POTSDAM -- Potsdam resident Jim Wilkes took on a USA Ultra Triathlons 703 mile Continuous Quintuple Anvil Triathlon at Lake Anna State Park in Virginia earlier this month.

The race consisted of a 12-mile swim, a 560-mile bike, and 131-mile run. “Once the clock starts athletes have 132 hours to complete the race,” Wilkes said.

In 2010 he took on a similar if less strenuous event there, challenged by 7.2 mile swim, biking 336 miles, and running 78.6 miles, all within 60 hours. Between that event and this year’s Ultra Triathlon, he has participated in many, many other such events.

In these Ultra Triathlons, Wilkes said, “each discipline must be completed before moving on to the next. And the clock doesn’t stop for anything, such as severe weather conditions.”

Wilkes has been an enthusiast in endurance sports since recovering from injuries he sustained from a grenade in 2003 during his deployment to Iraq as a U.S. Army lieutenant.

He used the training and competing to build himself back up after the physical and mental toll of his injury during that attack, where several others in his unit were casualties, and as a way to support other soldiers who might find themselves in need of a little inspiration.