Gaurang Ambani’s story is a celebration of the triumph of the spirit. It’s a classic story of complete transformation propelled by little more than a consuming desire and an iron will to overcome the many limits we set for ourselves in our own minds during the course of our daily lives. It’s a saga of what sheer determination and grit can achieve.
Just about a couple of years ago, Gaurang was a typical young man with a comfortable family background, well ensconced on the steady and sure road to professional success but, like many of his ethnic South Asian compatriots, paid little attention to physical fitness.
“At 93kg, I was obese for my height. My family suffers from heart disease and diabetes. One day I just decided I was going to change all that. I set out on a path making a promise to myself to never look like that again and to become fitter and healthier. I swore not to ever fall victim to either of these diseases,” Gaurang told Indian Weekender.
Early this year, Gaurang, who had never known how to swim even as late as last year or for that matter had never run anything more than a short distance let alone a Marathon and never cycled much longer than to the corner dairy achieved something that only three Indians in the whole world have.
Today Gaurang is one of only three Indians ever to have succeeded in completing the gruelling Ironman routine.
To give a little background, Ironman is a triathlon: A swim, a bike ride and a run. If that sounds simple, take a look at the length of each of these and the time limits a person must complete the routine in: the ultra distance triathlon comprises a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike and a 42.2km run to finish – which has to be finished back to back with in under 17 hours.
Ironman is an international race and takes place in many countries across the globe, New Zealand being one of them. The first Indian to complete Ironman was actually a woman – Anuradha Vaidyanathan, who did her first Ironman in China. Since then she has completed NZ Ironman also among others around the world.
This year along with Gaurang another man of Indian origin – Abhijeet Joshi, an American resident – competed in NZ Ironman. These are the only three Indians to have completed Ironman, says Gaurang.
Gaurang completed Ironman in 16 hours and 44 minutes, which is not among the fastest, timing wise but is well within the time limit allowed for the challenge.
“No, I don’t think I am the fastest Indian Ironman in the world, and quite frankly it does not bother me. A race like Ironman is not really a race when you are dealing with insane distances like this race presents. It is more a 'challenge' than a race, it is a testimony to human determination,” Gaurang said.
Overcoming huge odds
The soft spoken and self-effacing Gaurang is both humble and realistic about his achievement. “To put my time into perspective; the winner Cameron Brown finished it in just 8 hours and 20 minutes but then he has completed over 25 Ironman races in his professional career as a Triathlete,” Gaurang said.
“He did not have to learn how to swim from scratch, neither did he have to worry about going to work at 8am in the morning. He also did not have to worry about who would cook his meals after training or who would go rescue him after he had crashed off his bike about 100km away from home in the middle of nowhere.
“He also does not have a 'proper day job', Ironman is his job, he gets paid by sponsors to do it. Which is why a race like Ironman for a regular guy like me with a fulltime job, who cooks his own meals, pays his own way through training and finds his own way back home after crashing off his bike, is not a race it is a challenge.”
Two years ago, Gaurang did not know what the Ironman challenge was. Last year he could not swim – at all.
“I couldn't even float in water. I did not understand what it felt like to lose ground under my feet in water,” Gaurang said.
But that was not the only obstacle in his path. Gaurang lives in Taupo, away from the safety, comfort and love of his family based in Auckland and he had to pretty much contend with the challenge all by himself, once he decided to take it up.
“Apart from learning how to swim I faced several obstacles. I fell sick with glandular fever and suffered from chronic fatigue for three months, two of which I did no training at all,” he said.
And of course, he fell victim to New Zealand’s alarmingly growing malaise – theft: “I got robbed while I was out doing an open water swim with my training mates. My car was parked in the car park by the lakefront in Taupo, and while we were away it got stolen and it had my bicycle in it, the one I was going to use at the Ironman.
“This happened only 4 weeks out of the event in late January. Despite these obstacles I have managed to live my dream of becoming an Ironman and I am proud to say today that I am an Ironman, it took me a little longer than expected but I have finished it nevertheless within the allowed time.”
More than anything else, he is happy that he has been able to prove a point to other regular people around him that nothing is impossible. “So long as you make up your mind to do something, you can do it. I hope that makes sense,” he said.
Gaurang may not be the world’s fastest Indian and is self-admittedly none the worse for it but he is certainly among the more decorated and awarded one among other participants in the Ironman challenge. For instance, he is the first Indian in New Zealand to receive the Cameron Brown Award.
This award is given to any person who completes the following events in one sporting season: Taupo half Marathon (21km run), Round the Lake cycle challenge (160km bike ride), Kinloch Triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km ride, 10km run), Across the Lake swim (4.2km swim) and NZ Ironman. Gaurang completed all of that in a single sporting season.
Gruelling routine
Training for an Ironman is hard, especially when you have a life and a job to manage alongside, Gaurang said. “I trained anywhere between 18 - 25 hours a week. So it was pretty much like this, wake up in the morning, work, eat, work, eat, work, eat, train, eat, train, relax, sleep and do it all over again if you get my drift. I trained nearly 6 days a week 2 - 3 hours a day.
“I'd either do bike-runs where I'd go for a 30-40km bike ride during the week and after work and then go do a 7-12km run after that. Mornings would be a swim. I'd try to do as much open water swimming as I could in Lake Taupo so I'd get comfortable with swimming as that was my weakness.
“Then Saturdays I'd meet up with my training group and we'd do a 'brick session' starting with a pool swim for about an hour and a half, which included a lot of drills and a lot of laps of a 25m pool with our coach Patrick overseeing us. Then we'd follow that with a bike ride of about 35-50km and a 15-21km run. This would be a 5-6 hours a day in terms of being outside.
“Then Sundays would be a long ride. We were expected to do anywhere between 90Km (shortest ride) – 180km (longest ride), this would normally be a pretty big day. On average at least 6 hours. We did this week after, week after, week. It takes its toll after a while especially when you are not used to such high volume of work so soon.
Because Ironman training is so intense and demanding, keeping body fat on was becoming a challenge for Gaurang.
“I got to a point where I was down to about 72Kg and 10-12% body fat while training which is very low. But because I was about 93kg the year before, a sudden drop in weight was not welcomed by my body. During this time, I was on a high carb low fat and very little protein diet. I also noticed I wasn't building muscle which means I was 'wasting away' and eventually my performance started to drop even though I was so light which is a good thing when you are a triathlete.
“I fell gravely ill with glandular fever which is a viral illness caused by the EBV virus. Most people have it in their system but it lays dormant until you are really rundown and low and then it attacks. A worse case symptom of this illness is chronic fatigue. You are always tired, and your muscles are always hurting for no reason. I was doing no training whilst I was sick, so I did not have a reason to be so sore, but I was.
“Eventually I started to get better as I started identifying holes in my eating habits and started changing them. A full recovery for this illness takes anywhere between 8 months to 2 years especially when you are in chronic fatigue mode. I was back into training after 2 months. I was not fully recovered but I just had to get back as failing to achieve my goal of finishing the events I had in mind was not an option.
“I had to be very careful though with my training, getting enough rest and eating the right things. In the end I pinned it down to my eating habits and the way I was raised. As Indians our diets tend to be very high in carbs and fat but not enough protein. I was raised a vegetarian, but I had to make a choice and this is when I started eating chicken.
“I never looked back since I included chicken into my diet. It was very hard in the beginning as I had to battle a lot of morality but you have no option its either do or die. I chose to do, not die! I still have an aversion to red meat though. I don't think it is necessary to eat red meat. My diet from here on comprised a lot of protein, fat and some carbs. I was a different picture from here on.”
Family support
When he first told his mother Pratibha he was planning to do an Ironman, she gave him a blank expression, not knowing what was involved. In the following months, he remembers his mother say several times, “bas kar bhai” because she felt he was “ruining” his body. But as time went on, his parents started asking him more and more questions about how his training was going.
‘They stood by me and encouraged me throughout. I felt that they really understood and supported what I was doing. It makes a huge difference when family gets in behind you especially when you are training for an Ironman, which is a long, hard and lonely journey.”
His larger family from India joined his parents from Auckland to cheer him and complete the Ironman challenge.
The last name of this brave design engineer who works on geothermal fluid conveyance systems for a Taupo based firm in the geothermal sector, would ring many a bell not just for Indians but for people all over the world.
Yes, Gaurang is part of India’s famous Ambani family, which controls India’s largest business empire with interests in everything from petrochemicals and textiles to education healthcare, finance and investment to mobile phone networks and IT.
“My uncle Vinod Ambani who is the President of Reliance Industries in India was here to see me perform. I was very pleased,” Gaurang said. “I view him as a close family mentor.”
By way of advice to fellow Kiwi Indians Gaurang said, “I would encourage Indians in New Zealand to become more active and participate with the community at large. Triathlons is a very 'white' sport, you will not see many Indians or even people of other nationalities participate in this sport. This was the comment I heard over and over again from all my Kiwi friends not in an offensive way at all but more as congratulatory.
“Many have said we have never seen an Indian compete in Triathlons before in NZ but good on you for doing it! For that I am very proud. Simply put, IF I CAN SO CAN YOU! You can do anything so long as you make up your mind to do it. The point is to be involved in the larger community and be active and make a positive difference to your life, which will flow on to others in your life.”