Iron Man Vikas Gajare: Thane district Supply Officer Wins Lohpurush Triathlon

The district supply officer of Thane collectorate who is fond of exercise recently won the Lohpurush Triathlon organised by Deccan Sports Club in Kolhapur. He defeated 99 other contestants in various three stages.

On Tuesday, the Thane district administration officially announced that the district supply officer Vikas Gajare will now be known as 'Iron Man'.

Gajare became a successful 'Iron Man' in this three-stage competition at Kolhapur. The first leg of the event required the contestants to swim 1.9 km in Kolhapur's famous Rajaram Lake, followed by a 90 km cycling ride on the Kolhapur-Bangalore highway in the second leg, followed by a 3.21 km (half marathon) in the third leg. The allotted time to complete the competition was 10 hours.

"The competition started at 6.30 am and I completed it at 2.55 pm. I won this competition in just 8 hours and 25 minutes and also won the 'Iron Man' title," Gajre said.

Hailing from Parner Taluka of Ahmednagar district, Gajre passed the Maharashtra Public Service Commission Direct Service Examination in 2007. He was subsequently selected as deputy collector, and now works as district supply officer of Thane collectorate. Gajre's passion for exercise does not allow him to sit still.

Gajre has previously completed the world's toughest and oldest marathon in August 2022 with the condition of completing this 90 km distance in 12 hours. Following this, he decided to complete the competition at Kolhapur and he succeeded in it. He gave at least two hours between 5 am and 7 am every morning to win this competition. In this, he consistently practiced all the three sports of cycling, swimming and running. Along with this, food and drink habits were closely observed. He diligently put this mantra into practice: sleep early, wake up early.

After this success, Gajre among others has given the message that "health is the real wealth" especially for government officials. He has appealed to the officers that the government officers should make time for exercise.