Triathlete Dies While Trying to Swim the English Channel…After Running 87 Miles

Nick Thomas, a 45-year-old triathlete from England, died Sunday after being pulled unconscious from the English Channel during his attempt to swim across.

The Guardian reports that Thomas was competing in the “Arch to Arc” triathlon, which originates from the Marble Arch in London and concludes at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The demanding race requires participants to run 87 miles (more than three times the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles), then swim 21 miles across the English Channel, then bicycle 181 miles.

Per The Guardian, Thomas had been swimming for 16 hours, and was less than a mile from shore when he went unconscious. He was pulled from the water, given CPR, and taken to Calais, France — where he was pronounced dead.

“It is an extreme sport, we know the risks,” said an unidentified spokesman for Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation, the race’s governing body. “He was doing what he loved doing. Our thoughts are with his family.”

[image via screengrab]

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