photo by: Robert Karas Social networks
Robert Karas covered the IronMan format ten times.
A sporting pinnacle for triathletes, confidently on par with Olympic gold, the IronMan events are themselves an extraordinary test of strength for the body. And if the ancestor of the modern Olympic movement called the pentathletes the knights of the five qualities, then in this case only the number in this formulation can be changed. The classic distance for “iron people” is as follows: swimming 3.86 kilometers, cycling 180.25 kilometers, and a classic marathon track distance. Furthermore, all three components are performed without pauses. For an unprepared athlete, this sounds daunting in itself. And now imagine that this entire sequence of actions must be performed ten times in a row. Unreal? I was not there. Robert Karas in the competitions in Brazil clearly demonstrated that there are not so many impossible things in sports, as it sometimes seems.
photo by: Robert Karas Social networks
THE TWENTIETH BREATH
It has been said more than once or twice about athletics marathons that the real fight in the distance begins after kilometer thirty-five. In this context, what Karas did does not fit into the framework of either the second, or the fifth, or the fifteenth breath. No kidding: he had to swim 24 miles, bike a thousand miles, and run over 250 miles. Moreover, it turned out that after the end, Robert did all this against the background of serious health problems. Even during the first marathon distance running, his old injury worsened. But he kept pushing toward the finish line, finishing his ultramarathon no matter what. The new world record set by Karas for such tests is now 164 hours, 14 minutes and 2 seconds. He surpassed the previous achievement by more than 18 hours, that is, we can say that the previous record holder compared to him on some sections of the distance, in fact, walked at a brisk pace.
Photo by: Photo Source: Robert Karas Social Media
LONG LIVE ALTRUISM!
An important fact was the fact that Robert, in fact, received nothing for the single result that he set. The reward itself was ridiculous for reaching that level. Karas received a check for $7,300 – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who can only dream of such overloads, would have talked about this reward with their friends for a long time, if, of course, they knew about this situation. But the brave athlete refused this amount, and immediately decided to transfer this money to the fund to help seriously ill children. So Karas turned out to be an even more “iron” man than the distance he covered required. In addition, there is no doubt that Robert will take such a burden on his mighty shoulders more than once in order to help those for whom money is now more important than himself. And this is expensive in our difficult times.
Photo by: Photo Source: Robert Karas Social Media
