The Thonnur Triathlon Extravaganza 2013

Like I often reiterate, an athlete usually stays humble. This is because no matter how hard you train, how fast you are and no matter how much of awe drips off your posterior, there is always someone better than you right around the corner and we got to witness some lean and mean triathlete machines in action during the weekend just gone by.

Yes folks, the Mysore Thonnur Triathlon was a success, with over 100 participants from Mysore, Bangalore, Mangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. More than just a successful event, it represents a positive step towards the integration of the three different disciplines from both an event as well as a community point of view. As the maxim goes, United we stand – and how proud did the athletes stand.

But, as always, lets start from the beginning. About a month and a half back, the boys that I usually train with in general and Ankush, specifically, took off for a bike ride to Mysore on a Saturday and did an Olympic Triathlon, the next day. They then put their bicycles in the Volvo and got back to Bangalore.

I was invited to this adventure, but since I had classes over the weekend, I had to decline. This would have been all okay, but for the incessant raving on and on about the experience and how much fun it was for the next one week. I felt left out… and sad.

So, obvious next steps, weekend classes had to go to make time for training, hill repeats, long runs and fun events like triathlons. One week later, it was all sorted, my weekends were now clear.

First thing first, was a quick reach out to Proton Machine Ajit Thandur, could we do a triathlon? Next thing I know there were a good ten people interested in being part of this “Event”.

Okay, so you want an event? I’m game. Got the guys together, had a quick chat and within 24 hours, we had decided to put in motion the event which would be the Thonnur Lake Triathlon (Mysore Cycling Club in association with the Protons).

With the wheels in motion, and the event less than two weeks away, there was a lot of work to be done – and as is customary, the event had to be done in style. So, started the grind with deciding a venue, getting the required permissions and mobilizing the resources in such a short time span.

I could write a chapter about this, but I won’t. All I want to say is that it was a painful affair and I would like to thank the entire team at the Mysore Cycling Club, Ajit Thandur, Prajwal Prasad, Anil Kumar, all the volunteers who worked and liaised tirelessly during the entire period to keep us posted with the progress – really, thank you!

Lets not even go into the nitty gritty details of confirmation of registrants, arranging for accommodation, provision of rented cycles for participants. Somehow, working together as a team, we managed to achieve it and might I add, quite smoothly too.

Let’s fast forward to the journey to Mysore and the remainder of the experience. We had decided that there would be two vehicles driving down with five people and three cycles on each – one boys ride and one girls ride. As it turned out, the girls did not manage a cycle rack so we went to Plan B – ride our cycles to the bus station and jump on the first Volvo which would take us to Mysore.

And so it was – Alina, Shwetha and myself started our bike ride to Satellite Bus stand. Simultaneously, my regular room share buddy Geeta started her journey from Electronic City, and Sharad who had just landed from Delhi started his journey from the Bengaluru International Airport.

Shumit was waiting for us at the bus station.The day had started for me at 4:30am and eventually, at 12:30pm was when the six of us loaded onto the bus. As is the case with over-excited and constantly high on hormone endurance athletes, the next three hours passed by in a jiffy with constant chatter and swapping of training stories and individual experiences.

We passed by the car with the remainder of the athletes somewhere mid-way and I, for one, was mentally at peace that all of us would be reaching at the same time especially since I have never been to Mysore alone and am quite clueless when it comes to directions.

4:30pm and it was time to unload ourselves off the bus and make way to the Mysore Sports Club. As we jumped on our bicycles and made our way to the Zoo (I know! perfect rendezvous spot for us animals). We were assisted by the sweet and extremely helpful auto drivers – No kidding. The auto drivers were actually nice.

Ankush was waiting for us at the Zoo to lead us the final Kilometer to the sports club. A bunch of about 10 cyclists had left Bangalore at 6am on their trusted rides and reached Mysore way before us and were now just waiting for the rest of the athletes to make their way so that the shenanigans and drama could be underway. As we rode back, I thought I heard my cycle chain creak but was too in the moment and the swapping of stories to pay any heed to it.

Once we reached the sports club, we were greeted by a sight that would melt any cyclists heart. There was about 70 MTBs and Road bikes parked in a line next to each other at the reception, waiting to be loaded onto the vehicle which would be transporting them to the venue early in the morning. We then went onto check-in to our rooms, freshen up and then greet the other athletes who were there.

Early evening was time for the athletes in general and achievers, Madhurjya Borah (National Triathlon Champion), Nagaraj Harsha (Ironman Finisher) and Suma Rao (Ironman 70.3 Finisher) in particular to interact with the reporters and share their experiences and expectations of the event.

This press release then easily morphed into dinner which was carb loading central with vegetarian and non vegetarian Biryani as main course and vanilla Ice cream for dessert, coupled with knowledgeable techniques and tips by our esteemed guests for conversation.

This was then followed up by a briefing and question answer session about the event, the route, rules and regulations and any other queries that the athletes may have had. All of this finally got done around half past 10 and with an early morning drive scheduled for 4am, we were all interested in getting our quota of rest. So, time to get back to the room, get the gear ready for the next day and finally turn in for the night.

3am and the alarm goes off. I was too excited and wired to have gotten much of sleep anyway and was lying wide awake in bed waiting for the alarm to signal the time. As I jumped out, I made a few phone calls to make sure at least one person in each room was awake. I rushed into the rest room after and freshened up for the event.

By 3.30am I was good to go. Went to the other room to check on Geeta – this was the first time we weren’t sharing a room at an event and I have actually gotten quite used to waking up next to her on event days – she is probably one of the few people who knows how to handle me early in the morning before my workout.

She was up and sipping on a cup of tea. I fixed myself a cup of coffee and we chattered and giggled for the next 15 minutes while the remainder of the crew got all geared up.

As expected, with Indian Stretchable Time, our ride did not leave at 4am. As we were waiting for the bus, Shwetha decided to do an impromptu stretching and yoga session for the athletes and it was finally at 5am when all of us loaded ourselves onto the two buses to make our way to Lake Thonnur. Happy Times!

As we drove through, about 20 kilometers into our drive, we saw two cyclists ripping away on their road bikes while shining like disco balls at a pumping night club in the dark of the night. We realised that these were two of our beloved and inspiring athletes, mean cyclist and man of few words, Rajani Kant and five time Ironman finisher Dipanker Paul, who had decided to ride in from Bangalore through the night to come and cheer the triathletes.

This pumped all of us up and from a quiet, demure and sleepy ride, we turned back into the noisy monsters that we usually are screaming and shouting and cheering the two cyclists on. I think we even gave them a bit of a scare and did contribute to a minute or two of increased heart rate.

As we reached closer to the venue, the sun was rising and the landscape was turning into an absolute stunner – empty road with a lake on one side and flat green field on one side. For me, this was the moment that made all the stress of the last few weeks well worth the effort. I had a good feeling.

We drove through the village and the last few kilometers to the venue. As we were climbing up the final few kilometers, there was just one thought on everyone’s mind – the cycling and run route back was going to be killing, with the last 500 meters of each leg being a killer climb.

We were at the venue by 6.30am and unanimously decided that 7.30am would be a good start time for the event. Those people that know me, are aware of just how much of a stickler for time I am. But sometimes, you just have to be flexible and make notes about where things are not going according to plan so that these issues can be addressed on the next run.

All the athletes went onto get ready for their events. From now, until the end of the event each person was on their own.

My event was the Olympic Triathlon. This included a 1.5 kilometer swim, followed by a 40 kilometer bike ride and a final 10 kilometer run. For me, this was a double first – first time open water swim and off course first time attempt at a triathlon. I did not really have any expectations from myself nor did I put any pressure for a specific time. I just wanted this to be a dry run for confidence, fun and good times – like I mentioned earlier, a party of sorts for an athlete maybe?

I went to the transition area, got into swimming gear and got my change ready for the next two legs. Then, I went and was standing in queue behind Ankush for my bib number. As we were standing there, I looked around and saw the athletes in their tri-suits, looking mean and ready to burn the route. I was intimidated.

Ankush, as usual, helped me calm my nerves down and cracked some jokes. We grabbed our bib numbers and headed towards our bikes. I had to label mine Bib# 3 for the next few hours. I realised that I did not have my water bottle so got an Aquafina bottle and put it in the holder for later use. We had only just finished preparing our bikes when Ajit announced that all triathletes were requested to come and test the water before the event started.

So off we went, into the water. Had a try of the water and honestly, I was feeling good. There was one issue though. The water was seeping into my goggles and I could easily foresee that this would be a source of great annoyance to me. So, I tried everything to fix the issue – to no avail. The other option would be to lose the goggles. I was not ready for that, so, decision was made. Suck it in and stick it out. Deal with the annoyance – hope for the best but be ready for the worst. In this case, it would be me stopping every 20 meters and adjusting my goggles.

And it was go time! I know that I am not a strong swimmer so I ensured that I was right at the back and let the rest of the swimmers take off. The first lap was so tiring. I kept losing my way, the water seeped in through the goggles and made my life so miserable. I couldn’t see the flags and was hopelessly destroyed within the first five minutes of the event.

But its only when you are destroyed that you find the strength to fight and, as always, the spirit came through. The idea was take it one lap at a time, keep each flag as the next point to swim to and take it from there. That was it. The second lap was smoother and third lap onward, I was in a rhythm. I stopped every 25 meters or so to gauge if I was on track and then kept going.

Next thing I knew, six laps were over and I was on my way out. The marshal encouraged me, “you’re the first woman out and overall the 10th person out of the water.” I ran up the stairs and went into the transition area. It took me a good 8-9 minutes to get into my cycling gear. As I was changing, another girl popped her head in. “You are taking too much time to change. No one is taking as much time as you. You are doing so well, hurry up!!” I responded, ” They are in trisuits, I am in the process of wearing a really cute cycling outfit. Doing the best I can, will be out in a jiffy.”

As I came out, I ran to my Trek. Took her off the rack and wondered what I was meant to do. Picked her up and ran towards the start line. As I put her on the ground and jumped on, I realised that the chain was off. Meanwhile, everyone was urging me to hurry up and stop taking as much time as I pleased.

Naveen realised that I had a chain issue and came running to my rescue and helped me fix the chain. I jumped on the bike and off we went. The first 6 kilometers were not primo and more suited for an MTB, which is what I had, plus, it was downhill so it was super fun.

However, the Aquafina bottle was not the best idea. Around the 5k mark, it popped out of my bottle holder. I had still not had a sip of water, so decided it maybe best to stop, collect it, have a sip of water and then continue. And so I did. The villagers were all around so I waved out and said hello to them. Cute kids around were screaming out, “hi akka!”, good times!

I jumped back and continued on and realised a kilometer later that my seat post was slipping. I had been facing this issue for a while but had been under the impression that it had been fixed. How wrong was I? Over the next 35 kilometers I would be making 3 more stops only to adjust the seat post.

I laughed a demented laugh in my head – what a disaster! as I continued, I saw the first competitor from the Duathlon hurtling back on his bicycle. Not too far behind and looking very much like a mean cycling machine out to kill was Sri Ram. I was pleasantly surprised to see him doing so well in his event that for a moment my miseries seemed to dissolve into thin air. But, just for a moment. Then, it was back to reality.

I was near the 10k mark and that’s when I observed an annoying creak in the chain. This creak was to be my best friend for the next 30 kilometers. Hallelujah!

The human spirit is beautiful, once it accepts the circumstances, it adjusts to bear with the torture especially when it is for a specified period of time. Suddenly, your patience levels shoot up and resistance levels become minimal to reduce friction and become efficient.

As I pedaled my way in what seemed something like super slow motion bollywood style running or even the close ups on the saas bahu serials on star plus, there were sprinkled moments of pure joy when I saw my friends hurtling back and making me proud – Geeta, Alina, Henna, Dharma, Madhurjya, Nagaraj, Prajwal, Ajit, Ankush – felt real good to see guys rocking the biking leg of the event.

And so I carried on. Shortly, I had reached the 20 kilometer mark, took a U-turn, spoke to the marshals, adjusted seat post, gulped some enerzal and continued on my way. Not far ahead, I saw Suma (2nd place) riding her road bike with ease. I knew my lead was gone right here. Within the next 2 kilometers, she had caught up with me. As she passed by, she encouraged me and kept going. I am a fighter. I fight!

So, I surged up some power from within and started pushing myself. I even came close to her, passed her once but then she powered up and off she went. I tried keeping up but it was a lost cause. I could feel my seat post slipping again and knew there was another stop coming up. “Its meant to be a dry run, just have fun.”

I continued at my pace for the remainder of the biking leg, slowly trudging away and enjoying the natural beauty around. It was actually quite relaxing. In fact, considering all the drama that happened in that leg, an average pace of 22.6kmph is okay. It can be way better and eventually it will be, but as a newbie on a dry run, there is no reason why I need to be harsh with myself.

As I got closer to the end of the biking leg, my adrenaline started pumping again. The final leg was my favourite, Run Time. This gave me enough energy to push through the final uphill and as I was climbing the hill, I saw Suma run down. I thought to myself. “I can catch her, I am going to own this run.”

I crossed the finish line. Naveen screamed out instructions about where to park the bike. I ran into the transition area and got ready for my last leg – the Run.

As I ran out, I could feel my legs being super wobbly. Thankfully, the start was downhill, and I was too focused on catching up with Suma to pay any attention to the wobble. And so I ran, the way I do. I caught up with Suma around the 1 kilometer mark. She was awesome and cheered me on.

On the way, I had a lot of people cheering me on and helping keep the energy levels up. By the time I reached the 2 kilometer mark, I had gotten into a nice pace. Again, I saw all my awesome mates killing it on their run loops. Felt like home, as I ran I started picking up people and getting them to break into a jog from a walk or pick up their pace. Soon enough the loop was over, and then before I knew it the second loop was over. It was a good run.

Around the 200m mark, Henna came and joined me advising me to take it easy until the crest and then sprint 20 meters – but that’s not how I roll. It was sprint time now. I saw Sri Ram waiting and cheering me on at the crest with the biggest smile on his face and a few seconds later, I was across the finish line. Ankush was there to greet me – as always. High five!

So, it was a killer event. As expected Madhurjya Borah (2:44) rocked it and finished first in the Male Olympic triathlon, followed by Ironman Nagaraj Harsha (2:51) and closely followed by my brother Ankush Sharma (2:54). I finished the women’s Olympic Triathlon in 3:31 and came in first, followed by Suma Rao and with Hema Rajani Kant in third place.

The sprint and Duathlon finishers were phenomenal and flew through their respective events. Winners included Kiran Kumar (Duathlon) , Sowmya Urs (Duathlon), Somesh Gupta (Sprint) and Kartika Rajaram (Sprint). The event was followed by breakfast, a vote of thanks and winners felicitation ceremony.

A big thank you going out to Mysore Cycling Club, Sunpure, Friends of Runners Max and Eddie, Procycle, Cyclopedia, Safe Wheels. Each individual volunteer who took time out of their busy schedule and came and assisted us each step of the way whether it was in terms of taking down the timings or taking photographs of the event or standing at the U-turns, or standing and cheering the participants on – I cannot thank you enough.

The wonderful celebrities and legends in their own right, who were kind enough to grace us with their presence and provide us with valuable inputs from training, technique and practicals of the same , Madhurjya Borah, Nagaraj Harsha, Suma Rao, Dipankar Paul and Rajani Kant – Thank you.

And finally, each participant who made this event his own, travelled all the way to be part of it, adjusted and accommodated at every step and spread positive cheer among everyone – Thank you. This event would not have been the same and would not have been the success that it was without either one of you. Thank you.

I know I am addicted. I am pretty sure you are too. I look forward to a bigger, better and a more exciting event next year.