Ironman's 130km ride without a seat

[Leongsam]

Ironman's 130km ride without a seat

6:36 AM Tuesday Mar 15, 2016

Stephane Bruggen riding sans seat. Photo / Twitter/@asiatrilive


Belgian competitor Stephane Bruggen certainly earned the title of Ironman.

Bruggen was reportedly 50km into the 180km cycling leg of Ironman New Zealand in Taupo this month when his saddle broke. He was sitting in fourth place in the 40-44 age group at the time but didn't give up.

Bruggen had to ride the remaining 130km while standing up on the bike but still completed it in 5 hours and 29 minutes before running a sub-four hour marathon to finish in 25th place in his age group.

His overall time of 10 hours, 16 minutes and 41 seconds saw him finish 131st overall.

"I had too much to thank a lot of people and there were so many people I wanted to race, it was not an option not to finish," he told 3athlon.be.

"So I thank anyone to push me to the finish, especially my wife and my son Jake. My quadriceps and my feet have never done so much pain."

Stephane Bruggen @ Ironman New Zealand, broke his saddle at 50k

He rode out of the saddle a 5h29 bike & 10h16 finish pic.twitter.com/QYJXRGIYrM

— AsiaTRI Triathlon We (@asiatrilive) March 14, 2016

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- NZ Herald

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