At 6:45AM on Sunday, August 18, 2013, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark along with 2,600 professional and age-groupers triathletes  from around Europe and several from abroad waited patiently on the beach at Amager Strandpark in Copenhagen mentally preparing themselves for a race they will never forget: the KMD Ironman Copenhagen.  First in the water, at 7AM, were the pros then the age-groupers.

Pros and age-groupers — hence amateurs — had until 11PM to complete the 3.8 km swim, 180 km of cycling, and 42.2 km run to the finish line at Christensborg Slot.  It was going to be a long, long day.

Classified as a Pro, and wearing bib #45, Crown Prince Frederik completed the 3.8 kilometer swim in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 16 seconds.  Excellent.  Then he made a mad dash to the bike racks and he was off to begin a tough 180 kilometers of cycling through downtown Copenhagen to north Zealand and back to Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. He completed the bike portion of the race at 5 hours, 25 minutes and 19 seconds.

Once he handed his bike to one of the many volunteers he put on his shoes in the holding tent, then ran out to begin the last portion of the race: the 42.2 kilometer run.  As he huffed and puffed running past the Operan along the harbor — perhaps feeling like he was going to die — Crown Prince Frederik kept on going. And, going. And, going. And, going until he made it to the finish line at Christiansborg Slot.  His run time: 3 hours, 58 minutes and 47 seconds.  Awesome.

Combining his overall time Crown Prince Frederik completed the KMD Ironman Copenhagen race in 10 hours, 45 minutes and 32 seconds just 2:32:51 behind the Men’s winner of the race, Mr. Jens Petersen-Bach.   Congrats and well done, Frederik, you are an Ironman!   🙂

So now the question is, will the future king of Denmark participate in the prestigious and the most grueling triathlon in the world known as the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i on October 12?  Perhaps.

He has proven that he has what it takes to compete against the best of the best professional triathletes and amateurs.  There is a chance that either he will be chosen via a lottery or personally asked (which is rare) to participate in the 2013 Ironman World Championships race.

Click the links below to watch videos as well as to view photos:

Photos, VIDEOS, VIDEOS, VIDEO, VIDEO

For those who never watched the famous Ironman World Championships you might enjoy the video above.   🙂  The video is inspiring to say the least.