NEW DELHI: Major General VD Dogra became the first serving Indian Army officer and the only General across the world to have completed a gruelling ‘ Ironman ’ competition held in Austria on Sunday, army officers said today.The Ironman is an international triathlon consisting of three consecutive events- 3.8 km of swimming , 180 km cycling and 42.2 km of running (a full marathon ). It is considered the toughest one day sporting event in the world. The competitors have to complete the events in sequence within 17 hours to earn the title of ‘Ironman’.Maj Gen Dogra completed the event in 14 hours and 21 minutes. “He is the only serving army officer from the Indian Army to have done a full Ironman and the only General across the globe to have done so,” said army officers privy to the matter.The Ironman Austria was held in Klagenfurt on July 1. More than 3000 athletes participated in the event. Maj Gen Dogra, who is currently posted as Director General Resettlement, was one of the participants.“He has been an avid sportsman all his life. However he started cycling about five years ago. He cycled from Leh to Chandigarh, a distance of 800 kms, in 8 days,” said officers.He has also cycled from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, Sela Pass to Bumla Pass in Arunachal Pradesh and from Akhnoor to Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir. He has participated in several triathlons which include the Sprint category (500 metres swimming, 20 km cycling and 5 km running), the Olympic category (1500 metres swimming, 40 km cycling, 10 km running), the half Ironman and now the full Ironman.“For the last one year he has been training after office hours and on weekends,” said officers.The General has been a Sword of Honour and Gold Medalist of the December 1981 batch. He was commissioned in the Poona Horse (an armoured regiment), which he later commanded. He has also commanded an Armoured Brigade on the western front with Pakistan and an Infantry Division in a Strike Corps.