"Ankush Bhargava You Are An Ironman" blasted the speaker over and above the loud music at the Finish Line of Ironman New Zealand 2025 (IMNZ-2025) at Taupo! The sweetest six words ever! It couldn't have been more thrilling than this.
"Well done, well done, Son! Superb," is all I could say! He completed the gruelling Ironman 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike and 42.2 km run in 15 hours 57 minutes! No mean feat. See the short video clip below.
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Ankush is now an Ironman!
Two years of even more gruelling workouts and practice (and missing out on an event in Talin in 2024 due to visa challenges). 5AM onwards every day. Even earlier on the weekends.
Every week, 150-200 kms of swim, bike, run besides strength training. All this along with his job and parenting tasks (his spouse Prabs has been away setting up her venture in Hyderabad). That is Ankush for you at 46 years of young age!
After the finish, his reaction: "It was a different experience" with teary eyes!
Starting the swim at 8 am in Lake Taupo, he crossed the finish line three minutes before mid night! Most of us can't even walk for 16 hours at a stretch leave alone swim, bike and run consecutively! But Ironman athletes are a tougher variety. They keep going.
Near Miss
Ironman (IM) athletes don't give up even after accidents or injuries. Of course, IM athletes receive God's blessings for their persistent hard work. As the Hindi couplet by Sant Kabir Das goes:
जा को राखे साइयां मार सकै ना कोए
बाल न बांका कर सकै जो जग बैरी होए
Roughly translated it means that one who is sheltered by God, can not be harmed in any way even if the whole world goes against him. We are grateful to God for sheltering and protecting Ankush from all harms. Sharing few incidents both before and after the IM event.
Hit by a Motorbike in Chennai
While preparing for the Ironman, Ankush was doing a long ride on the East Coast Road in Chennai on a Sunday morning. He does it regularly to build up endurance. One day a group of motor-bikers were overtaking him. One of them who was doing a wheely, crashed his motorbike on Ankush. He got injured with a hole on his elbow. He lay bleeding on the road and was helped by a rider passing by. Later my grandson Ansh brought him home. The injury meant loss of few months of workouts. The wound took few months to heal (still healing 8 months after the accident!). God only saved him. But it also gave the ladies in the family an opportunity to dissuade Ankush from participating in such 'dangerous' sport. I had to step in and convince everyone that accidents can happen anywhere. Therefore, we must let Ankush continue.
The Night Before IM
Like any athlete before a major competition, Ankush too had anxiety the night before the race. After an early dinner, both of us hit the bed. After two hours of tossing and turning, Ankush woke me up saying he can't sleep. During Ironman Malaysia too he couldn't sleep the whole night. Result- he couldn't finish the race. Sleep is most important before a day long endurance event like this.
I tried calming him down and also gave one tab each of Dolo and Citrazine. Prayers to God also helped. He managed to catch 4.5 hrs of sleep. Ready to go the next morning.
So, for a Dad there is never a dull moment.
Swimmer's Kick on the Face
Mass start of the swim in deep waters is a melee. During the transition briefing a day before, it was cautioned 'Keep clear of the crowd during the start. You don't want to be in a washing machine with 1000 swimmers!' That is precisely what happened with Ankush. He got an accidental kick on his face during the start. It dazzled him. He was gasping for air and gulped some water. Still disoriented, it took him a while to regain his composure. Result: He went off track and lost a couple of minutes in the starting itself!
Sharing a few pictures of Haka, the Maori dancers who came in a boat and Ankush swimming at a distance.
Swim Tracker Halts
We came to know of his 'deadly' start of the swim later. However, more drama was unfolding earlier. After about an hour of the swim, Ankush's tracker stopped on IMNZ App. It didn't move at all for next 20 minutes or so. A stationary tracker signifies a race abort due to injury etc. Such unpleasant thoughts started flooding our mind. Prabs and Ashi too observed it in India and USA respectively. I then rang up IMNZ number which was busy. Sent an email requesting them to confirm all was well. By then more than 30 minutes had elapsed. Another call. The person answered saying sometimes the tracker chip worn by the athlete may have got stuck or malfunctioned. Still we requested him to check with the teams at the swim site. After a minute or so he called back to confirm that none of the athletes appeared stuck or otherwise. The tracker was still stuck close to the finish line for 40 minutes now. I requested him to once again confirm that all was well with Bib No. 793. After two minutes we saw the tracker moving magically. Same time he called back to confirm that Ankush was nearing the swim exit and moving towards bike transition. Similar confirmation came on email. It was such a big relief. We all know that we should remain positive at all times, but at such junctures negative thoughts sprout like giant mushrooms and cloud our thinking. We appreciate the prompt response of IMNZ teams.
Bike Crash
Ankush was riding the bike steadily through the countryside. In his words, "The countryside is so beautiful with hundreds of cows in adjoining fields. One cow spotted me and all others turned their faces together. It gave its call 'Baunn baunn' as if saying 'all the best' to me". As announced earlier, at any Aid Station, the riders could discharge their gel packets, bottles and other trash in wide trash bins while riding. While discharging an empty water bottle and other trash with one hand, he lost balance and tumbled near the 57th km ais station. He crashed on the road. With bruised right thigh, left rib cage and a cracked carbon handle bar, he was moved by the volunteers to the Aid Station. Equipped with a para-medic, bike mechanic and IM Staff they said "We can't allow you to continue the race with a cracked handle bar." Mercifully the para medic cleared him. With Ankush's reasoning that he will be riding more on the aero bars and not on the handle bar, they agreed for him to continue the race. But his handle bar was taped up around the crack. He lost 15 minutes or so. Our IM tracker app showed no movement. But we did not know that he had a crash. Once again, God saved him. He pressed on. No pictures of the crash, just memories! Once again God saved him from being severely injured and being aborted from the race.
As he crossed at 84km spot, where I used to sit and cheer him, he did say 'Had a crash'! Couldn't record it but a second later as he whizzed past, I asked the volunteer whether he was aware of any crash uphill. He said he also heard the biker say it. Then he added "But he looked fine" and I nodded. We let it be. See the last part of the video clip below.
What Ankush's Son Said
[01/03, 22:54 New Zealand time] Ansh Bhargava (Final year of undergrad in Chennai): Crazy man he is, I slept woke up, ate, ran a 5k, played tennis, slept again and he's still at it😭😭
[01/03, 22:54] Ansh Bhargava: Insane
[01/03, 22:57] Harsh Bhargava (Grand dad in New Zealand with Ankush): Not insane, but passionate 👍
[01/03, 23:00] Ansh Bhargava: Insanely passionate!!
The Medal
A metallic medal so beautifully designed was awarded to all IMNZ25 finishers within the cut off time of 17 hours. The medal could be engraved with the name and time taken by the Ironman for swim, bike and run. See the pictures of the medal of both sides. First picture is taken against the blue sky, a characteristic of Taupo and New Zealand.
We all in the family are so thrilled on Ankush's achievement. He has made us all proud.
On a personal front, it was a challenging outing for me. My brother who had been operated for cancer developed sepsis and was in critical condition when I left Jaipur on 20th Feb. He passed away while I was in New Zealand. I could neither perform his last rites nor attend the Tiye ki Baithak (3rd day rituals after the demise) in Jaipur. But my presence here in New Zealand and Ankush's success as an Ironman, gave me some kind of solace. Thank you God for giving me the strength to cope with the situation.
Those of you wanting to know more about Ironman, please browse our curtain raiser linked below:
Before we close, a special round of applause for the entire org team of IMNZ-2025 including the volunteers and the people of Taupo who came in large numbers to cheer the bikers and the runners. They had pitched their tents with chairs, barbecue and all, to cheer the runners along the lake, late into the night on Saturday 1st March.
