The Ultraman World Championships was this past weekend (Nov. 27-29). Ultraman is an athletic endurance event so extreme that just to qualify, you have to complete an Ironman race.   Two of the participants this year will be Richard Roll and Jason Lester. They are both 100% vegan, and credit their success to a plant-strong lifestyle.

Think vegan can win in this most extreme of all endurance athletic events?  It can – Richard Roll won day 1 at Ultraman.   He performed a 6.2 mile swim plus a 90 mile bike ride in 7 hours, 57 minutes.. which was the best of the day! From his twitter page :

Two words: PLANT STRONG. For those who think u can’t excel athletically on a plant based diet, think again.

References:

• http://ultramanlive.com/
• http://www.theengine2diet.com/the-blog/rich-roll-one-of-the-fittest-men-on-the-planet/
• http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/21/rich.roll.getting.fit/index.html
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rich-Roll/106878994381
• http://www.richroll.com/
• http://www.jasonplester.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/user/richroll66
• http://richroll.arnokroner.com/blog-2

Unfortunately Richard Roll crashed his bike 40 miles into the ride on day 2. He broke his pedal, broke his helmet and suffered some serious road rash… injuring his knee, hip, elbow and shoulder. Still, he got back on and finished in a respectable 8 hours and 47 minutes. Which was only an hour behind the leader. Not bad for a guy who rode 3/4 of the race injured, but it took him down to 7th place.

From his twitter entry:

Showed up. Played hurt. Gritted it out. Got it done. 7:51 for the 52.4. – 7th overall. I’ll take it.

“Plant Strong” is an excellent yogic diet. Clears the body, clears the mind, aids strength, adds ahimsa.