New York City Triathlon

New York City Triathlon

An almost unbelievable story… 

Just weeks before the New York City Triathlon, which is also an important championship for Paratriathlete like me, I was awarded an invititation to the race by a famous americain foundation. This race is special for many of us, as it’s on the olympic distance, a distance we usually don’t compete on, and it’s one of the few if not the only Paratriathlon with Prize Money for athletes with disabilities. 

There were already only few weeks before the event to organise everything, which means : finding a guide, accomodations, booking travel, comply to autorities documentations, apply covid new protocol,…

All the papers, esta, etc… were in order as quick as possible and I was ready to race this exciting competition. I already took part of it many years ago and finished second in my category so I had some expectations for the trip.  

Two days before I was supposed to leave for New York, I had an emergency appointment at the US Consulate in Brussels to request my National Interest Exemption : this was on tuesday morning. I wasn’t worry as I already travelled many times this season and was always granted with an NIE from the country where I would compete. But surprisingly and without giving me any explanations : I was denied an NIE, which also meant I was unable to travel. This hit me so hard, it was dramatic for me and my sporting career too as I’m not the only one involved in this adventure.  I though it’s not possible, this couldn’t end like this, quite miserably. 

Back home, I compose myself and told myself there must be a way to make it happen no matter what. I think as ultra endurance athlete we have a sense of resilience to never give up and find solutions. I searched on the internet for attorneys in the US speciliazed in immigration for athletes. I found Sherrod who was honest with me : he said « we can do it but we need to act right now ». Let’s be honest, I was clearly gambling and my chance to succeed were probably low but if there was a little chance I had to try. In a day, he managed to send a request to the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and receive a positive answer. We still needed the green light from the Custom and Border Protection and we were already Wednesday evening, I was supposed to travel the next morning on thursday. Obviously, there wasn’t any news from CBP the next morning and I missed my flight. I was again a bit devastated, but I though if I can get it today for tomorrow I’m still in. The day passed, the evening passed, and without many hope to be honest I was waiting for something : I guess I told myself I need to wait in case, who knows, and I was right. If I went to bed 5 minutes earlier, this wouldn’t have happened… Mystery of life brings us some surprise sometimes. 

At midnight exactly, Sherrod send me an email with the CBP autorisation, amazingly I was clear to travel. It was awesome, well except we are friday morning and I don’t have anything anymore. I felt I already put so much effort that I couldn’t give up now that I finally have the opportunity to travel. I called my guide and we agreed to race. In an 1h30-2h, I packed my suitcase, gear, bike, booked my flight, taxi, covid test and after a short night of 3-4 hours of sleep I was at the airport. 

I arrived in New York on Friday evening, a day and half after my original plan which also meant less training with my guide to familiarize with the course. On Saturday, we trained in Central Park at 6 am when it’s not too hot and not too crowded, prepare our tandem, picked up our bib, put our bike at transition and elaborated our strategy for the next day. 

I have to say, I wasn’t in my usual race mindset with all the hassle but I was still determined to perform. In the morning, we learned the swim was cancelled and the race was transformed into a bike run format. The format perfectly suited me and after all of this I won the visually impaired division in 2h00. It’s definitely a race I won’t forgive for a while. 

Moral of the story : if there is someone that made this possible, it’s Sherrod and I’m so thankful for his incredible work under such a huge time pressure. If you need someone to represent you, it could only be Sherrod. Thank you so much again, Nic