Inside Sir Jim Ratcliffe's super-fit lifestyle: The billionaire Man United co-owner ran the London Marathon in four-and-a-half hours at 71, has completed an Ironman triathlon... and trekked to the North AND South Pole!

Sir Jim Ratcliffe could have been forgiven for feeling exhausted on Sunday night.

The 71-year-old ran the London Marathon before dashing to Wembley in time to catch the second half of the FA Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Coventry.

Ratcliffe, who bought a 25 percent stake in United earlier this year, arrived at Wembley with Erik ten Hag's men 2-0 up courtesy of goals from Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire.

Bruno Fernandes then added a third just before the hour mark to seemingly cement his team's spot in the FA Cup final.

But Ellis Simms and Callum O'Hare scored twice in eight minutes, before Haji Wright converted a 95th minute penalty to send the game to extra time.

And Coventry looked to have won an extraordinary contest as Victor Torp scored in the final minute of extra time, only for VAR to rule Wright had strayed offside in the build-up.

United eventually prevailed 4-2 on penalties to set up a repeat of last season's final against Manchester City next month.

If the London Marathon tested Ratcliffe's stamina, watching United's near-fatal capitulation at Wembley almost emptied his emotional reserves.

'There are some parallels [between football and running a marathon] I have to say, but it just requires some grit,' he told BBC Sport after crossing the line on Sunday.

'Running a marathon after 30 kilometres [18 miles] is difficult.'

The challenge has never put Ratcliffe off. The INEOS boss - Britain's second-richest man with an estimated fortune of £29.7billion, according to last year's Sunday Times' Rich List - takes his fitness as seriously as his business.

A keen runner, Ratcliffe has completed over 30 marathons in his life.

On Sunday, the Failsworth-born billionaire finished the London Marathon in four hours, 30 minutes and 52 seconds, a personal best over the 26.2 miles.

'At my age, that [time] is not bad,' was his modest assessment to the BBC after crossing the finish line on The Mall on Sunday. 

Ratcliffe shaved one minute and 55 seconds off his time 12 months ago, despite being hampered by a hamstring issue for the second consecutive year.

'I trained for London last year and I had a hamstring issue,' he told the Geraint Thomas' podcast in February. 

'I was out for five weeks and I didn't have much time to retrain. I went to Africa, it was quite warm and I had a go.

'It was okay. Exactly the same thing has happened this year.

'I've had five weeks out with a hamstring so I only started training a week ago for London. It's not very long. I need to get going.'

Ratcliffe hasn't limited himself to traditional marathons either. 

In 2013, he competed in the Marathon Des Sables - the Marathon of the Sands - a week-long ultramarathon.

One of the toughest races on the planet, the seven-day event spans approximately 150 miles - roughly six times the length of a regular marathon - across the Sahara Desert.

A year earlier, the INEOS boss celebrated turning 60 by taking part in the Comrades Marathon in South Africa - the world's oldest ultramarathon, which covers 55 miles between Durban and Pietermaritzburg in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

In 2016, at the age of 64, he completed an Ironman triathlon, by swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles and running a marathon in 14 hours and 44 minutes.

Ratcliffe told the Financial Times back in 2014 that he prepares for the marathons by running almost every day. 

His training routine includes a one-hour morning workout in the gym, followed by a 10km run before lunch.

Gruelling as the training regime may sound, it is a relative walk in the park for a man who trekked to the North Pole in 2009 along with his sons Sam and George.

'You pull a big heavy sledge and it’s very cold and uncomfortable,' Ratcliffe told The Times about the expedition. 

'The ice cap’s always moving with the currents and the wind and parts of it break off. Then you encounter mountains of ice and you’ve got to drag your sledge over them.'

Two years later, Ratcliffe and his two sons ventured to the South Pole, an adventure he described as 'one of the most miserable experiences of my life'.

He told The Sun: 'There’s nothing uplifting about spending all day [on skis] pulling an 80-kilo sledge over ice waves.

'But there’s no feeling quite like getting to the South Pole after you’ve walked 200km.

'It’s the highs and lows of life, isn’t it? The highs are better if you’ve experienced a few lows beforehand. You can’t just have highs all the time.'

Running the Comrades Marathon was one of three arduous challenges Ratcliffe took on to celebrate his 60th birthday.

The British billionaire learned to kitesurf and embarked on a 10,000-kilometres motorbike ride in Africa along with 11 friends.

The 100-day journey took the group from Cape Town to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia and back to Cape Town.

Three years later, Ratcliffe was back on the saddle again as he and other 17 bikers rode another 10,000km from Mount Kilimanjaro all the way to Cape Town in a month.

In 2018, meanwhile, he was part of a group that rode 5,000 miles along the spine of the Andes mountains over Chile and Argentina in a month.

Last year, Ratcliffe switched from two to four wheels as he drove 5,000km across Mongolia to Beijing in 21 days as part of a 29-man group. 

As the owner of Team INEOS, one of the most successful road cycling teams in history, a biking adventure could hardly be missing from Ratcliffe's CV.

And in 2017, he embarked on a 300-km bike ride from the top of the Sani Pass in the KwaZulu-Natal to the province's south coast in four days.

‘It’s remarkable what people can do and accomplish when they turn the brakes off in their heads,' he told INEOS' Inch magazine in 2017.

Ratcliffe will need United to buy into the motto on and off the pitch if INEOS are to restore the club to the top of English football.