My ultimate sports dream was to sprint the last 50 metres in a competitive
international race with the Indian tricolour held high in my hand. I was happy
to have fulfilled this dream in Colombo on February 24 this year in the Ironman
70.3 Triathlon event which I successfully completed in 7:19:11 hours (the
cut-off being 8:30 hrs).
February 24 also happened to be my 56th
birthday and the Lord Almighty could not have given me a better birthday gift.
The Colombo event was my first Ironman event and fifth Triathlon in two years.
This event saw me swim 1.9 kms in the open
sea followed by a 90 km cycle ride and a 21 km half marathon run. When I
crossed the finish line, it was the culmination of eleven months of hard and
relentless triathlon training under the watchful guidance of Kaustubh Radkar,
India’s foremost Ironman Triathlete and coach.
Triathlon training is extremely
disciplined and ‘relentless’, as my coach likes to call it. I used to train six
days a week through all the seasons, come rain or shine. This used to see me
cycle one day, swim the second day and run the third day. Oftentimes, the coach
asked me to do ‘brick’ training, which is essentially any of two referred
disciplines performed back to back.
I live in Benaulim and as the Margao swimming
pool has been dysfunctional for over two years, I was forced to drive 25 kms
one way to the distant Quepem pool for practice, spending a lot of time, fuel
and energy in the process. Luckily, cycling and running was a simpler affair.
The long village road from Velsao to Mobor was my cycling training ground,
while running past the beautiful paddy fields in Colva and Benaulim took care
of my running training, sometimes purposefully under a 12 noon hot sun!
And though I have had to live with
muscular niggles all through my Triathlon journey, I never suffered cramps or
injuries during the main events. This was thanks mainly due to the excellent
warm-up and stretching exercises taught by my cyclist friends, Rainer Dias
(three-times, Mr India body builder) and Dr Willy D’Sa, my orthopaedic
consultant. Of course, coach Radkar’s hydration and nutrition tips were
invaluable, so was the excellent nutrition plan worked out by my wife, Shobhi,
and daughter, Tanvi. As you can see, a triathlete indeed has a large support
team behind him/her!
Coming back to the race, Colombo and Sri
Lanka has been an extremely pleasant revelation. The country is extremely green
and scenic, the people soft spoken and gentle and the organisation of the
Ironman event was top-drawer stuff.
Triathlon is a lonely sport and therefore every opportunity to
train with buddies is welcome. This time around, all six triathletes from Goa
taking part in the event were staying in the same beachfront hotel. This saw us
run, cycle and swim together before the event. The constant cheerful banter of
a Wilbert Egipsy, the steely determination of a Vinayak Gaonkar combined by the
quiet guidance provided by the most experienced triathlete among us, Nisha
Madgavkar helped relax everybody’s nerves considerably.
On race day too, we kept cheering each other on the cycle and
run legs. The swimming was interesting with the unusual presence of underwater
photographers filming our every move.
The organisers had left no stone unturned in making the event as
comfortable and enjoyable for all of us. They even took the trouble of
announcing my birthday at the start of the race to a loud round of applause.
There were multiple aid stations on the cycle and run courses, which had huge
stocks of ice, electrolytes, fruit and water, which made our life on the very
hot and humid course somewhat bearable. The young, college volunteers who were
positioned at every 500 metres intervals with their loud, ‘You can do it. Go,
go, go!’ slogans and 100 watt smiles kept our spirits up throughout the race.
It was also a joy to see my wife and our friend Amita cheering
us from the sidelines, waving the tricolour vigorously.
The event was also special, as I met a whole host of junior and
senior triathletes, some as old as the 76-year-old Allan Lawrence from England,
who shared some invaluable triathlon tips with me. A little rest now as I tour
Lanka with the wife, before it is back to the ‘swim-bike-run-repeat’ routine
until the next big Ironman event!
Rahul
Chandawarkar, a former newspaper editor, is presently a media publicity
consultant and active triathlete based in Benaulim, South Goa
—
What is an Ironman 70.3 Triathon
An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races
organised by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The ‘70.3’ refers to the
total distance in miles (113.0 km) covered in the race, consisting of a
1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km)
run. Each distance of the swim, bike, and run segments is half the distance of
that segment in an Ironman Triathlon.
The Ironman 70.3 series culminates each year with a World
Championship competition, for which competitors qualify during the 70.3 series
in the 12 months prior to the championship race. The time needed by an athlete
to complete a 70.3 distance event is commonly 8 hours and 30 minutes after the
start time.
This
event is held across the six continents of the world.
