Many Maltese know Victor Calvagna for his work in cancer therapy, especially for children. Puttinu Cares, the charity that raises funds to support families of children with cancer, kicked off thanks to Dr Calvagna and his team. We had met several times in relation to his work. A few weeks ago, we met up for a completely different reason. Victor and two of his greatest friends, Mark and Robert, are now officially Ironmen, having completed a challenge in Barcelona last May.
An Ironman Challenge is a tough physical activity which includes long swims, bike rides and runs. For 59-year old Victor, in spite of his busy weekly schedule, exercise is part and parcel of his day. "I train regularly, not only for the physical benefits that exercise gives, but also mentally," he explains. "Exercise helps me relax and clear my thoughts."
His two training buddies, Mark and Robert, are also two very busy men. Mark, 45, is a high ranking army officer while Robert manages a business. "We got to know each other through exercise,'"says Mark, who first met Victor way back in 2010 when they both participated in Life Cycle, an annual fundraising event.
"It was a great experience through which we found each other and from then on we have never stopped training together," explains Mark, a cycling enthusiast. Apart from taking bike rides together, Mark and Victor started swimming regularly at the national pool where they met Robert. Robert is more into trail running, which means running along trails for long distances. He can easily be described as an 'ultra-marathoner' since he runs for distances which go beyond the traditional 42km marathon distance.
It was Mark's idea for the three of them to aim to become Ironmen. "We set a target event and immediately started training for it under the guidance of coach Kevin Zammit who co-ordinated all our training, and coach Marthese Fava who took care of our swimming training," says Victor. They started training hard last September and aimed to take part in an Ironman Challenge in Barcelona last May. Eight months of hard work, demanding training, exhaustion, and, above all, great determination.
"For these last eight months, we trained for around fourteen hours a week. Each one of us had his preferred area, but the way the training programme was set, we started to improve and do personal bests in all three areas," says Robert. In the coming months he will hit the trails in a 100km ultra-marathon in the Mont Blanc area. That's an impressive feat, especially considering all three men have demanding careers, family commitments and do long-duration training.
"It is not easy for sure, but being in the army I have always lived in a disciplined environment," Mark says. "To adapt to this hard training was not that difficult for me. To manage time effectively was not a piece of cake. At times, work commitments clashed with training periods and I ended up juggling my days to try and fit in everything."
Mark was the first of the three friends to finish the Ironman Challenge in Barcelona. He did it in six and a half hours. The build-up to this event was very well organised and the three of them managed to keep up with the hard training. Unfortunately, mishaps do happen. Mark tore his calf muscle and rehabilitation took around two months. Then he became unwell.
"Once I hit the road and the sea again, I was sick twice in the last month before the challenge," he says. "I had to take two courses of antibiotics which affected my fitness a bit. But my determination and will-power were stronger. I was adamant that I would be on that start line.
From the conversation with these three Ironmen, it is evident that the greatest challenge of all is the training, the build-up to the event. "I was always into running, but was not my forte," Robert says. The Ironman training experience made Robert psychologically stronger: "I feel that nothing scares me anymore. I know that I can get somewhere through determination and hard work."
Our conversation shifts to the actual challenge in Barcelona last May. "It included a 2km swim in open sea, a 90km bike ride and a half marathon of 21Km, all in that order," explains Victor. The three friends arrived in Barcelona around four days before the event to get used to the place and to complete pre-event arrangements such as registration and bicycle setting. The weather was not very welcoming and the sea was quite, but luck was on their side. On the day of the challenge, the 21st of May, the weather was ideal.
"The day before, I was overcome by fear," Robert says. "I panicked and felt that I would not make it to the starting line." With Victor's and Mark's encouragement, Robert overcame his fear and, on the day of the challenge, he was right there at the starting line, one of 2200 participants from all over the world.
"The secret to it all is that you don't think about the event as a whole, but take it part by part," explains Mark. Robert took his friend's advice. While swimming, he moved from buoy to buoy, trying to avoid the crowds getting into his space and focusing on reaching the 2km mark.
The bicycle ride was particularly difficult as they were not familiar with the route and yet, they had to pace themselves, controlling how hard to push, and where and how much to accelerate. All three saw that the run was the best part of the whole challenge.
"Our names were printed next to our numbers, and it was great to hear strangers calling out our names while we ran," Victor says. A question I had looked forward to asking was related to their thoughts as soon as they crossed the finish line and officially became Ironmen. Surely there was a sense of achievement?
"It was a sort of an anti-climax," says Victor. "You'd have trained for so long, you knew now that you are an Ironman, but then ask yourself the question: ok what's next?" As soon as the Barcelona challenge was over, all three started thinking of the next one. "You feel satisfied and you only have words of thanks to your coaches. We're also grateful to our families who supported us throughout and put up with the emotional changes caused by hard training and its resulting fatigue," says Mark. "Balancing family, work and training is not easy, but having people who back you makes it much easier. For this, I am truly grateful," Robert adds.
So what is the next challenge for these three Ironmen? "We're aiming to do a full Ironman Challenge in a year's time," Victor says. "We have already started training for it, adding to our other commitments." Well, that's impressive and it's a good lesson learned. The secret to success in physical activity can be summarised in just three words: determination, support and time-management. That's something to keep in mind whether you aim to become an Ironman or Ironwoman or start an exercise programme for a healthier future.