Rahul Chandawarkar is a Colva based journalist and former editor. He is a recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism award for 2009
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The good news is that Goa too has its fair share of Ironman triathletes. Shweta Bhandare, presently based in the USA was perhaps the first Goan to complete an Ironman 70.3 event in Boulder, Colorado in 2005
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Goa about to witness the fourth edition of the popular Goa Triathlon to be organised at Bambolim on Sunday, February 12, it is a good time to delve into the history of the Triathlon and how it has become a popular sport the world over. The word Triathlon originates from two Greek words” treis (three) and athlos (competition)
The event as the name suggests is a combination of three distinct events”swimming, cycling and running to be completed back-to-back in a stipulated time frame. Jack Johnstone and Don Shanahan are acknowledged as the fathers of the modern Triathlon, when they organised the first Triathlon race at Mission Bay, San Diego, California on September 25, 1974.
Several variations of the Triathlon proliferated across the globe post that 1974 event. However, the International Triathlon Union (ITU) was formed in 1989 and Triathlon made its Olympic debut at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. The ITU sanctions and organizes the World Cup and World Triathlon Series races each year.
The Olympic Triathlon as we know it, begins with a 1.5 km swim in the open sea or lake waters, followed immediately by a 40 km cycle race and concludes with a 10 km run to be completed back to back. The triathletes are clocked from start to finish with their transition times, T1 and T2 which occur between the three events.
As many as 55 triathletes from 31 nations took part in the men’s and women’s Olympic Triathlon event at the Rio Summer Olympics in August 2016. Alistair Brownlee from Great Britain became the first man to defend his Olympic triathlon title after his previous win at the 2012 Summer Olympics. His younger brother Jonathan Brownlee finished in second place and added another Olympic medal to his collection after his bronze medal from 2012. Alistair completed his race in a quick 1 hour: 45 minutes: 01 seconds. In the women’s Triathlon, American Gwen Jorgensen won the race in an impressive 1 hour: 56 minutes: 16 seconds followed by the Swiss triathlete, Nicola Spirig Hug and Vicky Holland of Great Britain.
Similarly, there exists the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), a private company which sanctions and organizes the Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races each year. These races serve as qualifying events for their own annual Ironman World Championship held annually in Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i in October,while the Ironman 70.3 World Championship is held in September and changes location each year.
The Ironman 70.3 ( 1.9km swim+90kms cycling+ 21 kms run) is roughly twice the challenge of an Olympic Triathlon, while the Ironman event is almost four times as challenging as the Olympic Triathlon ( 3.8km swim+180kms cycling+ 42 kms run)
In India, the India Triathlon Federation (ITF) headquartered in Chennai has been set up to guide the fortunes of this sport. Sadly, not much seems to be happening on the ITF front. According to reliable sources the ITF has done little to tap the enormous talent that exists in a country like India. A few men and women Indian triathletes have however won laurels at the Asian level.
However, all is not lost. India has produced several Ironman triathletes in the last ten years and continues to produce them. Kaustubh Radkar, arguably the most accomplished of all Indian Ironman triathletes has completed as many 13 Ironman events across all the six continents of the world, while Milind Soman, model turned fitness, is the most glamorous of the Indian Ironman triathletes having completed an Ironman event in Zurich in 2015 at the age of 50. Coincidentally, Radkar and Sunil Menon, a Hyderabad based Ironman are conducting a Triathlon workshop at Bambolim, Goa this weekend.
The good news is that Goa too has its fair share of Ironman triathletes. Shweta Bhandare, presently based in the USA was perhaps the first Goan to complete an Ironman 70.3 event in Boulder, Colorado in 2005. This feat was followed by Dr Prasanna Parulekar, Goa based ophthalmologist who completed an Ironman 70.3 in Malaysia in 2014. More recently, Nisha Madgavkar, Panjim based former national level swimmer completed the Bahrain Ironman 70.3 in December 2016, while two young Margao based doctors, Dr Akhil Lawande and Dr Suhel Nagarsenkar completed the same event in Chennai in late December 2016.
Presently, almost 500 triathletes from across India and abroad have already registered for the 4th Goa Triathlon to be held on February 12 at Bambolim. Swiss triathlete, Pablo Erat, the three time winner of the event will once again defend his title, while Nisha Madgavkar will look to defend her women’s title.
The Goa Triathlon which is considered one of the best run of all Indian Triathlons should be a treat for fans, who will be allowed to watch the swimming leg from a designated area on the beach and can catch the action along the Goa University road where the cycling and running legs will take place.
