A super fit dad has gone viral after finishing an Iron Man challenge at the age of 61 – proving that it’s never too late to achieve your goals.
Tajudin Mustaffa took part in the competition earlier this month, which included a 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run.
In total, the retired banker covered 226km, a standard distance for Iron Man, which is organised by the World Triathlon Corporation.
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The 61-year-old has also shared what got him through to the end: Rocky Balboa.
Tajudin’s son shared a video of him taking part in the competition to TikTok, where it has gathered over 3.2 million views.
The challenge took the dad 15 hours to complete.
“It was a challenge with a lot of obstacles,” Tajudin, from Johor, West Malaysia, told What’s The Jam.
“Motivated by my previous years of failure.
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“[Prior to the Iron Man], I needed to train but to also love and enjoy it.
“I was sleeping between five to seven hours a night.
“Eating local food and avoiding junk and processed food.
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“And I consume fruit and vegetables more frequently.”
Tajudin took part in the triathlon on Saturday 12 October.
All throughout, he kept his hero – Rocky Balboa – in his mind.
The character is the main protagonist from the Rocky film series, played by Sylvester Stallone.
Tajudin said: “[I was inspired by] the way he [Rocky] would train when he was defeated.
“And he’d come back stronger, until he became a champion.
“The movie scenes are also great.
“Especially when they’re paired with songs including ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and ‘Gonna Fly Now’.”
In the video shared to social media, Tajudin can be seen first part taking in the swim.
He claps and runs up to the water before diving in.
His son can then be heard cheering him on as he comes out the water and does his first round of cycling.
The dad then tackles the first loop of the run, before being captured on the last loop.
His son joins him for the final run and films Tajudin crossing the finish line.
The post was captioned: “If there’s one thing that I learnt from you is to never give up on achieving your dreams. Age is indeed just a number.”
The video has gained over 316,000 likes and 3,800 comments from fans.
Mitchell said: “I cant even run 3.9 km straight let alone swim.”
Someone else wrote: “Even science can’t explain dad strength.”
Another fan added: “Your dad is an inspiration, I’m doing my first full Ironman at 51 and this has truly inspired me thank you.”
Faizal commented: “He ended with the same trademark he started.”
Kitty wrote: “Your encouragement is the sweetest!”
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