“Winning is unexpectedly a very good feeling indeed,” said Salma Barakat recalling happily the triumphant moment of crossing the finish line in one of the toughest triathlon competitions worldwide. Barakat was part of 19 Egyptian athletes from the Velocity Triathlon team in Alexandria which came first in the 70.3 Strandräuber Ironman competition in Ruegen, Germany. The competition is one the long distance triathlon races held by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). It covers a staggering 140 miles from start to finish. Its hardest endurance lies in its quick transitions between swimming, paddling and running. It always starts with a 1.9 mile swim in a sea, open ocean, a river or even a lake and then a quick jump onto paddling which is the longest and sometimes the most difficult part of the race as it lasts for 112 miles and then finally the 26.2 run. With an injury which lasted for eight months, Barakat could have never believed she could become one of the first Egyptians to be called Ironwoman. “Sometimes you have a mixed feeling of emotions during the race. You can feel that triumph is just knocking on your door and at the same time you can barely run anymore.” But Barakat who was running her first Ironman competition, never stopped because of her leg injury. She pushed her body and mental perseverance to reach beyond any limits. “I remember by the end of the race, I was about to stop because of my injury but the crowds cheered and encouraged me to continue.” It seems as if “a whole town was celebrating the race. Crowds were lined up on the streets creating a whole support system for all team members all along the trail,” explained Essam Amin, 42, a Velocity team member. This is one of the best reasons, explained Amin, why Egypt does not have professionals playing the sport. “Although we have all the potential, we lack the pavements, the trails and the culture to go swimming, paddling and running every day.” However, Amin believes that two years from now, the Ironman competition and the WTC will choose Egypt as one of its major hosts to hold the international race, due to its growing number of athletes. Velocity Triathlon is a team from the Tri-factory, an Egyptian sport management company specialised in triathlon and endurance sports in Alexandria. They started with a very few number of players in 2014. In less than four years, Velocity now exceeds 200 active athletes. Though the sport is young in popularity and recognition, having only entered the Olympics in 2000, it has had a remarkable surge in participation in the world, with roughly half a million participants every year. In Egypt, the sport has grown significantly since 2011 with the rise of groups of runners, and cycling in Alexandria and Cairo. “I think we are all fortunate to be among a special group of loving team members, great friends and outstanding enthusiastic athletes,” Omar Sharaan, 24, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Sharaan, who used to play water polo internationally, said: “Training hard with your team members who gradually become your family is very different from playing alone or going to the gym by force. This is why the community of athletes is always loving and caring. We care less about competition but more about nourishing our souls by all positive vibes.” It is never easy to finish an Ironman 70.3 competition. And for the Egyptian team, it was not an easy task to race in open cold water with hundreds of swimmers or to run on hills and slopes. However, despite the different timing of each age group in the competition, Velocity Triathlon claimed the title of the top team. Ironman competition “One cannot force athletes to do it one way rather than another because every athlete excels at a particular sport. So there is no right or wrong way to do it. But there is always hard training, endurance and good nutrition,” Mahmoud Shouman, cofounder of Velocity Triathlon and the head coach, said. “I am very proud of all the Velocity team. It is a great achievement for all of us. “They usually train six times a week for not less than two hours. We hold as many camps as we can in Galala, too,” Shouman said. “You do not have to be a veteran player of any sport to start playing. I remember I learned swimming just one month before joining a triathlon race,” said Sherihan Mustafa, a triathlon athlete and a Velocity team member. “But with practice, everything is possible and in no time, one can be a true champion. Now I can take the Alex-Cairo highway running and paddling, two ways,” Mustafa said. Mohamed Sakr, Velocity Triathlon partner, agrees with Mustafa that competition in this sport is open to everyone at any age. It does not restrict anyone from playing and taking a chance on winning or losing. This explains why the team has all age groups ranging from a 16-year-old student to a 56-year- old engineer and a professor. “Our interest is not only in organising events but also in academia. We provide training courses for every age group in every sport.” Since its origin in France in the early 1920s, the triathlon used to vary according to countries. But since its recognition in the US and the establishment of the first Ironman race in 1978 and a union as a global governing body, races have become standard in length. There is always the sprint which is usually a half-mile swim, a 20-kilometre bike ride and a five-kilometre run. An Olympic distance triathlon is a 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre ride and a 10-kilometre run. A “full” or Ironman-length triathlon is a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile ride and a 26.2-mile run. A “half” or “70.3” is simply half a full Ironman. “What makes Triathlon really popular is that you can just be a beginner or an amateur to enter any of these races and run and finish, then stand next to a professional athlete,” Sakr added. “Both of you are champions, or better yet, a true Ironman or Ironwoman.” 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The writer is a freelance journalist.
