It took a couple of years, but finally we have the triathlon collab we’d all been waiting for after Lionel Sanders and Sam Long formed a mini-triathlon Avengers and teamed up for a mega run workout.
The two North American superstars, ranked #16 and #6 respectively in the latest PTO rankings , have lived no more than two miles from each other for the past two years. But it took until now for them to finally team up and put some miles down on the track.
Long – “I had to beat Lionel at least once”
Sanders and Long have shared some incredible battles on the course together in the past, notably that epic duel at IRONMAN 70.3 St. George in 2021.
On that famous occasion Canadian Sanders edged out American Long by just five seconds to win, but in another recent outing it was Long who pipped Sanders to the win at IRONMAN 70.3 Gulf Coast 2023 in another one-two for the new training duo.
But it’s clear there’s no love lost between the two superstars – who went out to a local track in Oro Valley, Arizona to work together.
“Took us far too long to make this happen,” Long shared on Instagram,
“We both had to start coaching ourselves, I had to beat Lionel once and he had to start waking up early.
“Waking up early was the hardest of the three.”
Huge session for Sanders and Long
Long also shared details of what the two got up to, revealing they covered a total of 16.2 miles across the session.
That’s some run for ‘just a workout’- and one Sanders joked he might not be too eager to repeat any time soon.
“We’ve lived 2 miles from each other for 2 years and finally got a run workout in together!” he shared.
“It hurt…might wait another 2 years for the next one.”
With both coaching themselves – Long making that decision earlier this year- we might well expect to see more of ‘Big Unit’ and ‘No Limits’ together at some point soon.
Triathlon’s mid-season report card: Tim Don on who’s raising the bar this triathlon race season
