26 Aug '24: Gasant Fataar Journey

Ironman Copenhagen

Sunday, 18 August 2024

Gasant Fataar

After completing Ironman Copenhagen on Sunday 18 August 2024, Gasant gave us a run-down on his journey to complete a full Ironman:

My triathlon journey

I’ve always been a cyclist, the highlight was always the Argus Cycle Tour. (Cape Town Cycle Tour)

At the age of 50, I started my running journey.  I joined a close friend of mine, Abu, a very experienced runner who’ had done Comrades and Two Oceans.  So, I felt comfortable with him introducing me to running.  I did a couple of running events, enjoyed it, and then completed my first Two Oceans Half Marathon with Abu continuously pacing me.  A year later (2022) I did the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon with Faried.  I could not have done it without him pacing me and holding my hand.

Then I got into trail running and enjoyed that even more than road running.  I did two African X (3-Day Stage Races), with my partner Faried and we got on the podium!  Then followed trail races like 3 Peaks, Table Mountain Challenge and Ultra Trail Cape Town.

However, doing the same cycle and running events year in and year out became monotonous.  One day, while at gym my  friends, Faried and Irshad, we chatted about the need for a new challenge. Triathlons were mentioned and the immediate reaction was “ what, I can’t swim, no ways!”.

But the seed was planted.  A week went by and again sitting at gym having coffee after a workout, the triathlon topic kept coming up.  By now, I had “discretely “ googled “how to learn to swim “ and so too, did my buddies.  From the videos we each watched, we agreed that it can’t be that difficult.

So we decided to give it a go.

We joined up with a triathlon coach at MTD, Kent Horner and had 3 swimming lessons per week, in the water by 6 AM, rain or shine, but fortunately in a heated indoor pool.  Wake up at 5 AM, in winter, cold and raining, drag yourself out of bed, all for not wanting to disappoint your friends.  We did that for 2 months.  Swimming came on nicely but we needed to do this now in the ocean.

Thinking I had sufficient swimming under the belt, I entered my first off-road triathlon:  XTERRA. What a disaster! It was a dam swim, pitch dark waters, breathing felt so restricted.  And to top it all, it was a “no wetsuit” swim, due to the water temperature being greater than 24 deg.  I made it to the first buoy, totally out of breath with lame arms. We eventually got picked up by the marshals boat. What an embarrassment.

I questioned myself: “why are you doing this?”

Weeks later, I recovered  from that disappointing scary ordeal.

I befriended an extreme athlete, multiple Cape Epic Cyclist, extreme road and trail runner, extreme mountaineer; but this Indian couldn’t swim!  AZ - “ skrik vir niks”!  We got AZ to join us for his first canal swim, after one or two pool swims, which we thought, was enough for this hardcore athlete.  He barely survived, but he’s tenacious attitude was admirable.

In 2022, I did my first Comrades with this extreme guy, after he convinced (lied to) me: “ it’s an easy down run”

We completed that one, Algamdulillah

So we joined up with a second triathlon club,  ATC Multisport, who had access to the canals at the waterfront.  A totally different story; swimming in cold, dark, salty water with no lanes compared to a lovely warm, well marked, pool.  Just the taste of the ocean water and the coldness was so challenging.

I felt like a total beginner again. The fear of not seeing the bottom, is unexplainable.  We did the canals for period, got comfortable and ready for the next step— open water swimming in the real ocean.

We joined up with a group, ATB, who had weekly swims at Long Beach.  The mind can play scary tricks with you. Swimming and continuously worrying about what’s below you.

READY SET GO

Taking on Triathlons:

                  1.              2019 Blue Lagoon Sprint tri

                  2.              2020 /23 Blue Lagoon Standard tri x 3

                  3.              2023 Cape Town Tri

                  4.              2022 Ironman 70.3 Durban

                  5.              2023 Ironman 70.3 PE

                  6.              2023 Ironman 70.3 Nice

                  7.              2023 Ironman 70.3 Mosselbay

                  8.              2024 Ironman Full PE - DNF

                  9.              2024 Ironman Full Copenhagen - FINISHED!!!

Goal achieved: Final completion of a Full Ironman race in Copenhagen 18 August 2024

                  1.              3.8km swim

                  2.              180km cycle

                  3.              42km run

Had many failures on route , but always kept the end goal in sight.

Built lasting friends on this wonderful journey.  Shukran to each one of you for making my dreams come true.

Special thanks to AZ, pushing me like hell, but made my achievements possible.

Could not have done this journey without the support of my wife, Fay, Yaaseen and Amaan.  Shukran for always being there for me, supporting, always there to inspire me, believing in me; having a constant supply of anti-inflammatory available.

“Your body drives you to the finish line, but your mind makes you cross it”

Anything is possible!

Don’t give up on your dreams