ANYONE who competed in or watched this year's Ironman UK race in Bolton may struggle to comprehend the extraordinary feat achieved by Wanderers fan Dave Clamp, who has broken the world record for the double-deca.

To those uninitiated in the frankly insane sport of ultra-distance triathlon, a double deca is 20 ironman distance races – a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run – completed consecutively over 20 days.

Dad-of-two Clamp completed the distance in 252hrs 21mins 16secs at the Ultradistance Triathlon Championships in Switzerland.

The 57-year-old, who lived in Bromley Cross and taught at Tottington High School for many years before leaving the area to start up his own fitness training business, led the field of six men and two women from the first day to the last.

Only four competitors made it past the first five days, but they all went on to complete the full 20-day challenge.

Clamp's time earned him victory by just over 23 hours from Germany's Daniel Meier.

"For 20 days the only thing that mattered was just counting laps in the pool and on the bike and on the run, and then suddenly it’s all over," he said, the day after completing the marathon adventure in the picturesque surroundings of Buchs, in the Swiss Alps.

"Obviously, I am really delighted with the race and having finished, but I am so delighted for everybody else as well.

"When there was only four of us left after day five, for all four of us to do the next 15 days together, it was so special to endure that with the three of them. Something I will never forget."

Clamp, who hase been a Bolton Wanderers season ticket holder for more than 20 years, was a relative latecomer to the discipline, having only done his first ironman in his 30s.

He reached his peak in 1997, when he made the British elite team after finishing an ironman in under nine hours.

That is still his fastest time for a single ironman, but with age not on his side Dave decided to take a different tack.

After winning his first ever double ironman in Holland in his 40s, he had similar success in a triple ironman in Germany, which he went on to compete in nine times.

The natural step as he aged, according to Clamp, was to go further. He competed in a deca ironman every year for the last five years before finally taking on the double deca, which ended on Saturday, September 3.

The course, while a little more sedate than that featured in Ironman UK in Bolton, still sounds daunting when it is boiled down.

There was a two-hour time limit set for the swim, which was 76 laps of the local 50m outdoor pool.

Competitors then took to the area's network of cycle paths and running tracks, taking in the scenic woodland of the valley.

Most days, the bike course involved 20 laps of a relatively flat 9km route, with a midnight cut-off point for stragglers, followed by 32 laps of a 1.25km running course, which had to be completed by 3am each day.

Clamp was never troubled by the time limits, but he did have to limit himself after going out too fast on the opening day.

After taking the lead on day one in 11:38:33, he struggled with illness for the next few days before eventually finding a more balanced schedule, which included set eating times en route.

His slowest time of the 20 came on day three in 13:59:21 and his fastest time, after day one, was 11:52:29, set on the penultimate day.

Clamp says his only real scare came in the last half of the final run, when he picked up a leg injury but managed to struggle round to the finish in 12:51:07.

"I looked at the video of me at the finishing line," he said.

"I have no recollection of being like that at all. It must have been a combination of absolute relief and joy that it was over, that I didn’t have to take one step more.

"What happened on the final day, when I got that injury in my leg and it was so painful to run that last half marathon, with that pain on my face, it was just so great to be able to stop, I think.

"To have fought so hard for 20 days, so constantly for 11 and 12 hours a day and never to think of the finish – you just can’t think of the finish – you can only think of what you are doing there and then.

"When you are swimming you can only think about getting to the end of the swim. When you are cycling, you just count to five laps, and when you get to five just count to 10. You can never think beyond that, it is really so hard to do that day after day.

"To then suddenly get to the finish, only with about four laps to go of the final run did I allow the emotions to suddenly creep in and think ‘oh yes, I am actually going to complete this’.

"After day one I was obviously in the lead and people were saying ‘oh, you’re the champion’. But I know from experience in ultra-distance triathlon that you can’t take anything for granted.

"Any day something can go wrong to end your race.

"I still think I went too fast on day one. Days two, three and four I suffered quite a lot. I was very sick. Sue and I were working on my nutrition strategy and we gradually got a system that worked so well for us that from days 11 to 20 we were like clockwork.

"We knew exactly what I was going to eat and when. Each day on the bike I stopped at lap 16 to eat for about eight minutes and we always knew what time I was going to arrive at lap 16, it was never more than about two or three minutes difference.

"So I think for the last 10 days all of my times were within half an hour apart from the last day when I lost half an hour through the running injury."

Clamp is not the sort of man to say never, but he admitted after finishing the double deca that he would think twice about competing again.

"In the morning after the race we were all saying no more, never again, but I have already had an email from Beto in Mexico asking me to do a deca next year and Wayne in America who is organising something," he said.

"For me it is the money more than anything.

"I have not had a holiday for the last six years because I have been doing deca ironman and now a double deca.

"They are expensive to do and take up all your money and time. So I will see."

As well as his natural competitive spirit, Clamp was also motivated in his challenge to raise money for East Cheshire Hospice and Brain Tumour Research.

He has already gone well past his original target of £2,000, passing £3,600 when this article was published.

To help him boost his total further, visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dave-clamp