John van Wisse
ENDUROMAN ARCH TO ARC

John is also raising funds for two incredible charities during his 2017 Enduroman record attempt: TLC for Kids and Cure for MND Foundation, with half the proceeds going to each of these worthy causes. See our charity page for more information.

The Enduroman Arch to Arc Triathlon is an ultra-distance triathlon from London to Paris.

 

The triathlon starts with an 87-mile run (140km) from London’s Marble Arch to Dover on the Kent coast, then a cross-channel swim (shortest distance 21 miles/33.8km) to the French coast, and finishes with a 180-mile (289.7km) bike from Calais to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The clock starts at Marble Arch, London and stops at Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

Only 33 athletes have ever completed the challenge, and until 2011, more people had walked on the moon, than completed this event. Frenchman Cyril de Blanchard is the current world record holder in the event, with a time of 59h 56m. His splits were run 18h 35m, T1 6h 21m, Swim 14h 47m, T2 6h 25m, Cycle 13h 48m.  Despite running and swimming slower than John, he had less overall rest and claimed the record on 24 June 2016.

John van Wisse of Australia, was the world record holder between 2014 and 2016 - his record at 61 hours and 27 minutes, was a full 12 hours and 12 minutes faster than the previous record, held by the UK’s Mark Bayliss. On August 19th 2011, Rachael Cadman became the first woman to complete the challenge in 97 hours, 37 minutes.

Joanne Rodda finished in 78 hours and 39 mins on 30th September 2014 to become the fastest female finisher. On the 21 September 2015 Grantley Bridge became the oldest man at 53 years old to complete the Arch to Arc in 88 hrs and 7 mins. The youngest person to complete the challenge was 25-year-old Freddie Iron on 17 August 2015 in a time of 77 hrs and 17 mins. The current team record is held by Team Urban Fitness GB, with a time of 35 hours 53 minutes. The 6 man team consisted of Rob Baird, Thomas Reader, Stu Baker, Luke Swain, Edmund Salt and David Grigg. The relay team are only the fourth team in the world to complete the triathlon with split times of 10 hours 12 minutes (Run) 10 hours 51 minutes (Swim) and 11 hours 14 minutes (Bike) beating the previous record held by Shell International by 1 hour 22 minutes and 30 seconds.

John's 2nd Attempt

John van Wisse was again attempting to break the world record, in a 2 week window starting from Sep 7, 2016, but unfortunately had to withdraw from that attempt due to a calf injury.

A 2nd attempt at the world record by John was conducted in Sept 2017.  

Despite having very favourable channel conditions, it was an exceptionally hot day in South Eastern England, and John suffered from heat stroke.  He finished the run in around 17 hours, but race officials required a full medical prior to him being cleared to be able to swim (an athlete had died during the event a few weeks prior to Johns attempt).  The medical was done, and unfortunately the medical advice was to withdraw from the event to prevent any possible further damage to John's kidneys.

Ludovic Chorgnon finished #Arch2Arc in Jul 2018 with an overall time of 60h 39mins, 48 mins faster than John's 2014 record, and just 43 mins shy of Cyril's record.

John's 3rd Attempt

John started his third attempt at  UK local Mon 24-Sep-18 22:00, Aus Tue 25-Sep 05:00 after being delayed by bad weather for most of a week.  Electing to give himself a little more time after the hard run of the 2nd attempt, John will attempt to start the swim 24 hrs after leaving London's Marble Arch.

Race progress report here

For up to the minute coverage on this attempt, follow one of the social media channels above (facebook, instagram, twitter).