Mikel Ugarte achieved this past weekend what every long-distance triathlete craves: to qualify for the IRONMAN World Championship.
He did it in IRONMAN South Africa, in a test won by Matthew Maqcuart and in which Ugarte finished fourth, achieving the last of the slots available in the men's category.
"The day started very well," recalls the Basque. The sea was in turmoil and the organization modified the route to two laps to complete the distance. Ugarte came out of the water in eighth place, a solid start that allowed him to make the transition without having burned too many matches.
The cycling segment, the most complicated of the three
"I took the bike hard because I hadn't spent much swimming either," he says. But the first kilometers lowered him from the cloud: "I already started passing people at a fairly high speed, which honestly even if I tried I could not follow them."
Seeing how the rivals overtook him without being able to answer made him rethink the race on the fly. Doubts began to creep in: was it going too slow? Had I miscalculated the effort?
The Orca ambassador decided not to enter the rag. “I stuck to the plan and stayed on my numbers.” No chasing impossible wheels or bursting the wattmeter out of pride. The strategy kept him in the race, although mentally he had already discarded Kona. “The head wasn't thinking about the slot anymore, because I honestly thought it was far, far away.”
The great comeback, in the foot race
Oñati's came to T2 with a more modest objective: "Try to advance as many positions as possible." He started the marathon with a demanding pace, not knowing that that pace would take him straight to Hawaii. Kilometer by kilometer he hunted rivals. When he reached fourth place, he realized: "From the moment I put myself in fourth place, I had the place already."
But the fear didn't go away. "I was waiting for the downturn that has come to me in many IRONMANs." Ugarte knows that feeling well: the legs that weigh like lead, the brain that asks you to stop, the clock that slows down. This time, however, the downturn never came. He crossed the finish line in fourth place, surprised by his own performance. "A very, very big surprise to finish fourth," he acknowledges, aware of the level of the rivals and the
“I already have my slot for Kona. I'm very happy, very, very happy," he celebrates as soon as he finishes. The ticket for the October World Cup is in his pocket, although Ugarte knows there is work to be done.
"Now let's enjoy a few days. Assimilate a little also what happened," he reflects, without forgetting that cycling left him with doubts that he will have to resolve before stepping on the Hawaiian lava.
The 226ers have shown that knowing how to manage a race when things don't go according to plan can be more valuable than being overpowered. He kept a cool head when others would have panicked, respected his numbers when the temptation was to squeeze harder, and knew how to read the race to attack at just the right moment. That tactical savvy, combined with a solid marathon, has gotten him where he wanted to be.