Gordon Ramsay endures hell, finishes Hawaii Ironman in 14:04:48

Chef Gordon Ramsay on Saturday finished the Hawaii Ironman, one of sport’s most hellish endurance events, in a time of 14 hours, 4 minutes and 48 seconds.

The “Hell’s Kitchen” overlord is known for pounding the pavement in events such as the London Marathon and shorter triathons including the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.

Now Ramsay, 46, has turned his attention to the granddaddy of all triathlons, the storied competition formally known as the Hawaii Ironman World Championship, a grueling race that involves a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a marathon -- a 26.2 mile run. If that’s not enough, it all plays out on a punishing wind-swept course beneath the blistering Kailua-Kona sun.

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Just getting into the race is an accomplishment. Each year, more than 80,000 athletes vie for a shot to be on the starting line, but only 1,900 men and women make it.

The daylong event began around 7 a.m. local time, with competitors required to end by midnight in order to log an “official” time and walk (or crawl) away from the finish line wearing the title of Ironman.

However, as fans of the race know, many cross the start line knowing they’ll never make the midnight cutoff but will just be able to walk away knowing they have conquered the course.

Ramsay was never in any danger of missing the cutoff. He finished the swim in 1:20:21 and the bike ride in 6:35:54. But he was clearly suffering during the marathon. He started out with a pace of 9 minutes, 50 seconds per mile. But by about mile 19, he was clocked at 20:02 minutes per mile.

However, he picked up the pace and finished the marathon in just under six hours, giving him an overall finish time of 14:04:48, according to the race website’s athlete tracker.

“It’s DONE!” Ramsay tweeted after he crossed the finish line in the dark. He also thanked supporters and posted a snippet of video of the moment.

It’s worth noting that on Ramsay’s athlete tracker page, he’s listed as a Los Angeles businessman -- not the judge on the pipsqueak take on “MasterChef”: “MasterChef Junior.” What should have been a weekend celebrating weeks and months of training, however, was also tinged with sadness for Ramsay.

“MasterChef” Season 3 finalist Josh Marks, 26, was found dead late Friday in Chicago, the victim of a suspected suicide. Ramsay tweeted his condolences shortly before his race, saying: “Just heard the devastating news about Josh Marks. My thoughts are with his family & friends at this tragic time.”

Ramsay has always maintained a trim figure, but training of the Hawaii event led him to shed even more weight, as evidenced by this recent photo of a shirtless Ramsay appearing quite lean.

The celebuchef said he is going to celebrate his finish by getting an Ironman tattoo.

If you want to watch the race for yourself, NBC is scheduled to air its coverage on Nov. 16.

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