If you believe in yourself, anything is possible. Niket Dalal, a visually impaired athlete who is attempting Ironman 70.3 in Dubai on February 7, has never allowed his disability to stop him from racing to his dreams. This week, the Aurangabad-based athlete, who is associated with Adventures Beyond Barriers Foundation (ABBF), is all charged up to show the world that no human is limited.
Dalal, who is a professional speech therapist, will be taking part in Ironman 70.3, which is a half triathlon distance and includes swimming (1.9km), biking (90km) and running (21.1km) — all to be done under 8hrs 30 mins. Dalal will be assisted by his sighted ally Arham Shaikh.
A state level swimmer, Dalal has participated and successfully completed a few sea swimming competitions. He took up cycling as a sport last year.
One of the fastest ultracyclists in the country, Pune-based Shaikh has many national records and also successfully finished RAAM (Race Across America) in 2019 as part of an international team. Shaikh, who holds a Masters in Computer Science from Pune University, is an assistant coach at PowerPeaks.
Dalal’s dream is to be the first visually impaired Indian to complete an Ironman. To work towards his goal, he approached PowerPeaks, which was already preparing a team of 15 athletes for Dubai Ironman. Dalal asked if he could train with the team and join them for the race. Soon, he was on board.
Chaitanya Velhal, founder and head coach of PowerPeaks — The Athlete Lab, who has been training Dalal, holds a Masters degree in Biomechanics from Australia. The kind of precision and structured training he offers to athletes gives him an edge over others. That said, coaching Dalal required a different approach. “It has taken a lot of detailed training plans, endurance fitness assessments, specialised bike fits, diet and strategy planning to bring him to the level of training required to achieve this mammoth goal,” says Velhal.
Velhal shares more about his incredible journey with Dalal and his precision training:
Was Dalal visually impaired at birth or did it occur at a later stage?
Niket wasn’t blind at birth, he lost his sight nearly five years ago due to glaucoma.
What made him venture into sports?
Niket always liked challenges. After losing sight, he ventured into what he did best, swimming. Slowly and steadily, he gathered confidence and interest and started venturing into other sports as well. He may have lost his sight but not his vision! He wants to break barriers.
How has been his association with Adventures Beyond Barriers Foundation (ABBF)?
He has been associated with ABBF since the beginning of last year and he did a 200km BRM with ABBF and PowerPeaks Athlete Lab which kickstarted his journey in cycling. He also completed the Manali to Khardung La Cycling Expedition with ABBF in August 2019.
Dalal is a good swimmer. How strong are his cycling and running skills?
Triathlon is a single sport that needs skills and strength in all three disciplines. His swimming skills helped us a lot, as we didn’t have to start from scratch. But the last five months have been hard in terms of training, for Niket and me as a coach. He was comparatively weaker in cycling and running and when we started five months back we were not able to meet the swim cut off required by Ironman (1hr 10 min for 1.9 km swim). We did a lot of assessments and worked on his weaknesses and systematically started to tackle them. Now after training, Niket has finished three 70.3 distance triathlons, one sprint triathlon and one Olympic distance triathlon, some of them were TriCamps conducted by PowerPeaks. And the 70.3 distances were finished well in cutoff by Ironman time rules and hence we are very confident of finishing strong in Dubai.
As Dalal’s sighted ally, what kind of guidance and support has Shaikh been offering?
As his pilot, Arham had to first sensitise himself to be around Niket, to understand the complexities of communication without sight. He has to be very precise in his verbal cues. Along with it, he himself has to be in great shape so as to push and motivate Niket whenever needed. They have spent countless hours practising together.
He executes everything that’s planned for Niket as part of his training schedule. He takes care of everything that happens on ground and has helped Niket learn the small nitty-gritties of triathlons. And it’s not just about training but Arham is also responsibly handling logistics like the bike, transitions, pre and post race formalities etc.
Why did you decide to train Dalal?
For me, sport, training and coaching is more than a business. It’s a passion thoroughly nurtured since childhood. The love for teaching and my knack for science and biology helped me excel at my sport as I combined science with my training. The community, in general, helped me a lot to set up my academy when I left a well paying job, hence I long to give back to the community. Also, when you meet people like Niket, who are so dedicated and disciplined, you want to coach them. Another reason was the challenge of it all, after teaching countless athletes to break records in cycling and triathlon, teaching Niket was a whole new ballgame. Learning to communicate with Niket, sensitising myself to the needs of the visually impaired, seeing him improve every single day was all I could ask for as a coach.
Can you share Dalal’s weekly and weekend training plans?
In the first three months of training, Niket used to execute his training plan in Aurangabad whereas the academy is based in Pune. His wife and a friend used to help in this. He used to come to Pune every single weekend for training with Arham and the team. He has been training on an average of 10-15 hours per week. Typically, Sundays were reserved for long 90 km bike rides. Mondays, rest. Tuesdays, hard day on the bike followed immediately by run. Wednesdays and Thursdays constituted of running and swimming. Friday was an easy bike or swim. Every Saturday, Niket and Arham swam in the lake to practise open water swimming as is the norm for Ironman. I would supervise sitting in a boat and checking their form and technique.
What are Dalal’s biggest strengths and what keeps him motivated?
Niket’s biggest strength is his confidence and his belief in himself. His will to achieve his aim is tremendous and doesn’t let disability come in his way. In fact, PowerPeaks and Niket are already planning a full distance Ironman (4km swim, 180km bike, 42km run), and again lead and inspire others to achieve these seemingly impossible tasks and be a champion of inclusion.
