ASEA, the Utah Valley Marathon title sponsor, is pleased to announce that two of its athletes of national prominence will be joining the marathon.
In the next few weeks look for training and nutrition trips from Rich and James.
Rich Roll (www.RichRoll.com) is a man of many hats – a wellness advocate on behalf of plant-based nutrition; an entertainment attorney; a husband and father of 4 children; the #1 bestselling author of Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World’s Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself (Crown Archetype, 2012).
But most of all, he is a passionate and inspirational ultra-endurance athlete. In May 2010, Rich accomplished an unprecedented feat of staggering endurance many said was not possible. Something they call the EPIC5 CHALLENGE – a odyssey that entailed completing 5 ironman-distance triathlons on 5 islands of Hawaii in under a week. Commencing on Kauai, they travelled to Oahu, Molokai and Maui before finishing on the Big Island, following the course of the Ironman World Championships on the Kona coast.
In addition, Rich has been a top finisher at the 2008 and 2009 Ultraman World Championships in Hawaii. Considered by many to be one of world’s most daunting and grueling endurance races on the planet, Ultraman is a 3-day / 320 mile double-ironman distance triathlon that circumnavigates the entire Big Island. Limited to only 35 carefully selected invitation-only participants from all over the world, Day 1 involves a 6.2 mile ocean swim immediately followed by a 90 mile cross-country cycling race. Day 2 is a 170 mile cycling race. And the event culminates on Day 3 with a 52 mile double marathon run on the searing hot lava fields of the Kona coast.
James Lawrence (www.iron-cowboy.com) has been doing triathlons for seven years. At the age of 28, James participated in a four mile “fun” run that he struggled to finish. After this his wife, Sunny, signed them both up for a marathon and told James; “figure it out”.
Catching the triathlon bug, he has since competed in countless triathlons of different distances throughout the world and has found a passion that he just can’t get enough of.
In 2010, James set a world record completing 22 half-iron distance races in just 30 weeks! This race consists of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56-mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. Some of these races back to back; one Saturday and then Sunday. This took some serious dedication and was an adventure that will be with him the rest of his life! He didn’t just complete them, but he averaged 5 hours for each race. He is now officially part of the Guinness Book of World Records!
