Iron determination: “I’ll never give up!” declares IronMan, Marc Herremans
Marc Herremans’ own story reads like a novel. It has highs and lows and a fair amount of drama. But it’s the Ironman winner’s firm belief in a happy ending that makes this tale so extraordinary.
At the start of his triathlon career, Marc Herremans was obsessed with becoming the most complete athlete in the world. His result in the IronMan triathlon in Hawaii in 2001 showed that it was possible to fulfil his dream. Herremans finished 6th in the toughest race in the world. On January 28 of the following year, disaster struck. Herremans crashed during bicycle training on the island of Lanzarote and suffered injuries on his D5 and D6 vertebrae. He was paralysed from the chest down.
But this career-ending injury didn’t bring the Belgian athlete down. Only two months after the accident, Herremans started training again. His goal: to win the IronMan triathlon for wheelchair athletes.
IronMan
Four months later he was once again at the start of the world’s toughest race. In spite of his determination to finish, the race came too soon and he had to stop during the swimming stage.
But Herremans didn’t give up. In 2003 he was back in Hawaii. This time he completed the race and finished third. And that’s what he repeated a year later. In 2005, he came second and the next year he achieved the goal that he had set himself as a child. Four years after his accident, Marc Herremans won the 2006 IronMan triathlon.
But he didn’t stop there: in 2007, he became the first wheelchair athlete to finish the toughest mountain bike race in the world: the Crocodile Trophy in Australia where he rode 1,400 km on rough terrain with his hand bike.
“It took me a few days to realise that a broken back doesn’t mean you have a broken life,” the IronMan winners says. “But I also realised that things were going to be a lot harder than before. And winning the IronMan is no longer my ultimate goal. I want to walk again. I firmly believe it can be done. I have started my own foundation that has that same name: To Walk Again. I have talked to famous people like Christopher Reeve and to many unknown wheelchair patients. I believe that one day they will find a cure for paralysis. And when they do, I want to be prepared. I want my body to be ready.”
“Compex is essential”
“That’s why I want to keep my body as active as possible. That’s why I use the Compex Mi Sport. It’s essential for me. It helps me to keep the muscles below my chest active. It activates my muscles, which helps prevent atrophy and of course it also helps me to train the muscles in my upper body. I’m very happy to use the Mi Sport. It’s not only an essential part of my training, but it has become a part of my life.”
Marc Herremans has become more than a world class athlete. He is an example to many. He trains young athletes in a range of sports and tries to support research in every way he can. “Stem cell research is making great progress,” he says. “It is hoped stem cells could one day be widely used to repair damaged tissue caused by disease and following injury. I will never stop hoping, I’ll never give up and, if the day comes, I want to be prepared. So I’ll stay as active as I can possibly be, I’ll keep training and I’ll keep looking for new challenges.”
