When The Buoy Dunked An Ironman

Four broken ribs during the bike crash in Ironman NZ in March 2025. No workouts for six weeks.

Injured knees, due to over work. Laid off for another six weeks.

Despite such debilitating injuries, Ankush kept up his morale and competed in the Ironman on 23rd Aug 2025 at Tallinn Estonia. He not only competed but finished the race improving his previous timing. Details below.

Ironman NZ: 1st March 2025. 15h 57min 40 sec. Bib No. 793

Ironman Tallinn: 23rd Aug 2025. 15h 41 min 31 sec. Bib No. 645

But is wasn't a cake walk. He got dunked under a marker buoy! What? Then what happened? Read on.

Screenshot of the Ironman Tracker app after Ankush completed the race.

This demonstrates the power of human mind. His swim timing yesterday was slower by 18 minutes. He had an injured knee. But he kept going. We can't reach him at the time of writing as he has to recoup the energy in the area reserved for the athletes. No cell phones. But we asked him how did he do it?

As a family, our thrill knew no bounds. Sharing below the snapshots of our WA chat.

[03:35, 24/08/2025] Harsh Bhargava in USA: @ANKUSH ,

Superb going!

Just 4kms to go.

I know your knee is hurting, but you have demonstrated the power of human mind and spirit.

Well done Son!

So proud of you 👏

[03:58, 24/08/2025] Ashi in USA: You got this Ankush! Last 2.5 kms. Amazing!!!!!

[04:05, 24/08/2025] Harsh Bhargava: Never mind Son.

I can see you are walking the last 2 kms in pain. But you are nearly there. May be faster than your previous best of 15h 57minutes! (Ed: And he did it!)

Go Son go!👏

[04:08, 24/08/2025] Ashi: Wow!!!

[04:08, 24/08/2025] Ashi: Congratulations Ankush!!!!

[04:08, 24/08/2025] Ashi: 👏👏👏👏

[04:08, 24/08/2025] Ankur: Amazing 👏👏👏👏

[04:09, 24/08/2025] Harsh Bhargava: Bravo Son 👏👏

[04:31, 24/08/2025] Prabhjoth in Chennai India: Done! Yay

From the above time stamp you can see that the race started on 23rd and ended on 24th Aug. Ironman needs not just training for endurance and stamina but also perseverance and determination. Ankush has proven it many times over. You may browse his story of the 1st Ironman, injuries before and the bike crash during the race.

Ankush Does IT - The Ironman - story of grit and determination backed by passionate zeal.

What is Ironman

You may browse our story linked below

Ironman New Zealand A Curtain Raiser - Get a feel of the Ironman preparations, venue and the race.

Coming back to Ironman Tallinn, Ankush shared that the swim start where due to hundreds of swimmers cramming for space and excessive turbulence, he got disoriented. In addition, the water was freezing cold. Sharing below Ankush's post a few hours after race completion:

[05:55, 24/08/2025] ANKUSH in Tallinn Estonia: Nah, the knee held up...minor pain from 21st km onwards so I slowed down to conserve. Else a pretty decent run. 5h30 for a post 180 bike...I was happy with that.

[05:57, 24/08/2025] ANKUSH: Swim was a disaster...the cold just froze me...I couldn't settle at all in the first 1900m lap. Took help of the kayaks to hold and rest. Plus I can't adjust to hundreds of swimmers. The second lap...I was left behind and it was so peaceful. Did that leg non stop

[05:59, 24/08/2025] ANKUSH: That grit and all came during the swim. Twice they asked me if I want to abort...I was barely able to move....dig deep into all the prep that went into all this

[05:59, 24/08/2025] Harsh Bhargava: Super 👍

[06:00, 24/08/2025] ANKUSH: My glasses fogged up...couldn't even figure out where to sight the buoys....was swimming all over the place.

Thereafter, when we spoke he revealed that due to disorientation, he nearly collided with the marker Buoy. As a result, he went under water and the buoy wouldn't let him surface as if something was holding him down. After a while, which seemed eons, he popped up and gasped for fresh air. Once he regained his composure, he swam the remaining 1.9 kms in less than 50 minutes. Only five swimmers were left to complete the swim. The swim cut off of 2h 20 minutes lurked in his mind. But he made to the swim finish line in 2h 04 min. Swim to bike transition took 18 minutes. Removing the skin tight wet suit took time.

The Medal

Here is a picture of the engraved medal awarded after completing the Ironman well within the stipulated time. Congratulations Ankush again.

See the video shot by Saif, his companion. Ankush can be seen at the bike transition i.e. changing from the wet suit to the  biking gear. Tallinn was so cold that the race had to be deferred by more than three hours!

There were close to 70 participants from India for the Ironman and 70.3 (the half Ironman) events. Ankush met up with a few of them. See the picture below with a fitness celebrity couple:

On the same day another story was unfolding in India. Ankush's wife Prabs and daughter Anuva were participating in the Chennai Marathon. They both completed their respective sections. See the pictures below. A true adventure loving family.

We thank all the readers for their congratulatory messages, mails and calls. Your blessings and support did it!

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with inputs from Ankush Bhargava/ Tallinn and California/ 24th Aug 2025

#Ironman #Grit #Determination #Triathlon #Perseverance #endurancesport #NeverEverGiveUp #Tallinn #Estonia #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh

Wimbledon-22 Beyond Tennis

Is Wimbledon all about tennis? Or, is it beyond tennis? While watching the men's final at Wimbledon-22 last evening, I felt that it went much beyond tennis! It transcended the boundaries of human behaviour, communication, role of a teacher and team work. How? Read on.

Novak Djokovic (Joko in short) won his 4th straight men's singles title and 7th overall defeating Nick Kyrgios (Nik in short). Great feat. But the match which lasted over three hours, had many lessons for all of us. Now some of you may comment 'Do you see life-lessons in everything? Plants, trees, insects, birds, animals, movies and even a tennis match?' Well, perhaps yes! But you can agree or disagree after reading this short story.

We can learn some life-lessons even from structures like a lighthouse. Our story 'Lighthouses and Human Beings' may interest you.

Team Work and Teachers

Though tennis singles is regarded as an individual pursuit, but every single player after winning the title gives credit to his or her 'team'. But what does this 'team' mean in a singles match? The team refers to the coaches, fitness trainers, physios, psychologists and others who help a player to become a champion. Those who watched the match, would recall that the first bear hug which Joko gave after winning the title was to his 'team' in the players box. He hugged, shook hands warmly and thanked each of his team members first. Only then he went to share his joy with his family. This also reinforces an old Hindi couplet गुरु गोविन्द दोऊं खड़े, काके लागूं पाय। बलिहारी गुरु आपने, गोविन्द दियो बताय। It explains the dilemma of a learner who on seeing both the God as well as his teacher, asks himself to whom should he pay his respects first? The God or the teacher? He chooses the teacher because it is the teacher who has explained to him what God is! So, teacher first even on a tennis court!

Positivity Pays

Positive reinforcement goes a long way in motivating human beings. This was so well brought out during the match. Joko's team kept applauding every point that he won. And more importantly, they gestured 'never mind' when Joko lost a point. On the contrary, there appeared to be a communication breakdown between Nik and his team. Primarily because Nik shouted and swore at his team many times during the match. How can an individual remain motivated with such an agitated and negative state of mind.

Emotional Stability

Joko's focus and emotional strength prevailed when he overcame the first set loss to Nik. Even though Nik continued to fire aces, he kept his cool. On the other hand, Nik showed his frustration and anger many times on the court. He demanded that a fan be removed from the crowd for distracting him in his serve. Quoting AFP, 'His afternoon threatened to unravel completely when he was broken from 40-0 up in his ninth game, fuming and swearing loudly at his team in the player's box'. Emotional stability of a player is the key when faced with adversity whether it is tennis or golf. Readers may browse our earlier story titled 'Golf and Yoga' which brings out the power of concentration. Joko gave a live demonstration of how to remain focused.

Sporting Spirit

On more than one occasion, Joko appreciated his opponent's winning point. It reflected his true sporting spirit. Even after the match during the presentation ceremony, he praised Nik. Nik in his speech had said he wasn't sure if he would be back at Wimbledon next time. Joko in his speech encouraged him 'Nik, you will be back!' In fact, Nik said that Joko was "a bit of God". Their body language, gestures and comments on each other spoke of good sporting spirit despite their frosty relationship on the social media earlier. See the pictures below.

Communication

After the match, Joko while conversing with the Royal Highness in the Member's Hall showed great conversational ability. He enquired about their young son's interest in tennis and how she felt as a parent seeing the child play. It was an instantaneous connect. Similarly, the way he credited his father when he was a five-year young child aspiring to learn tennis, touched many hearts. His ability to communicate so effectively with people, is another winning stroke. All of us need to reinforce the power of good communication in our lives- be it as a student, teacher, parent, working professional or a leader. You may like to browse our earlier post titled 'Communication is Existence'.

So much for the take-aways from a tennis match. Do share if you would like to add a point or two. Life means continuous learning. Even the teachers keep learning as brought out in our story 'A Teacher Keeps Learning'. The day we stop learning, life comes to a halt! See Ghumakkad's logo below.

Happy learning and thanks for browsing.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad/ 11th July, 2022

#wimbledon #beyondtennis #menssingles #teamsandteachers #focus #patience #emotionalstability #communication #sportingspirit #perseverance #overcomingadversity #djokovic #kyrgios #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh

Life is all About Balance

Who doesn't experience ups and downs in life?

It is our ability to maintain the balance through these ups and downs which sees us through.

Health, career, family, friends, relationships- all throw challenges at us. Can we be like the proverbial rock? Steady and unmoved despite life's trials and tribulations?

Nature gives us the strength. All we need to do is observe Nature's creations around us. Changing seasons, tides on a beach, seed-sapling-plant-flowers-back-to-seeds, rock formations- tell us to persevere. 

Here are some of our stories on maintaining the balance in our life.

Hiking to Rediscover Yourself - hikers from 7 to 70 years together!

Boulders Speak - How MBA students love adventure? Boulders and obstacles- learn to climb one at a time.

Taming the 2nd Wave with your Mind - Derive strength from Nature. Corona too shall pass.

Never Say Die- Learning from an uprooted tree

Lessons from A Forest - many lessons for life as a Business professional or otherwise!

Balancing Rocks

Our picture of balancing rocks near Secunderabad in India, attracted more than 200 readers. The captions contest received 33 entries listed below.

Sl.	Name	Caption for KBG-60 Contest
1	Prabhat Jindal	Nature's Beauty in its own way
2	GR Sreenivasan	Symbolizes primordial principle of eternal balance as found  in nature.
3	Bharat Ladha	Balance- the true management of life.
4	Rashmi Bhargava	Life is all about balance
5	NK Potti	I am patthar, khada on patthar. Tej hava aying. Naa hilloing na jhilloing. Jaise theyy.
6	BC Jayaprakash	FAMILY FROZEN IN TIME. Right side appears to be a man and the left a woman carrying a child on her lap.
7	Usha Balagopal	Sentinel… I am watching!
8	Shashi Kant Mundra	हम दो हमारे दो
9	Anon1	Dil maange more!
10	R@P	Pious soul undisturbed and unmoved by ever-rising waves. .......
11	Anon2	Head above shoulders, I stand tall!
12	Veeky Baths	Life is all about Balance!
13	Rekha Bhargava	कभी ऊपर कभी नीचे कभी झूला कभी चट्टान आशय सिर्फ़ एक है संतुलन जीवन की पहचान ।
14	Ajai Bhumri	तबला बजे दीन दीन और 1 के ऊपर तीन तीन
15	Amandeep Kaur	Rock n roll 🤭
16	Ajai Bhumri	Balancing is an art, more you practice easy it becomes .
17	Avinash Tiwari	Mian bibi picnic par.
18	Sujata Das	Life is a matter of balance.
19	Narendra Soni	पलकों की ठंडी सेज पर सपनों की परियां सोती हैं ऐसी भी बातें होती हैं, कुछ ऐसी भी बातें होती हैं
20	Vinod Dhanuka	Tiny and Big
21	Vinod Dhanuka	Tinake Ka Sahara
22	Manju Khetan	एकांत मे स्वतंत्रता है।
23	Ritu Bhargava	Life is a balance between inner peace, happiness and sorrow.
24	Poonam Bhargava	Wish we could also balance the boulders of our life so well!
25	Nidhi Bhargava	Balancing is an act, a tact & a fact of a beautiful life
26	Ranajit Sen	Nature's feat
27	Rajendra Singh	We are joint family. No force on earth can separate us.
28	Anon-3	The rock formation here strongly resembles a seated mother and child figure. So my caption is, "Mother & Child".
29	Mukul Bhargava	I rock!
30	Vinay Prasad	Balance your mind! You will need no support!
31	GB Sethi	Nature the Great Sculptor.
32	Radhika Sareen	When a Family is rock solid...
33	Vaibhav Gupta	Every rock plays a vital role to stand so tall...

Winners

The Jury has selected four winning captions. We are delighted to introduce the winners along with their creative captions. Congratulations to all the winners of KBG-60, the 60th edition of Kaun Banega Ghumakkad online caption contest.

Bharat Ladha: Bharat has won the KBG Caption Contest earlier too. An engineer from BITS Pilani, he lives in Vidisha MP in the lap of Nature. His caption 'Balance- the true management of life', was matter-of-factly!

Nand Kumar Potti: An alumnus of NIT Trichy, Potti is a former Commander of Indian Navy. Known for being a hands-on marine engineer, he made a mark wherever he worked. His youthful caption was appreciated by the Jury.

Ajai Bhumri: Ajai lives in Canada and loves to paint. An engineer from IIT Roorkee, he was an ace rower and sportsman. His rhythmic caption in Hindi conveys the multiple layers of rocks balancing each other! Ajai has won the KBG contests earlier too.

Nidhi Bhargava: Nidhi is no stranger to KBG readers. She creates designs with paper, jute, cloth or anything reusable. An environmentalist, she loves to be with Nature. Her caption conveys the importance of balance in our lives.

Once again, we thank all the participants and congratulate the winners. Your support has kept the KBG Contest going!

We also thank both the Jury members Manik Srivastava and Neeta Bhargava for their continued support to KBG Contests.

Talking of balance, life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving! See the PQ of school children going to school on bicycles in Pilani India.

We end the story with a quotation by Sogyal Rinpoche who said that 'The key to  finding a happy balance in modern life is simplicity.' We have created a PQ- picturesque quote- using the picture of an Ajwain leaf in our garden in Secunderabad.

Nature's slideshow continues to cheer us! You just have to view it by putting your cellphones or devices away for a while.

Thanks for browsing.

Hope we have helped you to maintain balance in your life!

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/21st July 2021

#hiking #balance #nature #rocks #boulders #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #KBG #kaunbanegaghumakkad #onlinecontest #beatthecorona #lockdown #takeabreak #captions #life #craetivecaptions #pqs #picturesquequotations #naturetheteacher #learningthroughpictures #hyderabad #ghanapurhills #perseverance #keepgoing