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Operation Ironman
- One Man's Four Month Journey from Hospital Bed to Ironman Triathlon
- Narrated by: Nathaniel Priestley
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Sports
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Summary
Operation Ironman follows George Mahood's hilarious and inspiring journey from a hospital bed to an Ironman triathlon. After major back surgery, George set himself the ultimate challenge:
- A 2.4 mile swim
- A 112 mile bike ride
- And a 26.2 mile run
- All to be completed within 16 hours
He couldn't swim more than a length of front crawl, he had never ridden a proper road bike, he had not run further than 10k in 18 months...and he had never worn Lycra.
He had four months to prepare.
Could he do it?
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What listeners say about Operation Ironman
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-04-22
Very inspiring
I currently intend on getting to an ironman start line and this was a very inspiring book to listen to and nice to hear such a posative outlook on life and unpredictable situations. Well done.
1 person found this helpful
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- Melanie
- 07-02-22
Loved it!
Have listened twice through. Very funny and inspirational. Will probably listen again. Great story.
1 person found this helpful
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- Jake
- 21-12-21
Inspiring
Brilliant story, brilliant journey. Very inspiring. Highly recommend to anyone interested in triathlons or lacking motivation
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-06-21
Really Enjoyable
Great listen, I previously listened to free country again a great story. Will definitely be listening to more books by George Mahood 👌🏻.
1 person found this helpful
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- C. Taylor
- 14-05-21
What an absolute slog
For the most part I found this book very irritating and an absolute slog to get through, and not just because the narrator is annoying and can't sing, but honestly when he tries to imitate children or do any other accent that's not his own its like nails on a chalk board.
I have done the Ironman before and I know how much you have to sacrifice and how long you have to train for to even stand a hope in hell of completing it.
This guys attitude to a lot of it absolutely stank, I mean why Ironman? I admire the fact he wanted to do something physical to help with recovery from surgery but why not a standard triathlon or maybe even a half ironman at most? Most of the time, to me it came across that he appeared to be doing this for the social glamour rather than the personal achievement, this was obvious by the fact he takes the opportunity to tell everyone and anyone that he is doing it, but at the same time said he was only willing to put in 3-4 months of training, half of which he couldn't even run or ride a bike properly because he was still recovering. While I was racing and competing in lots of races over the course of a decade I saw the finisher percentage of the races I took part in radically decline as more and more people signed up to do these races and had to pull out due to
lack of training. While reading this book I couldn't help but think this guy is exactly the person I used to begrudge seeing on the start lines of races, turning up hoping to just have fun after having done little to no training. Normally I have absolutely nothing against this, especially of course if it's a beginners race, but the Ironman is an elite race, which is another reason why I thought he chose to do it to impress others rather than to help himself.
He also spends a lot of time explaining techniques and ideas he doesn't really appear to understand, so it's like listening to someone paraphrasing from someone elses book a lot. The book also contains a ton of boring conversation and a lot of filler that isn't really needed in the book, but does utilise the narrators terrible accents.
1 person found this helpful
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- j p mallen
- 16-08-22
Great listen
Great story and very inspiring. narrators voice a bit annoying in bits with the silly voices and accents
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- Catherine
- 02-08-22
Laugh out loud
I loved this book. For anyone contemplating their first Ironman and feeling very under prepared it is very relatable and inspirational. It is also a laugh a minute. A thoroughly enjoyable book, well written and extremely entertaining. I completely recommend it for the knowledge it provides for all those questions you darent ask anyone but also it’s just a great read
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- Amazon Customer
- 27-07-22
Great book
Really enjoyable listen, very heartfelt, thoroughly recommend this book, especially if you’re in to distance events
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- Anonymous User
- 07-06-22
Funny. Inspiring. Excellent!
Operation Ironman is a captivating read. Honesty and humour combine to make this this book stand out above other personal challenges books.
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- Anonymous User
- 23-05-22
Lighthearted like at ironman
Really enjoyed this, light-hearted look at Ironman training and racing,
this is not a training manual for those who are looking for one!
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- nochum kurinsky
- 19-08-21
Great storyteller
I downloaded the book because I basically read and listen to everything triathlon related. Turns out it’s a gem. He’s a great story teller. His story is cool but his delivery is the genius here. He’s funny, self deprecating, and kinda corny at times. There are some little tidbits of Ironman training advice thrown in as well. Great ‘read’!
1 person found this helpful
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- Christine Wulff
- 11-07-22
The longest humble brag I’ve ever sat through
The subject line says it all. Don’t bother this book is a complete turn off.
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- Oscar Perales
- 08-07-22
Great story
Great story together with a very good narrative. Funny, inspirational and well written. Highly recommend
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- Randy J. Reupert
- 23-05-22
Fantastic book!!
Well written, well read. Very inspiring!! Incredible journey for a man just out of surgery! Definitely worth it!!
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- Mary Herron
- 13-05-21
I thought it was great!!
So funny and heartfelt. Loved the English accent and the English style it was written in. I'm going to check out his book about biking across the UK...or was it just England? I'll look forward to finding out.
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- Steve Hughes
- 20-04-21
Very entertaining audio book
I really enjoyed this book, helped to pass the time while doing my own training. Many inspiring, funny and sweet moments.
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- HikerGirl
- 18-03-21
Ironman goals
Pretty entertaining as I am training for a 70.3 but thinking maybe should have just gone for the full instead! Fun listen/read!
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- Jesper Soerensen
- 01-03-21
Brilliant
A very inspiring story that entertains and amazes throughout. Funny and brilliantly narrated as well. Highly recommended.
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- Karen Malone
- 29-12-20
Wonderful and inspiring!
Another great adventure told in a humble and humorous way! George makes you feel like family.