Ultra-triathlon body of Ultra Triathlon. Ultra-triathlon An ultra-triathlon is a long-distance triathlon. The term generally refers to all triathlon events of distance greater than the Ironman Triathlon. Thus, every ultra triathlon event must involve more than of swimming, of cycling, and a full marathon () of running. The most common distances are the double, triple, quadruple, quintuple and deca triathlon. Unlike a standard triathlon event, an ultra-triathlon event may not necessarily involve the three component disciplines of triathlon (swimming, cycling and running) in direct consecutive order, but may instead consist of multiple consecutive individual triathlons performed on consecutive days. The IUTA
Marathon swimming comparing finish times from performances undertaken on different days meaningless. One of the earliest marathon swims was accomplished in 1875 by Captain Matthew Webb, when he became the first person to swim across the English Channel. Similarly, perhaps the most famous marathon swim of all-time was accomplished in 1926 by Gertrude Ederle, when she became, at 19 years of age, the first woman to swim across the English Channel. In doing so, she demolished the existing world record for the crossing, by employing the crawl stroke technique. The Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming includes three of the most well-known