would seem like an unpleasant prospect to most of us -- but Brian Peck does it for fun.

Last weekend, the 43-year-old Bank of Bermuda employee competed in the Hawaii Iron Man competition, renowned as one of the toughest sporting events in the world.

In the unrelenting heat of the Pacific island, Peck completed the course -- a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride, topped off with a marathon -- in a time of 12 hours, 45 minutes.

Peck finished 1,118th out of 1,425 competitors and was 133rd best in the field of 170 in the 40-44 age group.

It was not Peck's debut in an Iron Man competition, as he had competed in the Canadian equivalent in 1995 and 1997.

But Hawaii deserved the repuation of being the toughest, said Peck, still in Hawaii enjoying a week's vacation to recover.

"It's definitely tougher than Canada -- it's the heat that makes the difference,'' said Peck.

Peck also had two flat tyres and an almost constant head wind of 15-20 miles per hour to contend with during his bike ride, and was satisfied with completing the bike split in just under seven hours.

Peck completed the opening swimming leg in 1:09 and finished off with a marathon in 4:39.

"The marathon was a bit slower than I'd hoped for, but my legs were a bit tired when I came off the cycle,'' said Peck.

"I've been doing triathlon for 11 or 12 years and the Hawaii Iron Man is the sport's holy grail. It was quite an experience to be there for the whole ritual.

"It's a mass start at 7 a.m. and it's quite something, 1,500 people running into the water. What was amazing was that there were dolphins swimming amongst us in the water.'' Belgian Luc van Lierde won in a time of around eight hours. Lori Bowden won the female category.