As Nishit Biniwale felt his quadriceps throb with the exertion of pedaling his cycle up the steep gradient,the road ahead of him,winding upwards through an idyllic Alpine forest seemed to stretch on forever. It was then that Biniwale,the only Indian competing in the Ironman Klagenfurt event in Austria in June this year,briefly entertained thoughts of quitting the event and give his burning limbs some rest. The exertion,mental as well as physical,seemed to be taking its toll. I felt like letting go. But then I thought I would push myself through till the next bend and then decide, says the 21-year-old. At that moment,his cardiologist father Atul hollered out exhortations. My father was following me on the climb,and he told me to find that last inch of motivation. It wasnt easy but I was definitely glad to hear him, he says. By then,he had already completed a grueling 3.8 km swim through a sapphire blue Alpine lake full of glacial melts and after a rather short break of 9.5 minutes,the bespectacled Pune native was negotiating a tough 180 km cycle loop,which included two steep climbs in the mountains surrounding the town of Klagenfurt,a city on the southern rim of Austria,most famous for being tennis star Stefanie Grafs hometown. The Klagenfurt Ironman is one of the most challenging events on the Ironman circuit. Organised by the World Triathlon Corporation,it comprises a 3.8 km swim,a 180 km cycling leg and a 42.195 km marathon to finish things off. Apart from the sheer physical endurance required,participants have to complete the triathlon within 17 hours. Biniwale completed the event in 13 hours,18 minutes and 22 seconds. After I crossed the finishing line,I went numb. All the fatigue,the incredible soreness of muscles that you have pushed to the limit and the joy of successfully completing an Ironman triathlon are rather hard to separate. Also receiving the official title of being an Ironman feels really cool, he says. Biniwales parents are doctors,besides being amateur sportspersons. Biniwale himself is in his final year of an MBBS degree from Punes Bharati Vidyapeeth. An enthusiastic swimmer,a chance meeting with Anand Takale,a triathlete in Pune,got him hooked to the sport. I started off doing smaller triathlons and I found out that I was pretty good at completing these events. However,there is no greater validation to an athlete than to complete an Ironman. That was the reason why I decided to participate, he says. Mustering the courage to participate was one thing,training to withstand the rigours of a race in which 700 participants out of a total of 2,900 were hospitalised for fatigue,was a rather daunting task. I began training seriously in November 2012. As the months progressed,I was training for almost 38 hours every week. I cycled to Lonavala,Lavasa and Panchgani to get my body used to the steep climbs that I was going to face. Also,I swam regularly, he says. Studying for his medical degree did not take a back seat though and his training in medicine helped him prepare for the event. I didn't have to go to a nutritionist,I had a good idea about taking care of my muscles and how much exertion they could take, he says. As a precursor to his Ironman outing,Biniwale competed in a half-Ironman event in Rapperswil-Jona in Switzerland in early 2012. With a cut-off time of seven hours,he finished the race in six hours,38 minutes. It gave him the confidence he needed to participate in this one. When I crossed the finishing line in Switzerland,I had a measure of confidence in my own abilities. I knew that with a regular training regimen,the Ironman title wasn't too far away, he says. Biniwale is now preparing for another triathlon,the Roth Challenge,in the south of Germany next year. Once you complete an Ironman,it becomes an addiction. You crave for that pain in your muscles and the exhilaration when you bound over the finishing line, he says.
