[Testimonial Geeta S Rao who completed the Olympic distance Triathlon on just one healthy leg]
Memories from My Diary
Date : 9th July 2016
TRIBUTE TO MY BELOVED GRANDFATHER
MY FIRST TRIATHLON IN OLYMPIC CATEGORY ( 1500 MTR. SWIM, 45 KMS CYCLING, 10 KMS RUN – ALL IN ONE GO !! ) – ORGANIZED BY CHENNAI TREKKING CLUB, AT CHENNAI
I dedicate my FIRST TRIATHLON in OLYMPIC Category (1500 Meters of SWIMMING+ 40 Kilometers of CYCLING + 10 Kilometers of RUNNING – All Tri Activities in One Go !!) – Organized by Chennai Trekking Club, in Chennai to my beloved Grand Father !!
-->> HOW DID I REGISTER AND HOW IMPOSSIBLE (RACE) TURNED “I M POSSIBLE” ONCE AGAIN
The Journey of Triathlon began when I finished my The Impossible Cycling Race of 115 KMs at Polo Forest and shared my experience on my FB Page. My dear bicycling friend Anand Marar congratulated me after reading my First Bicycling Race experience of successful completion and winning special prize. After that, he suddenly started talking to me regularly for couple of days and encouraging me. I was little surprised but I was waiting for him to coming to the point and on one fine day, he mentioned about Triathlon. He asked me to participate in a Triathlon and I raised my eyebrows thinking if this man was Mad. I thought he was talking about something which I could never even imagine. I thought he might be unaware of my physical disability and inactive left leg. At that moment, I did not wish to reveal anything about it as I thought he was a Strange Crazy Man :P(Sorry Anand for being too frank , but I felt it is better to be honest to myself). I just ignored his words and continued with my way of bicycling to improve my endurance. But, somehow, I looked up the internet and read a lot about Triathlon and DREAMED about doing it at least once in my lifetime. But certainly I was very much sure that I could not participate in the July 2016 Edition and so decided to forget about all this conversation, triathlon for the time being and started ignoring Anand whenever he pinged me after that.
After a few days Ingit (Ingit is my dear friend now, but we were just knowing each other at the time, when he contacted me) asked me about Triathlon and even insisted that I participate in the next Triathlon i.e. for July’2016 Edition. I thought Ingit was another stranger just like Anand who was talking about the same thing – Triathlon. I was sure about not participating in the next Triathlon, but I just wanted to listen to him to know more about what these people were thinking about me, why were they insisting on my participation in the Triathlon, what did they see in me? I wanted to analyze further as the duo were not ordinary people, but the proven athletes and achievers. After a couple of whatsapp conversations, I understood that both Anand and Ingit were schoolmates. So, naturally I had a hunch, if Anand shared details about me with Ingit and hence, Ingit too was insisting me to participate in the Triathlon. I wanted to verify the things and I started a simultaneous chat with both of them at the same time making unaware of duo about it. And, Yes, they amazed me with their answers because their answers were pretty much matching. I realized both were damn confident about my potential and, Anand did not share anything about me with Ingit by then and still both of them were on the same page about goading me to participate. It kindled my interest about the Triathlon, but I thought definitely the July 2016 edition was out of question as I had less than two months of time and I was just practicing bicycling and never could run in my life so far. So, I thought even if I do participate in the December edition, it would be only in the SPRINT Category (almost half in distance and timing in all Tri Activities than that of Olympic category ).
However I wanted to know some funny answers from these two buddies. So I asked them
" In which category, shall I participate ? "
Surprisingly, both of them gave the same answer –
"OLYMPIC".
I felt they were much more confident about me than me.
I literally told myself, 'both buddies are foolish'.
I told Anand “Let me try on the Sprint Category “
And again he crazily answered in his own style with wisdom “No man, you are an Olympic Material :D".
Instead of taking the Olympic word seriously, I enjoyed the fun of being called MATERIAL for the first time, Lol :D !! I replied “Ok, do whatever you want and let me know, what you are doing :D ."
Another fun went then, Anand called Ingit and said “I have one proficient participant” and Ingit replied “I too have one skilled participant”. When both disclosed the name, it was 1 + 1 = 1 Participant :D and that was me.
After few moments, Ingit registered me for the Triathlon in Olympic Category ( Swimming : 1500 Mtr / Cycling : 40 Kms / Run : 10 Kms, all in one go with cut off time 7 Hours for Women in Open Category ). Let me disclose one secret, I still need to pay him registration fees which he asked me, I can pay after Triathlon ( I salute you Ingit, for being so confident about me, or you might had some doubts Man if I will really go for it :P !! )
-->> PRE-TRIATHLON PRACTICES
So, with the registration, I made up my mind to TRY the TRI(ATHLON). Usually, my battles or wars or fights are always with me so I keep giving challenges to myself and try to win the situations. Since I could do only one sport activity at a time by my own that too for a limited period of time, I gave the best challenge of life so far and decided to FOCUS ON FINISHING IT INSTEAD OF THINKING ABOUT A FINISHING MEDAL AND GETTING THE FINISHING T-SHIRT WHICH ONE GETS ONLY ONE IS PAST THE FINISH LINE WITHIN THE STIPULATED / CUT-OFF TIME.
Threedays passed after registration, and I could not ride a bicycle even due to my busy work schedule. On the fourth day, I rode with Anna (my another cycling buddy) and we had very nice conversation during our leisure ride on Narmada Canal Road at Ahmedabad. Knowing him from our conversation was an inspiration for me. And, the best part of him was, even without me asking him, he made my daily schedule to practice for the triathlon which almost matched mine !! I synchronized both schedules as per my convenience and capability and followed it. But I needed someone to be my sounding board to check if I was on a right track. I forwarded my workout schedule to Ingit and Anand as they were the leaders of Triathlon Group and they opined, “seems balanced, no further modifications required ”. (Once again thanks ANNA for this kind help).
After this Anand took out time and monitored my practice sessions completely. He customized my workout dynamically on a daily basis based on my previous day's workout performance, and was deciding the distance and activity for the next day, so we kept schedule aside and going on practical practice. On any of days, I could not complete all the 3 activities together. I could never walk 10 kilometers on any day. I could walk for only 8.5 KMs without the knowledge of Anand after pushing myself beyond my physical and mental limits at extreme level. How can I forget that beautiful experience. On reaching home, I fell down at the main door and experienced tremendous pain in my normal (right) leg. The next morning, I woke up with my entire body out of my control and with writhing pain. I had high fever and due to all this, I needed to take an off for the day at Work, and lost almost a week of my further training, as my body required complete bed rest.
I reckon one more incident during my training. One fine day, as per my schedule, I was required to do bicycling for 10 kilometers and then walk for 7 kilometers. It was Anand’s strict instruction that anyhow I should not compromise with walk. So, I started on a good note but after 10 kilometers of bicycling, I felt dizziness, I wanted and wished to ask someone for help but unfortunately, I could not do that. I wanted to drink from my water bottle but somehow I could not drink even, so I just closed my eyes and fell down on the spot. I woke up after about 5-7 minutes, drank enough water and decided to return home. But as per my schedule, I had to walk for 7 kilometers and it was Anand’s strict instruction, so I decided to finish the walk too as I was feeling better. I began walking, and despite a lot of effort, I could walk for less than 3 kilometers and the feeling of dizziness returned. Before I fell down again, I drank the remaining water. I sat down at the nearby park for almost an hour and when I felt completely normal, I decided to stop there and went home. The actual reason for my weakness was fasting on the previous day due to religious reasons and I did not drink any water before leaving my home for the practice. Albeit I did not wish to, I informed my master, Anand with a text message as I felt it is my duty. He reprimanded me with red-eye anger declaring me a 'STUPID :D, saying “don’t you understand the simple rule of exercise that if no food, no water, there must be no workout !!'. However the positive outcome of all this was an eye opener. I realized the great mistake I committed and decided not to push myself to a level where I could damage my body any more. I reckoned the cliche 'Health is wealth', and I strictly followed the instructions from Anand through all this, I learned a great lesson from my mistake !!
And by this time, one month of practice passed and I could reach about 30% of endurance of actual Triathlon.
Life is not as simple and as easy as we always plan / wish it to be !! I had 1 month and 23 days for practice after my registration and one month of practice already passed. So 23 days were left, means around 3 weeks before the actual event. The last 3 weeks before any event or race arevery important for an athlete. Before those 3 weeks when I pushed my body to perform 2 activities together, I could reach about 30% of endurance of the actual distance and time. Within the next 3 weeks, I needed to reach at least 70 to 90% and I was mentally and physically very much prepared for the hard work. I had a dream and I saw the same dream repeatedly that I was crossing the finish line and people were cheering me up for that. The same dream I shared with my Ahmedabad Triathlon Gang and everyone knew it well that I was just chasing my dream crazily. Right at that moment I got a great shock. My beloved Grandfather expired on 17th June 2016. It was a heart wrenching news for me and my family and I reached an emotional nadir and I felt so low physically and mentally that I could not do anything for next 15 days. I forgot about triathlon, practice and dream I saw. I was feeling too low that even I stopped making conversation with my Triathlon Gang.
During this period, my family played a very crucial role. All my family members took great care of me as well as my diet and helped to climb out of this and to regain my strength. During this period, Anand insisted (very strictly) that I rest, rest and only rest. Shaily – a dear friend, called me up and played the role of my nutritionist Mom (she made me laugh first after the sad demise of my GrandPa and lots of laughter, jokes apart, she helped me suggesting my diet plan for remaining days and I strictly followed it). Of course, Ingit and my entire Ahmedabad Gang helped me and poured in the constant fuel of motivation during this tough time of my life. Finally, the last week started and I could stand up for workouts. I made a separate whatsapp group (Try on Tri) because I was almost out of communication zone from rest of the world except my family and few close friends and ignoring bundle of messages. To practice well under the guidance of our leaders, I just added Triathletes in it who were with me since beginning – Anand, Ingit & Shaily. It was 1st July 2016 and I wanted to work hard for long for next 3-4 days. But as Anand instructed, the last week was for easy workouts and rest only. He gave me very easy tasks from 1st July 2016. I accomplished them well and then on 3rd July 2016, I requested him to give me a challenging task as after that date, I did not wish to take any risk. After a lot of discussion, we decided on 40 kilometers of bicycling and 10 kilometers of walking. I could ride for 40 kms and walk for 9.5 Kilometers. So we all were very happy that day and atleast, I could see the hope of being capable of finishing walk after cycling physically. After this task, I already gained enough strength to swim 2000 meters, irrespective of time as I was more focused about finishing the Triathlon, instead of dreaming of becoming a Triathlete, a Finishing Medal and T-Shirt. It was a challenge for me and I decided to compete with myself and not think about other participants. I wanted to win over myself once again and I totally prepared for that !!
After 3rd July 2016, I did not take up any tough activity, not even easy workouts. I just did meditation, had good food I was comfortable with and had proper rest.
-->> THE PRE-TRIATHLON DAY
I landed in Chennai early in the morning on 8th July 2016. I could have a sound siesta later in the day and I was waiting for my Ahmedabad Gang to hangout with them. Since their flight was late, I wanted to collect my bike by the time which I pre-booked with Probikers Store there in Chennai. My Sister & Brother-in-Law wished to accompany me and we reached Probikers store to collect my bike. After reaching there, we met its owner Suresh and his manager Guna. I would say, they are very nice and helpful people, they reserved a hybrid for me at the time of pre-booking, but when I requested, they could manage a road bike for me and its size suite me. We had very nice time and discussed a lot about cycling and triathlon over food and coffee. We were meeting first time, talking first time but did not feel if everything was happening first time. Soon we became very good friends just in few minutes. Thanks Suresh and Guna for this generous help, let me disclose one more secret that Probikers provided me their bike free of cost and did not charge anything from me.
So, my Ahmedabad gang reached the venue and we wanted to have test swim in the Quarry so that we could perform better on the day of the event. I was scared when I looked at the water in a quarry, it was turbid and not clear like the water I found in swimming pools earlier. In addition to that I understood that it was more than 100 feet deep and I could not see beyond 1 foot. There were no safety tubes, supporting ropes or volunteers anywhere near on pre-race day. And at the same time, I could recall the sentence of one of our triathlete friend said while sharing his first triathlon experience that "अगर डूब गए तो गए काम से :D". (If you sink you are done with). In addition to this I do not like fish the stinking odour but this water body was full of it. After some thought, I decided not to worry about the characteristics of that water body as I just had swim any way I just jumped inside it. I was totally focused on swimming in this quarry with turbid water and I could do it. Finally I was fearless about the swim part on actual Triathlon day. By the time we could finish all these, it was too far for me to return my sister’s place where I was staying and again, come back in the very early morning. So we decided to stay overnight to the nearby place and luckily got the room at the same premise where Anand and Ingit were staying. Later Anand assembled my bike by the time we collected our BIBs and went to our respective rooms. We had food then, prepared and verified our transition bags. Before sleeping, I made sure I was all set for actual Triathlon and I sleptcomfortably !!
-->> THE HISTORICAL DAY OF MY LIFE – 9TH JULY 2016 – THE ACTUAL TRIATHLON DAY
Finally, the Day arrived!! Everyone in our Ahmedabad Gang was super excited to give their best and so was I. I saw swimmers in the quarry and decided to swim in the third row from the rope for safety purpose to avoid any physical injury and imbalance. It was my turn now, and I jumped in. I swam about 40-50 meters and got someone swimming besides me accidentally kicked my right (normal) leg from behind. Suddenly I lost my balance and I was scared about drowning as I was unable to move further and turned turtle and was facing the sky. I yelled aloud for help and a volunteer reached me immediately and held my leg with his hand and took me to a safety rope. He asked me to take deep breath and to make my body straight but I could not do that. So they put me in the correct swimming position and made me comfortable and told me to move forward whenever I feel comfortable. I started again but another hand of a frog styledswimmer hit my face and I was already scared. Once again I took help as I could not move any further. I was very anxious how to move forward as I was feeling I won’t be able to finish even the swimming part of the triathlon. I tried few more times to move forward but instead going away from the rope in the wrong direction. When I saw with the head up, I was very far from the rope and even the direction was wrong and suddenly the scary feeling came again in mind. I felt if I will sink and that made me out of control situation. Once again, yelled loudly and suddenly two volunteers came and took me to the safety rope. Again I took deep breathes and was making myself comfortable. But anyhow could not move forward and few volunteers who helped me and observed me well were taking care and waiting for me to move forward. But I failed and one volunteer came to me and asked if I want to Quit the Swim Part. I said anyhow I am unable to move forward and I don’t know what to do at the moment. I ws in a dilemma and I told that volunteer to give me some time. I just rested there, closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, prayed God to help me and remembered my loving mom-dad, I am habitual to this, whenever I come across any tough situations & lose hopes, I close my eyes and remember my family. I opened my eyes, started swimming, and made up my mind about receiving kicks and hits and that still need to get out of this scary feeling and swim. I saw my watch in the water, almost after 20 minutes passed and I could not move ahead of the 50 meters mark even. But during this process, I had to make my mind about either to Quit or to Move Ahead. There was no question of quitting as I never accepted it in life until I try till my last breath. I was determined to move forward and that too consistently. After 7 breaks, I could finish my first loop of swimming, of 300 meters and whenever I got the hits and kicks, I politely request the request the swimmer to keep aside from me. I would like to thank all those swimmers who gave me a way to move forward upon hearing my request. So I was very happy about it and regaining strength and confidence. After that I could finish the 2nd loop while taking breaks at all the safety tubes available there in quarry. I finished next 3 rounds without taking any breaks and enjoyed the kicks and hits. By this time, few volunteers cheered me up and they also were happy for me. Even the swimmers whose kicks and hits I faced were taking care of me while passing behind, besides and ahead of me. And that was the best part of CTC Participants. While swimming, I found a girl facing a similar situation as I faced earlier, I cheered her up by narrating my experience and assured that she got mental confidence and physical help. I was very happy to see her swimming confidently while completing my last loop. To my astonishing disbelief, I found out that this was my best and fastest swimming performance ever, that too in Open Water !! Coming out of the quarry was another challenge and I already informed volunteers to help me so that I could avoid the stress of coming out :D. All the volunteers were very helpful. They massaged my legs to warm them up and held me firmly and pulled me out of the quarry. lol !! Swimming event took me about 1 ½ hours in all.
Without wasting time any more, changed my clothes comfortably and I got ready for bicycling which I considered as my forte but it became my weakness here as the roads on which I rode earlier in Ahmedabad were almost like 4 lane toll roads or airport tarmacs. However the initial 5-7 kilometers of road was very poor, we must return on the same route as per the rule and I had to be careful not to end up with a punctured tyre and any kind of physical injuries as well. With God's grace, I did not face any such technical & physical difficulties and finished Cycling part in around 2 hours and few more minutes. I already decided not to hurry and made myself comfortable riding the bicycle. After that, I reached the T2 point and by this time, my body was exhausted. As per my initial plan, I was about to finish swimming and cycling in 3 hours and allotted 4 hours for walk as per my walking speed. And here, after about 3 hours and 45 minutes my body was not allowing me to move forward. I decided to refresh myself consuming some fruits and water and by clicking some pictures and focused all making myself comfortable.
Unfortunately, I forgot my walking stick in Ahmedabad and I requested the volunteers if I could use the bicycle as my walking stick instead. But they flatly denied my request because of rules and regulations. So I decided to request Peter ( the owner of CTC & organizer himself ). But the problem was I did not have his number with me and time was passing by. Luckily found Anand there, I ran to him and shared the trouble. I asked him that I wish to talk to Peter and request at least once. I asked Anand to call Peter, and I could speak with him. I explained about my situation andthe very next moment without any delay, he allowed me to use my bicycle as a walking support. I was very happy and after thanking them, I immediately started walking. I was 4 hours into the event and I had only around 3 hours left. So, now I had one hour less for walking than my initial estimated plan, I needed to push myself but when I push myself to an extreme I quickly reach a stage where I might need to stop completely. So I had to be very very careful about not to fall or get injured physically in any way.
By the time I finished my first loop of walking 5 kilometers, I got some pedal hits and tyre crash on my lower right leg which is normal and that happens when my left leg get wobbly. Another 110 minutes passed, Peter met me on the way thinking if it was the second loop of walking, but when I said, it was just first one, he might be out of the hope to finish it up within cut-off time, but he cheered me up well and clapped for me and that was something satisfied me at some level.
So logically and practically I needed another 110 to 120 minutes for the next loop. However I reached the extreme level of my body's endurance limit and I was very tired. My face turned red and my body was screaming for rest and was not allowing me to move any further. My left foot had already twisted about 35 to 40 degrees inside my shoe and I had to walk with the edge of my shoe. I felt it was not under my control now and I just need to leave it on its own. In all such situations, generally I am unable to walk and fall down, and when I stand up forcefully, I needed to stop in all situations in the past. There was a final loop of 5 kilometers and, I had only 70 minutes left and body was not allowing me to move forward. I asked my friends and volunteers there about the next loop. Though we were well informed by CTC on email about the route, I wanted to check if there is no change in the same route I traversed earlier, and hoping for some better road because initially, the running route was passing through a village. I had a sinister feeling that it could be the same route. The information about the route was shared with participants very well in advance and after confirming the same, I already lost the hope of being a triathlete, but any how I wanted to finish it and that was a real challenge for me. I moved forward. While I was passing through a village, I fell down, my bicycle fell on me. I moved the bicycle away and adjusted myself, sipped some water and sat there for a minute. Once again it was QUIT or MOVE Situation and hence, I closed my eyes, remembered my family and started thinking about moving forward in this situation as QUITTING IS SOMETHING I NEVER ACCEPTED IN MY LIFE SO FAR. Then I got up and decided not to take any stress with both the legs anymore and lower parts of my body. I decided to use the energy of my torso and hands and put all the efforts of holding the bicycle well and decided that I would not fall down again, since repeated falling meant losing the battle physically, which was not acceptable to me. I started putting all my efforts by taking support of my bicycle and without looking at my watch or any device.
I could walk another 2.5 kilometers and started walking on college road. After covering few more meters, found my dear friend from our Ahmedabad Gang on a motor bike. I thought, he was returning to our abode but he surprised me saying – "I just came here to walk your final steps towards the finish line”. It was so sweet of him and he let me know that our Ahmedabad gang is waiting for me at a distance of 1 kilometer. I could not resist from asking him about how many kilometers were left for the finish line. Unfortunately, I walked just 500 meters and I had a feeling that I was almost about to reach the finish line. Looking at me, at one moment my friend got emotional and asked me to cycle for some distance. I raised my eyebrows and replied him “IF I WANTED TO FINISH THIS TRIATHLON IN THAT WAY, I WOULD HAVE FINISHED IT BY THIS TIME AS THERE WERE LOT OF SPOTS WHERE I DID NOT FIND ANY VOLUNTEERS”. But I could feel his emotions and changed the topic to make him comfortable as afterall, with some good intension, he came to help and support me to walk last important steps up to the finish line with me. However, with still 2 kilometers left and I saw my watch and realized that I had just 20-22 minutes left. I increased my speed focusing all my energy towards my effort and finally we met our gang 1 kilometer further. But they said, another 1.5 KMs to walk. So, I still needed to walk 1 ½ kilometers and I had around 12-15 minutes left. My gang was cheering me up and I was more focused on finishing it and finally, I GAVE MYSELF THE TOUGHEST CHALLENGE EVER AND THAT WAS – TO TOUCH AND REACH THE FINISH LINE BEFORE THE CUT-OFF TIME AND BECOME A TRIATHLETE. For this to be achieved, I need lot of patience, concentration and focus. I requested my gang to stay silent and they took it very positively. I pushed myself beyond all my physical and mental extreme levels. I forgot that I had legs, I started flying ignoring the risks of getting hits and injuries, bent leg, floating leg and many more odds I was feeling inside my body.
And…………………………………..finally, the Miracle happened, I became a triathlete and that too before the cut off time, I finished before 2 minutes of actual cut-off time. I could not stop the tears rushing out of my eyes remembering my beloved Great Grandfather and loving family. YEAH, I TOO COULD CHERISH THE JOY OF REACHING THE FINISH LINE. What happened next was an absolute pleasant surprise. It was an incredible moment for me asPeter himself reached me and gave me a long warm hug to congratulate me to give me by presenting the finishing medal. After giving me the medal, he said : “CAN YOU IMAGINE, WHAT YOU DID ON THE LAND OTHER THAN YOUR MOTHERLAND, YOU HAVE CREATED THE HISTORY FOR CTC”. The WORDS & HUGS FROM PETER MEANT A LOT TO ME AS THEY WERE COMING OUT FROM A VERY GENUINE SOUL. Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… what a beautiful moment it was, that I can never forget as I never ever imagined that I too could be a triathlete. Finally, the dream I was chasing so hard became a reality and I BECAME AN OLYMPIC TRIATHLETE. And the best part was THIS WAS A KIND OF FINISH ONE CAN ONLY IMAGINE IN DREAMS, it turned in reality so well, so beautifully. The entire CTC Atmosphere there turned so emotional, Peter and people surrounding me were expressing their emotions and I could feel the special love and respect from them for me, that I can never forget in my life. First Triathlon and what a wonderful finish it was.
-->> HOW CAN I FORGET SOME SPECIAL PEOPLE WHO STOOD BESIDES ME AND HELPED ME :
The best part is I never bother about what people will think about me and how do I look when I will do something which people like me normally don’t do. I always compete myself only and my fight / battle / war is always with me. I believe in giving tough fight till my last breath to win myself and never GIVE UP or QUIT without trying on anything. I did this Triathlon because I wanted to challenge myself a step ahead and what can be the better reason than giving Try on Tri(Athlon) !! I challenged myself, I tried on myself very hard chasing a dream I saw and finally… I have created a history of myself becoming an Olympic Triathlete.
So, this was not only my victory, but this was a victory of self-belief, hard work and mind over morals. This was the victory of team work, and victory of the people who believed in me. This was the victory of Family, Friends & Well-wishers. This was the victory of people’s love and care for me. This was the victory of my family, Ahmedabad Triathlon Family and CTC Family of course as CTC participants already won my heart by helping me, cheering me, stopped by me at some points and encouraging me, motivating me and welcomed me at the finish line.
Few people I want to thank from the bottom of my heart ( I will edit the post later specifying the brief reason later ) remembering all the pre-post and actual triathlon moments, it would not have been possible for me to achieve this beautiful milestone :
- The Great Peter Van Geit (Peter I have no enough words to express my gratitude for you. Thank you for accepting my registration, thank you for allowing me to use cycle as support during walk, thank you for all your warm hugs and the way you took care of me after that until I could make myself comfortable after finishing triathlon. All I can say is you are the best example of Being Human and one of the Finest Human being as well as the True Leader I have ever come across in my life so far. On the finish line, when there were tears in my eyes remembering my grandfather, you hugged me so warmly and suddenly sand started blowing, I could feel my grandfather in you and his love in the form of blowing sand. I hope you too remembering the moments well).
- Rakesh from CTC
- My best ever loving supportive family
- Rajawat Babita
- Anand Marar
- Mehul Joshi
- Ingit Anand
- Shaily Chauhan
- Vishrut Patel
- Anuj Sharedalal
- Robin Thakur
- Kishan Parasu
- Gopinath Dhandapani
- Vinod Purohit
- Nisarg Kansara
- Vyomesh Parmar
- Suresh Kumar & Gunaa Gunasekaran
- Entire Ahmedabad Triathlon Family and the specially to the Gang who walked with me upto the finish line
- Entire CTC Family for helping me, motivating me, cheering me and showing their love & care
- All the wonderful Photographers who captured my special moments so well that expressed everything very nicely
- All the CTC volunteers who helped & supported me very nicely
THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING PART OF MY FIRST UNFORGOTTABLE TRIATHLON !!