GARY Broadbent played Super League rugby for nearly a decade, led Barrow Raiders to Championship Grand Final glory and is a veteran of cycling’s gruelling Fred Whitton Challenge.

But for the 40-year-old from Walney, completing his first Ironman-distance triathlon tops the lot. Broadbent was one of 270 athletes to conquer the Lakesman Triathlon in testing red-hot conditions on Sunday.

After receiving entry to the race as a Christmas gift from wife Emma, Broadbent rose to the challenge, finishing in 37th place in a time of eleven hours, 23 minutes and 43 seconds.

The race saw competitors swim 2.4 miles in Derwentwater, then take off on a 112-mile bike ride around West Cumbria and finish with a marathon around Keswick.

When asked how the Lakesman experience compared to his many other sporting achievements, Broadbent said: “I think it might go above them all, just because of the amount of time and effort involved.

“Don’t get me wrong, the Fred Whitton is tough, and the Lakesman bike is mostly flat with a few undulating bits, but it’s the enormity of it when you put it all together. The amount of hours you have to put into the training. I trained pretty much for six days a week from Christmas.

“Team sport is different. Rugby is 80 minutes. You do your team sessions and your own bits, but this is about the individual. And it’s like anything, if you don’t prepare you are going to struggle and you are going to fail.

“Just to be out there for 11/12 hours, I think it really does rank right up there. It’s something I can tick off now.

“I take my hat off to anyone who has attempted it and completed it – and even to the people who had to drop out because of the heat.

“Anyone who does these and does more than one of them deserves credit because of the amount of strain it must put on their bodies.

“It had everything – brilliant scenery, sunshine, the full works, and I’m really, really happy I’ve completed it. I was happy with my time as well. I couldn’t have done any of the disciplines any better.

“I might have been able to go a little bit quicker on the bike, but I was trying to hold a little bit back for the run because of how hot it was.

“I’ve never run a marathon. The longest I have ever run is 18 miles and it was nowhere near that hot.

“It was five laps, and I felt okay on laps one and two, but then I struggled on laps three and four, especially with my knees.

“My pace dropped right off, but then I managed to get it back, and focus for the last lap.”