Petr Vabrousek on the startline!

The stars are gathering on the sky! We have already mentioned in an earlier article that the organizers are working all day and night in order to invite as many athletes from the Hungarian Triathlon Elite as possible on the occasion of the 30th jubilee race. Well, we decided to reach even a bit further across the border: it is our great pleasure that the two time world cup champion, Petr Vabrousek has accepted our invitation to this year’s eXtremeMan race!

The world-class athlete has many outstanding achievements: he has won more than 40 ironman distance races, has completed 194 long distance triathlon competitions, two time finisher of Ultraman, he was the champion 13 times of the Czech National lM Distance race, and he was 80 times in the Top10 racers of official Ironman races, for which he holds a world record –just to name a few. Petr is excited to come to the Hungarian competition and has been training hard for the challenge of Nagyatád. We conducted an interview with him: 

Where have you heard about eXtremeMan?

I know about the race for years and have heard, it has an amazing atmosphere. I just always had some other races on the same weekend as the triathlon season in the middle of the summer is quite condensed. This year I finally decided to make eXtremeMan my priority and to come.

Why did you decide to come to Hungary to Nagyatád and participate in the race? Have you raced in Hungary before?

I have raced Balatonman half and Keszthely half along with Veszprem Europian duathlon Championships some 25 years ago. This will finally be my first full distance race, which is my specialty. I am bringing my whole family along to really enjoy our time in Nagyatad.

What are your goals for the race? What are your expectations?

I would love to be part of a race for the top positions. It would be great to get my 42nd Ironman distance win there! But I also realize, that it is quite a big race with very strong field. So anything in top 10 might be quite opened for whoever has a best day...

Over the years I have been racing with many strong Hungarian athletes, who became a very good friends of mine, including Péter Kropkó, Balázs Csőke, or József Major.

We were always very similar in tactics with József. Slower swim, very strong on the bike and dangerous on the run. We had quite a lot of even battles on the Ironman field...

I have raced Márton Flander few times in Podersdorf and know, he is very strong as well. I think, I have never raced Zoltán Petsuk. I am sure the competition will be tough!

What is your all-time best record on an ironman distance race? Are you planning to come close to it in Nagyatád?

My Ironman PB is 8:04:11 (Almere Europian Championships in 1999). It will be almost exactly 20 years back, so it’s not very likely to attack that time this year. I should still be capable of going deep under 8:30, if others are pushing me hard and I have a good legs on the day.

What are your strengths, weaknesses in triathlon (running, swimming, cycling)?

None of the disciplines stands out. I would say, it is the combination. Along with the strong willpower and appetite...

You’ve mentioned that your family is coming with you as well. Can you introduce them a little? Do your children follow their father's footsteps in triathlon?

We have 2 kids. Older Filip (19 years) loves climbing and running. His current PB’s are 1:13 for half marathon, 32 minutes for 10k and 15 minutes for 5k. Younger Vera (7 years) loves doing all kinds of activities from dancing to downhill skiing. She is already participating in kid’s triathlons everywhere we go. My wife Vera is our biggest supporter!

There are many sideprograms on eXtremeMan (Run and smile run, "eXtremeManó" - running race for children etc.). Is your family going to participate in any of those?

Small Vera will definitely take part in the kids running and Filip with my wife will be supporting us both. 

The eXtremeMan has a motto: "The journey is the destination itself." What role does sport/triathlon play in your life? How long have you been doing triathlon?

I started with rowing, when I was 10 years old and did my first triathlon at the age of 16th in August 1989. That means, that on the start of eXtremeMan, I will be celebrating exactly 30 years since my first tri race!

Being a triathlon professional for over 20 years now, triathlon was always big part of our travel plans, as we loved to travel around after various races all over the world. When I won Ultraman Florida in March last year, we spent the next week in Disneyland and another week sailing on The Oasis of the Seas through Carribean Sea. That has hopefully been part of my kids’ decision to be active as well

And finally: what was the most intense/interesting/exciting/unique race in your carrier? Can you tell us about it?

With almost 800 triathlons and a lot of other extreme races, it is really hard to pick one! If I had to choose one, it would probably be my second participation at World Marathon Challenge together with my son Filip this February. I did 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents and Filip run alongside me for 7 halfmarathons.