OLDS — You don’t know what you’re actually capable of until you really try and push past whatever obstacles you face.
That was the message delivered by James Lawrence, during the 2025 AgSmart keynote speech July 29 at the TransCanada Theatre.
AgSmart, Agri-Trade Equipment Expo Group's educational agriculture expo, ran from July 29-31 at Olds College.
Lawrence, who grew up in Calgary and now lives in Utah, is better known as the Iron Cowboy for the many Iron Man triathlon records he’s set.
He was given his nickname while wearing a cowboy hat during some Iron Mans, (although he did not wear one during the AgSmart speech).
An Iron Man race consists of a 2.4-mile or 3.9 kilometre (km) swim, a 112-mile or 180.2 km bike ride and a marathon, which is a 26.22-mile (42.2 km) run. In total, all those events add up to a total of 140.6 miles (226.3 km).
Lawrence is most famous for completing 50 Iron Man triathlons in 50 consecutive days in 50 different states, raising money to reduce childhood obesity.
“I can't even run to my car,” Tracy Gardner, the MC for the occasion, said jokingly.
An Amazon Prime documentary, Iron Cowboy, The Story of the 50-50-50, was made about his life.
In 2021, Lawrence went one huge step further by completing 100 Iron Man triathlons in 100 consecutive days to raise money to battle sex trafficking.
He then went even further by completing another one, for 101 Iron Mans in 101 days, a feat many doctors and physiologists thought was impossible.
Lawrence wrote a memoir about his accomplishments, published in 2017.
It all started when Lawrence heard a radio contest during Stampede during which contestants were challenged to ride a Ferris Wheel for 10 consecutive days. He won, after watching all his competitors eventually drop out.
And he needed the money. While he was on the wheel he saw his mother holding up a sign.
“I could read the sign, and it said,’ James, you got fired from your job,’” he said to some laughter.
“(I realized) I’ve got to stick this thing up for three more days, because I'm now unemployed and I need that cash prize.”
With that prize money, he hitchhiked down to Utah where he met his wife Sonny. They have five children and are now grandparents.
The Ferris Wheel experience taught Lawrence that he could endure more than he thought. It inspired him to see how far he could push himself.
Lawrence saw a show on TV about Iron Man triathlons and how they were reported to be the toughest event people could do. He decided to see if he could complete one.
And he did.
“I stopped chasing society's dream and I went after my dreams,” he said. “I got to know what the hardest day in sports feels like.”
It wasn’t easy. Lawrence wasn’t prepared for how competitive an Iron Man can be.
“I got kicked in the face. I got swam over top of, I got punched in the mouth. In fact, on that day, I got pulled down into the water. I had to figure out how to calm myself down, come back up to the surface and start to navigate chaos,” he said.
Somehow, he managed to complete that race.
“I got to hear the words, ‘you are an Iron Man,’” he said.
From then on, he was hooked.
His fame grew and he was continually presented with challenges, one of which was to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. At 19,340 feet (5,895 metres) it is the highest geographic feature in Africa.
As he climbed, Lawrence was really feeling severe pain and stress when he encountered a party that had just summited the mountain. He was about to complain about his condition when he realized one of the climbers, a woman, had an artificial leg.
That really humbled him and spurred him to complete the climb. He also came across another climber who was blind, another humbling experience which again, spurred Lawrence to push himself as far as he could.
Now Lawrence urges people to do the same during speeches he makes around the world.
“My new mission and calling was going around the world and helping people to win the conversations they were having with themselves,” Lawrence said. “I don't want to get to the mountain top. I want to bring as many people with me to the top.”
Lawrence said the key to setting the records he did was overcoming negative thoughts in his head and body, saying he couldn’t go further had had to quit.
Today’s youth are also a focus for him.
“We look around the landscape today, this generation is struggling with mental toughness. This is the highest rate ever of suicide, depression and anxiety,” he said.
Lawrence said social media also tends to inhibit people from obtaining their true potential.
“Have you ever noticed that everybody on social media is the coach, the expert and the mentor,” he asked.
“What it's doing is it's paralyzing us from doing anything new for the first time, from having those experiences that we need to have in order to grow strong mentally.”
Some prominent Olds College officials were in the audience for Lawrence’s speech, president Debbie Thompson and board vice-chair Mabel Hamilton.
Lawrence’s parents, who still live in Calgary, were also in the audience.
