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For over a decade, Prabhakaran M was married to basketball. Then one day, the affair came to an abrupt end when he picked up a knee injury. The work life took over in the next few years and time came at a premium, even as he longed to get back to the outdoors someday.
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The first opportunity arrived on a hike with the Chennai Trekking Club with the dodgy knee at the back of his mind. When he heard that the same gang also organised two triathlons each year, he decided to give it a go. The first one came in 2011, and though Prabhakaran doggie paddled his way through the swimming leg, the joy of making the finish line was unmatched. He soon became a student of the sport, reading material written by experts, experimenting with them during training and along the way, learning from his own mistakes. Even after he moved base to Gurugram, he continued training in all three disciplines and start getting better in triathlons held across the country.
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The first international stint took him to the Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya in 2016; the following year, he survived a crash on the cycling leg to make the finish of Ironman Malaysia. While choosing to focus on the shorter distances there on, Prabhakaran also decided to infect others with the same fervour that drives him on. He co-founded the Performance Tri Club and also started a YouTube channel, Triathlon India Network, to create awareness around the sport and help it grow in India.
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