Exclusive interview: Trailblazing Maharashtra policewoman on her journey from Ironman to Ultraman

Ashwini Deore, a woman police naik from Maharashtra's Nashik became the first woman cop in the state police force to complete one of the toughest competitions in the world, Ironman, that includes a series of long-distance triathlon races consisting of a swim, bicycle ride and a marathon. She is now preparing to participate in the Ultraman scheduled to be held in Florida, USA, next February. She had also participated in the Comrade Marathon held last month in South Africa.

Ashwini Deore, the wife of an Indian Army official has been practicing hard to complete the Ultraman and is struggling to meet her financial needs to make it to the competition.

In an exclusive conversation with mid-day, she said, "I am confident I can complete the Ultraman and will make my country proud once again."

Her struggle to keep going is far more than what it takes to be a champion on international soil.

An official said, "She has been still repaying the loans she had taken during her Ironman competition and the Comrade Marathon. An athlete needs to concentrate on winning and its goals. The burden of a financial crisis could hamper the athlete during practice sessions. Ashwini is an excellent athlete and a talented person and with the government's support she can do wonders."

The Ironman competition which is widely considered as one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world was completed by Ashiwini Deore even before the allotted time for completion.

She said, "It has been over 23 years of service in Maharashtra Police and I am proud to be a part of one of the best police forces in the world. My husband is an Indian Army official and we both think alike when it comes to serving the country. My goal is to do what it takes to keep the name of the country up be it in sports or serving the nation."

Narrating her journey to reach the milestones, Deore said, "I have always been a good runner, coming from a family of farmers, at a young age I used to assist my parents in farming. Those days I had a cycle and learnt my cycling skills from those days but the cycles used by the professionals are completely different and need training."

She said, "The cycle that I bought for the Ironman competition cost me around Rs 1.5 lakh and I had to take a loan to buy it since I did not have that much money."

"It was not at all easy being a mother of two young children and maintaining my professionalism as a cop in Maharashtra Police and keeping up the financial requirements to compete with top contenders from across the world," Deore said.

She recalled, "When I rode the cycle for the first time I had an accident and took a while to get used to the gears and balancing the bike. Though I was injured I could not stop myself from practicing daily to reach my goal. My children were very young then but were very supportive and helpful throughout my journey to reach and complete the Ironman competition."

Deore's two sons Veer and Shaurya-- both school going children always listened to their mother and never let their school or studies hamper despite being home alone for hours while Deore used to be out for practice. Sometimes they used to also accompany me for my practice sessions.

She told mid-day.com, "My older son was my first coach during the beginning of my journey for my first international competition. He used to search on google and watch videos on YouTube to help me in practice. Since I could not afford a personal trainer then, he used to tell me what diet to follow and how the professionals practice. Both my children always supported me during my practice sessions that required several hours of running and it kept me going even at times when I felt like quitting."

Explaining the initial stage of her hard work, Deore who is now posted at Nashik Police headquarters said, "I first learnt about IPS officers Ravindra Singhal and Krishna Prakash completing the Ironman. When I studied about the competition, at first it seemed extremely tough but I realised that what it takes to be an Ironman I had that in me except for learning to swim since that was the only thing I did not know. I needed to practice like a professional to get into the competition. So I decided to learn to swim and sometime later I mastered the trick to swim faster with the help of a mentor-- Ingle sir."

She said, "Those days my husband who deputed at Arunachal Pradesh was at home on leave and I discussed with him, he was supportive enough to let it upto me if I could manage the duty, practice and children's care at the same time. I planned a routine to continue my duty, giving my children time and decided to practice at night since it would be convenient for me."

However, it became very difficult for me during Covid-19, it was lockdown and the duty was equally important for me.

She said, "Those days the swimming pools were closed. My duty those days was at a railway station, I did not want to stop training so I would carry skipping ropes or a set of dumbbells with me and during my breaks I used to either lift dumbbells or do skipping to keep myself going."

For the competition, the challenge included 3.8 km of swimming, 180 km of biking and 42 km of running. The challenge was to be completed in less than 17 hours. However, Deore took around 14.24 hours to complete the task. It was held in Kazakhstan on August 14, a day before India celebrated Independence Day.

There were days when I had to do the duty as well as practice for the Ironman. I could not afford to skip a day's practice, hence, I used to choose a time for practice which would not affect my duty hours. On weekdays there were times when I used to practice 4-5 hours and sometimes on weekends I used to practice for almost 12 hours. During my practice, my children never interrupted me and it helped me a lot to concentrate on my workouts.

The day the competition was to be held, Deore caught fever after jumping into the pool as part of a practice session, the water was extremely cold resulting in her being unwell.

She said, "I had 102 fever when I woke up and was coughing. The competition was to begin in the wee hours and I could not sleep the whole night since this was the day for two years I had been practicing. I took medicine and left my hotel room for the competition. I remember, I was unwell but kept recalling the words of my sons 'Mom, you have to win' which gave me enough strength to keep going. There were thousands of participants in the competition. I jumped into the pool as part of the competition and was hit by someone's leg that hurt my lip and eye. However I kept going, that moment was one of the toughest for me."

After completing the swimming task as part of the competition, Deore began her cycling task.

She said, "I have loved cycling since my school days, when I first bought the professional cycle, I decided to name it Heerkali, since I did not have a professional full time coach and I used to spend 6-8 hours cycling. Heerkali helped me all the way to make it to the competition and to complete the Iron man way before the time allotted for the completion of the competition."

After I realised I had completed the Ironman I broke into tears and kept weeping. I was so happy that after all the struggle I had made it to being the first women from Maharashtra Police to complete the Ironman and now look forward to the Ultraman.