This past Saturday, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley accomplished a major goal: He completed an Iron-distance triathlon. That’s a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run. That’s major. He was so psyched about it, he tweeted a blurry photo of himself near the finish line (see it below).
According to his Deputy Communications Director Courtney Warner Crowell, the 56-year-old Senator competed in the PPD Beach 2 Battleship race in Wilmington, North Carolina. Wearing bib number 561, Senator Merkley was one of 630 competitors in the field that completed the full, Iron-distance event.
Merkley completed the course in 15 hours, 30 minutes, and 22 seconds (his biking leg was 7 hours and 40 minutes). That time put him in 401st place out of 415 finishers.