Kaustubh Radkar from Pune took 3 hours and 15 minutes less time than Milind Soman!
Recently, the internet went gaga over actor Milind Soman who completed the Florida Ultraman race over a course of three days. The 517.5 km race was divided into swimming, cycling and running and is the ultimate test of human endurance and while no one should take away what Milind Soman achievend let’s not forget the man who really finished ahead – Kaustubh Radkar.
The man from Pune was the fastest Indian at the event, completing the 10 km swim, 423 km bike ride and 84 km run within 31 hours, 29 minutes and 59 seconds. To put his achievement into context, it took the extremely fit Milind Soman 34 hours and 46 minutes which is 3 hours and 17 minutes more.
The Ironman consists of a 2.4 miles (3.8 km) swim followed by 112 miles of cycling (180 km) and running a full marathon which is 26.2 miles (42.6 km). Kaustubh Radkar has completed 16 ironman competitions so far.
In many ways, Radkar is an insanely talented individual. He was a national-level swimmer, who represented India at the Asia-Pacific Championships in swimming. He completed his PhD in Sport Administration while working in John Hopkin’s Hospital, Baltimore, USA. Kaustubh has worked as a cardiovascular medicine specialist for the last seven years and has been competing for the World Iron Man title since 2008. He has completed full marathons in New York before taking up the Ironman races.
As of now, Kaustubh Radkar is one of India’s elite athletes. A former Indian swimming national champion, he started swimming at the age of 9 and then went on to win medals for Pune, Maharashtra and his University. He has also represented India in several Asia-Pacific Swimming Championships.
The poster boy of IRONMAN in India, he finished his first race in Arizona in 2008 with a smashing time of 11 hrs 41 mins and 36 secs, the fastest debut for an Indian. After that he set his sights to finish an Ironman on all 6 continents and achieved this goal on March 29th, 2015 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Kaustubh is the first and only Indian to be an Ironman Certified Coach (Oct 2015), his Tri team RadStrong Tri is the only Tri team from India to be accepted by Ironman.
Kaustubh wants to give back to the sport he got so much from and that is the reason besides regular coaching for amateur, elite as well as professional triathletes, he offers a short format skill sharpening clinic “Train with Kau” based on his own experience of racing and training, to help Triathletes become better.
Other than Radkar there were four other Indians who also completed Ultraman at Orlando. They are Prithviraj Patil 31 minutes and 34 seconds, Manmad Rebba 31 hours and 42 minutes, Milind Soman 34 hours and 46 minutes and Abhishek with a timing of 34 hours and 51 minutes.
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