Nisha Madgavkar- Unstoppable at 40

Danuska Da Gama I NT BUZZ

Nisha Madgavkar is not a new name in Goa when it comes to sports. The first swimmer from Goa to represent India in Singapore for the Asia Pacific Aquatic Championships in 1991 at the age of 12, she has made herself and Goa proud yet again. Having won the event she has now qualified to participate in the World Championships to be held in France this September.

The secretary of Goa Triathlon Association, Madgavkar recently won the Ironman 70.3 on the Colombo circuit. It was a long distance 113-kilometre triathlon race organised by World Triathlon Corporation. It consisted of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile cycling and 13.1-mile run. The contingent from Goa also consisted of Vinayak Gaonkar, Zubin Rebello and Rahul Chandawarkar. There were a total of 93 triathletes from India and 500 triathletes from multiple countries.

Madgavkar goes on to say that winning the event was just a coincidence, and that she didn’t do anything special during the race to win except try to better herself. “I did train very hard in the build up to my race and in the process bettered my timing by 25 minutes. Bettering myself is all I really look at. If I win in the process that’s fine, if I don’t, that’s also fine,” she says.

It is certainly not an easy competition and requires a lot of physical and mental preparation. “It’s been a long uphill road getting here. More downs than ups along the way. A ton of hard work went into training for this event,” says Madgavkar who tells us that winning the title meant waking up at 5a.m., no nights out, no parties, etc, “but I enjoy the sport so much that none of it feels like a sacrifice, it’s a way of life now,” she says.

Her training includes three days of cycling, three days of running, followed with afternoon sessions of swimming and strength training. While most would like to relax during the weekends, for Madgavkar it is the opposite – the routines stretch longer and start earlier too; it’s an addiction that’s working well for her.

She recalls that unlike getting nervous as a child in the lead up to an event, she is now able to keep herself calm and concentrate a little on the morning of the race. She lets the race play out in her mind. However, now when she participates in such events, it is more to have fun, soak in the race atmosphere and let the training do the talking.

Family support counts a great deal and Magavkar doesn’t feel like she had to sacrifice anything to reach this level. “My husband, Ernesto Alvares who is into cycling, and I adjust our days to fit in our exercise schedules and we’ve never been happier. Instead of going out for dinner, we go out for lunch. We take our weekly exercise off day on Monday so that we can take the children to the beach on Sunday after a hard training ride or run,” Madgavkar tells us, before acknowledging Ernesto’s role in making adjustments.

Being fit and sporty has got nothing to do with age and Madgavkar, like several others, proves that age is just a number. “As you grow older you definitely have more restrictions – your body is not so flexible, you take longer to recover, etc, but it’s all workable,” she says before adding that having small ailments, physical restrictions, etc, shouldn’t hold one back from doing what they love. “Figure out how you can overcome them and move on. Don’t use them as an excuse not to try,” she advises.

Sports has had a long history in the Madgavkar family, and Nisha thinks the most important point that we need to take home from sports is that if you want to excel, you need to put in the work and that goes for all areas of one’s life. Nisha along with Anika and Aisha were inspirations back then to youngsters and girls who wanted to make sports a career back then.

She credits her father Anil who played a very important role. “He had three daughters, but not once did he differentiate between us and the boys we swam with. He pushed us equally hard and expected us to win. Till today I never think of a boy as being stronger than I am. I know I can match them if I put in the effort,” Madgavkar says.

For Madgavkar, her first inspirations to get into triathlons were Prassanna Parulekar (the first Goan to do a half Ironman) and her swimming companion Shweta Bhandare. However, her mentors now are Agnelo De Sa, Alice Souza and Fatima De Sa, all of whom started sports in their forties. “They’re just upping their game with each passing year. Their desire and ability to conquer their fears amazes me. In my fifties I hope I can do what they’re doing now,” Madgavkar says.

Talking about taking forward the legacy of sports, she says: “I’m not pushing my kids into sports, my son Stefano enjoys dance and my daughter Maya likes gymnastics, they both swim and participate in small aquathlon and triathlon events here in Goa, but I try to teach them that they need to train for an event if they want to participate in it. Also, I do not buy them merchandise from events, they need to earn that,” she says.

Nisha dons several hats including that of an entrepreneur, but makes time for everything. A positive mindset, adjustments and support from her coach, family and friends is what results in a huge team effort.

As secretary of the Goa Triathlon Association, Madgavkar hopes for a sea of change to bring in younger talent. “Training children in cycling is a huge restraint. Till the age of 16, children can only participate in aquathlons. But training them in cycling for triathlons should start by the age of 10. We currently have no safe facilities in cycling and I really hope that the government can help. We train them in swimming and running with the hope that we will get a safe cycling training option soon.”

Madgavkar says that the government is very supportive of the Goa Triathlon Association. The ED, Sports Authority of Goa, V M Prabhudesai she says, was very supportive of swimming when we were young and still continues to be supportive. “With a triathlon there’s one problem and that is getting road closure for events so that participants can cycle and run on our roads safely. I do hope this will change in the near future,” she says, stressing on the need for making events safer to participate in. “That way we get more participants and the sport grows as a whole.”