Last Sunday, three Goan triathletes, Nisha Madgavkar, Vinayak Gaonkar and Omkar Kudtarkar crowned themselves with the prestigious, Ironman 70.3 Triathlete titles in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
This saw the three Goan triathletes swim a distance of 1.9 kms in the sea followed by 90 kms of cycling and 21 kms of running back-to-back. Vinayak was the quickest of the trio clocking 5 hrs 25 minutes for this distance, followed by Nisha at 6 hrs 9 minutess and Omkar at 7 hrs, 19 minutes.
While this was Nisha’s third, Ironman 70.3 title, it was Vinayak and Omkar’s very first Ironman 70.3 titles, thus at once announcing the growing popularity of this wonder sport across our tiny state of Goa. Other Goan Ironman triathletes include Dr Prasanna Parulekar and Shweta Bhandare, who is based in the USA.
The Triathlon is a recognised sport in the Olympics and the Olympic distance Triathlon comprises 1.5 km of swimming followed by 40 kms of cycling and 10 kms of running to be completed in four and half hours. Credit for popularising this event in Goa goes to Enduro Sports Goa, who have been organising the event in Goa for the last five years, the last event being held at Bambolim on February 11 this year.
The Triathlon is competitively organised at the international level at the Olympics and at events like the Commonwealth and Asian Games. Presently, the Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan of Great Britain are the gold and silver medallists at the last Rio Olympic Games.
The Ironman events on the other hand are organised by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) and are longer, more gruelling versions of the Olympic distance triathlons. For instance, the Ironman 70.3 which is popularly known as the ‘Half Iron’ is roughly two-times the distance of the Olympic Triathlon (1.9 kms swimming+90 kms cycling + 21 kms of running to be completed back-to-back).
The WTC also organises the Ironman event, which is roughly four times the Olympic distance Triathlon (3.8 kms swimming + 180 kms of cycling + 42 kms of running). Both the Ironman 70.3 and Ironman events are held across the world culminating in a World Ironman Championships in Hawaii which sees the participation of the world’s best Ironman triathletes.
Ironman triathlete Kaustubh Radkar of Pune only 36 years of age and a holder of 20 Ironman titles is arguably the most accomplished Ironman triathlete in the country today. Radkar is also a certified Ironman coach and presently coaching and shepherding hundreds of triathletes across India and abroad to achieve their Ironman dreams.
Radkar’s Radstrong Coaching Academy had 24 triathletes completing the recently concluded Colombo Ironman 70.3 race, making it arguably the single, largest triathlon contingent from India to do so.
While Nisha Madgavkar of Goa, a Radstrong trainee led the timings chart at Colombo, the finishers included nine women and 15 first-time Ironman triathletes. A few finished in the top ten of their respective age-groups, while some finished with their personal best (PB) timings. As can be seen, Team Radstrong is playing a significant role in popularising the sport across India.
Of course, you cannot write about triathlon in India and Goa especially, without the mention of Swiss Ironman triathlete, Pablo Erat, participant in over 100 triathlons and five-time winner at the Goa Triathlon. Pablo has been a huge role model for budding triathletes in Goa and India. Significantly, his company, Pioneering Ventures is the lead sponsor of the Tri Kids Goa event, India’s only triathlon event for school children.
Credit also goes to model-turned-actor Milind Soman of Mumbai, marathoner, Ironman and Ultraman triathlete (the latter feat which was achieved with three other Indian triathletes, including Pune’s Radkar) for contributing the glamour quotient to the sport, thereby turning the spotlight on it.
The Indian army too has picked up the gauntlet and started a Triathlon centre for excellence in Pune, where they train triathletes to represent India in the Asian and Commonwealth Games.
However, with the sport gaining popularity in India, the time has come for Indian corporates to flex their financial muscle and bring the WTC’s Ironman event to India soon. This is important, because Indian triathletes today, are forced to travel across the world for Ironman events. A WTC Ironman event in India will allow hundreds of Indian triathletes achieve their dreams at a fraction of the present cost. Viva Triathlon!
