Seven Ironman triathlons in seven days - Southampton legend Francis Benali prepares for 'impossible' challenge

The former marine who was part of the support team told Benali that, factoring in the sleep deprivation and all the logistical hassles that went with the physical challenge of visiting all 44 Premier League and Championship grounds, “it was the toughest thing I have been involved with”.

Two years earlier, Benali had also run 45-50 miles every day for three weeks to visit each Premier League ground. A week on Sunday, he will start what he regards as the biggest challenge yet: to complete seven Ironman distances in one week. That means swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles and then running a marathon for seven consecutive days.

It is possible to become immune to extraordinary charity challenges but the look of bewilderment on the faces of Britain’s two most famous triathletes: Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee, during their video message of support gave a sense of the magnitude of what lies ahead. “Absolutely crazy – I think you are going to need the luck to be honest,” declared Alistair.

Cardiologists have asked to follow up Benali’s recent screening with a similarly comprehensive check immediately after this “Iron Fran” challenge to further their knowledge of extreme exercise impacts.

Karen Benali has been with her husband for more than 30 years. She knows there is no point trying to stop him and, while immensely proud, also does not hide deep concerns. “I see him as a husband and a dad,” she says. “I am not thinking, ‘Go on, Franny’ like most people. I have a really fit husband. Will I [still have one] in one year, five years, 10 years, 20 years because of the impact of what he is doing now? Nobody knows but I can’t imagine it is doing him very much good.”

Karen had just been speaking with Benali’s mother. “She was, ‘Why does he do it?’ I said, ‘Do you know what, Mary, he has no vices. He has never smoked, never drunk. This is his thing that he has a real passion for and it’s only doing good for other people. We have got to support him. He is going to do it regardless’.”

Mary’s question, though, is perhaps the most fascinating. Why? And why, after everything he has achieved, would he view not completing what might just be an impossible challenge as “failure”.

Any Southampton fan will surely see the link with Benali’s improbable career and his central part in always keeping the club in the top flight amid three final day “great escapes”. He still lives within a short walk of both the site of the old Dell and the club’s current St Mary’s ground. As a child, Benali would walk past the Dell every day, peer in and dream of one day emulating his heroes. That he actually did for so long was not explained by innate ability but a rare and absolute off-field discipline that was backed up by a ferociously competitive on-field desire.

He became the epitome of a cult hero. But was this inner drive just something he was born with? “Definitely there as a kid,” he says. “Everything I did was to give me the best chance to be a professional footballer. I saw my body as the tools of my trade which enabled me to compete. I also agree that people can be shaped by experiences that make them driven and it is something you can find and develop.

“I come from a humble background. My parents divorced when I was a baby. I was raised by my mother [and] had a deaf-and-dumb grandfather who lived with us. An only child. Not that it’s out of the norm but there are definitely things that I look back to. I have known from a young age what sort of husband and what sort of dad I would like to be.”

There is also a genuine fascination in testing his capabilities. While getting changed between the run and cycle of the last challenge on his way from Norwich to London, Benali told Karen that he was reaching his limit and had no more to give.

Yet having verbalised that fear, he promptly ran another 52 miles and cycled almost 300 miles over the next 2½ days. “There are physical boundaries but the brain can be so unbelievably powerful,” he says. “Where is that limit? What is possible? That does intrigue me.”

During what are often quite solitary days which, for this next challenge, could easily last in excess of 16 hours, he also often thinks about the young children he has met with cancer.

“I want to do it for my family but also make a difference to people’s lives. I want to affect people I will never meet. This challenge does scare me. I have had many nights where I have struggled to sleep thinking about the enormity of it. Until recently, I had only swam a few lengths of breaststroke while on holiday. I break it down; little targets that I chip away at. Even sometimes just thinking one foot in front of the other. It is very much a leap into the unknown. I have had no idea if I can do it.”

Karen is rather more certain. “Oh, I know he will,” she says. “Not because his body is superman – but because he is so mentally strong. My worry is not him completing it, my worry is the long-term damage.”

Benali is well aware of how his family feel and, at the age of 50, says this will be the last “big challenge”. He promises there are no special targets before the intended finish in Southampton on May 5, although his mind does then suddenly leap forward to the year 2069.

“I’d love to maybe run a marathon at 100,” he says. “That would be nice.” Karen rolls her eyes. “And he probably will,” she says.

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