“Nobody Had Done”: Proud Jim ‘The Shark’ Dreyer Narrates His World Record Feat That Almost Left Him Unconscious in Early 2000s

Jim ‘The Shark’ Dreyer etched his name in history with his superhuman tugboat strength and his unlimited endurance. The Shark has achieved several major feats across his ultra-marathon career, including crossing several great lakes. In fact, the Herculean swimming giant swam through many water bodies while carrying tons of cargo with his body.

Despite his stellar achievements, which nobody else has ever done, Dreyer chose to mention one special feat he achieved. During an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports, Jim ‘The Shark’ Dreyer proudly narrated a feat that nobody else ever achieved. However, in his pursuit of this goal in the early 2000s, the endurance machine overworked himself and fell unconscious.

Jim ‘The Shark’ Dreyer cracking the code of physiology

The Shark received the title of the ‘Human Tugboat’ at the ‘Stan Lee’s Superhumans’ show. Dreyer had pulled a massive load of 27 tons 800 feet across the water while swimming against the wind. However, Jim ‘The Shark’ Dreyer once fell unconscious while cruising through his next triathlon achievement. Speaking about it in an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports, Dreyer said, “I did the swim, it ended up being 30.4 miles instead of 26. I did the 26.2-mile run and then I collapsed and lost consciousness before I could get on the bike.” While he couldn’t reach his goal, he broke another record despite losing consciousness.

“That was disappointing even though it was a solo distance duathlon record. I had been told that no one had ever swam double-digit mileage in a swim combined with Ironman distance running and biking. So nobody had done double digits, and I had just done a 30-mile swim.” Losing consciousness, however, was very unusual for Dreyer. He tried to figure out the reason for his collapse with his team. During the exclusive interview with EssentiallySports he said, “The conclusion we came to was it’s very difficult to go from exerting horizontally to swim for the length of time it takes to get across the great lake, and then go vertical, and start running and biking. You tend to lose consciousness. Your heart’s been pumping blood horizontally all that time, now all of a sudden, it has to pump uphill. And, that’s part of the problem.” Dreyer instantly jumped into action after this Eureka realization.

The human tugboat breaks all limits

Dreyer arrived at a solution after finding out the root of the problem. He revealed his thought process and said, “What if I did, was to swim last? Like, if I did all the vertical stuff first, the horizontal stuff last. Which is against conventional triathlon wisdom, which I understand. Any event organizer doesn’t want a bunch of tired swimmers getting in the water.” However, human limits didn’t apply to the ‘human’ tugboat, and he set out to explore the peak of his endurance. Jim ‘The Shark’ Dreyer followed through with his plan to break the world record. 

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In fact, nosedived into Lake Erie for a double cross after following through with the regular event requirements. Narrating the incident, Dreyer said in the exclusive interview with EssentiallySports, “I was just 13 miles short of the double-crossing when a storm forced us from the water. So, it was a world record, plus a little extra distance. But, I felt really really good to do the whole thing.” The Shark slept for a straight 15 hours after his grueling 14-hour and 13-minute triathlon. Interestingly, Dreyer reported that none of his muscles felt sore after the mammoth task. The 60-year-old smilingly said, “That was one of the highlights of my career.” The achievement displays that The Shark has already cracked the code to never getting tired and his age is definitely just a number.

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