??? To me the idea of doing it all indoors seems much more feasible just b/c the logistics are so much easier.

Just curious as to what the unofficial ST viewpoints are on this:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

He's asking for the 100k to own full rights to the documentary.

Exactly my point. Ironman distance racing was around way before the WTC bought the brand. The distance was around before the logo. The logo doesn't control the distance.

As Monty said, your gimmick, your rules.

I love the bitching about not following the rules. This is the Calvin Ball of triathlon. The rules are what he says they are at the moment he says them.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

The weather is not so bad that he couldn't have ridden outside. Sort of bummed he is on a trainer, doesn't seem legit.