SEAN CONWAY HAS already swam from one end of Britain to the other. Now he is in the final stages of a 1,000 mile run from the tip of Scotland to the most southerly part of England.
The extreme endurance adventurer, originally from New Zealand but based in the UK the past 13 years, set off from the coastal village of John O’Goats six weeks ago and has averaged 20 miles everyday — laying his head down in fields, pubs and on the floors of good samaritans along the way.
conway_sean / Instagram
Despite being followed by a camera crew, who are filming a documentary for the Discovery Channel, the 34-year-old has not had any additional support along the way and carries his tent and all his own gear.
A real life Forrest Gump, he also claims to have used GPS along the way but he is being tracked here.
If, as expected, he does reach Land’s End in southern Cornwall this afternoon, Conway will become the first man to have completed the Ultimate British Triathlon.
It may come as a surprise then to learn that he is far from an elite athlete.
“I got the bug for adventure when I first cycled John O’Groats to Land’s End,” Conway said. “I took me a month to cycle it and the record is 44 hours. I really was bad at cycling.
Five years later, I was looking for something else to do and I came across the idea of swimming it. I thought the idea had been done but it turned out no one had even attempted a length of Britain swim.
“What was meant to be two months ended up being four-and-a-half months. I remember getting to the end thinking ‘right, that’s it… I’m done’ but a few months went by and I just thought ‘I’ve got to do the run now’.”
Conway attempted the challenge once before, but had to pack it in after falling over while attempting a selfie and injuring his knee.
Now, he is mere miles from the finish line.
You can follow Sean’s progress here
