City builder completes Ironman Triathlon in 16 hrs

Surat: Mahesh Prajapati, was stuck in his house for three days during 2006 floods in Tapi river because he couldn’t swim. He later decided to learn swimming, so that he does not get handicapped in life again.
While playing cricket, 18 months ago, Prajapati’s knees got locked and he couldn’t run. So, to make his body flexible he started running to remain flexible.

On November 19, at the age of 42, this father of three became the first Gujarati to complete the Ironman Triathlon in Malaysia in 16 hours.

Ironman Triathlon is long-distance races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) which includes 3.86 km swim, 180.25 km bicycle ride and full marathon run (42.20 km), without a break.

For a contestant to be called an Ironman, he or she has to complete the race in less than 17 hours’ time.

Builder by profession, Parjapati had entered his name for one of the toughest circuits known for its humid and uncertain weather conditions.

Prajapati was among 1,100 contestants in the contest. He managed to finish swimming in 1.35 hours, cycling in 7.30 hours and running portion with 95% humidity in 6.10 hours. “The matra to success was keep yourself hydrated and have inner strength to complete the race,” said Prajapati, who is a vegetarian. Parajapti began training for the Ironman six months ago and without a break trained himself in all-weather terrain for eight hours a day.

Before him there were two other Surti’s who managed to win title of Ironman — Dr Nainesh Vankawala and Anush Jaju.