PANJIM: Goa’s Natasha from Agnel Institute of Technology and Design, Assagao, did Goa proud at the recently concluded Triathlon National Championship at Udaipur last week.
Natasha participated in the Sprint Distance Triathlon consisting of a 750 m swim in the Fateh Sagar Lake, 20km bike race and 5km run. She finished in a time of 1hour, 25 min securing third position in her category.
Her teammate Harichandra Shambu Velip secured eighth position in the 18 to 35 men’s sprint distance category while Zaid Arshad Baig who was in a good position initially got a puncture and hence lost out time in the same event. However, he still managed to finish 12th in his category.
Ruhi Harish Peshwe made her debut in triathlon at Udaipur and put up a promising performance.
Speaking to the Herald, Natasha said her interest in Triathlon came about when she moved to Goa. Natasha said “I was a swimmer when I was younger and used to go cycling and running with dad. I came to Goa, learned about the triathlon and contacted the coaches. We used to meet at Bambolim and do drills. This involved swimming, cycling and running.
“At Udaipur I participated in a sprint triathlon. This involved swimming 750 metres, cycling 20 kms and running 5 kms”. Her standing on the podium was achieved after taking an interest in the sport last year in October. She trained for a month and now aims to represent the country someday.
The second year engineering student would also like to swim the between India and Sri Lanka, a distance of 25 kms.
For the coaches involved with the team, it was about hard work and determination that paid off. Agnelo De Sa who was involved in training the athletes in running and cycling said the performance was very good and they had trained every morning and evening for two hours. Agnelo said “The athletes have to go to college, so we had to plan accordingly. Speaking of Natasha, she can get better but she will have to learn to juggle her life in college and sport”.
Swimming coach Indrajeet Khadilkar said, “ Because of the pandemic, access to the pool was not possible. The monsoon meant access to the sea was closed.”
Indrajeet managed to get permission to train at the International Centre at Dona Paula. The sessions, he said, were good and intense affairs. He hoped more athletes would be drawn to the triathlon.
