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Kona calling for flying Swede Patrik

“Kona is, and has always been, the biggest IRONMAN race in the world.”

If you had any doubts about the importance of Kona to triathletes and fans around the world, then HOKA athlete Patrik Nilsson sums it up well.

“Everyone arrives at their peak, goes in super fit and with such high ambitions. But, of course, there can only ever be one winner, and you never know what will happen.”

And Kona certainly hasn’t been without its share of upsets and drama over the last 40 years.

The pursuit of greatness

In 1982, Julie Moss showed up to the IRONMAN World Championship as an unknown. The world watched as she refused to give up and crawled to the finish line. It was a run that would define her and her career to come.

Classic battles in the late-eighties between six-time winner Dave Scott and Mark Allen helped to define the sport for a new generation of fans. So just who will follow in the footsteps of 2017 victors, Daniela Ryfe and Patrick Lange, and take the honours at this year’s event?

“Everyone arrives at their peak, goes in super fit and with such high ambitions. But, of course, there can only ever be one winner, and you never know what will happen.” Patrik Nilsson

The annual event on the Pacific island of Hawaii never fails to deliver on excitement. It’s after hearing about the legendary Kona event that Patrik decided to hang up his track spikes in pursuit of greatness at the world’s most demanding endurance test eight years ago.

Trials and tribulations

Patrik’s top-10 debut last year was an admirable first shot. It didn’t come, however, without the inevitable trials and tribulations of more than eight hours of competition.

Patrik suffered intense stomach problems for the best part of the 42k run. He managed to summon incredible mental strength to rally and eventually finished eighth to become the highest-placing Swedish athlete of all time at Kona.

Not a bad feat for someone who only made his professional debut in 2013.

Now 27 years old, Patrik has gone on to become a four-time IRONMAN champion and has dipped inside the magic eight-hour mark on two occasions in Copenhagen and Barcelona.

Finding inspiration

Hailing from the small town of Saltsjöbaden in Sweden, Patrik now lives in Denmark with his girlfriend and coach, Teresa, and son, Matteo.

The life of a professional triathlete rarely tends to remain in one fixed place, and Patrik spends a lot of time traveling the world for various competitions and training camps to try and reach the top of his sport.

“None of this would be possible without the support, huge work, understanding and love from my family,” says Patrik. “My biggest inspirations are Matteo and Teresa.”

“None of this would be possible without the support, huge work, understanding and love from my family.” Patrik Nilsson

Teresa, in particular, plays such a pivotal role in Patrik’s personal and professional life and it’s a relationship he describes as “just perfect”.

“Teresa does a huge amount of work taking care of our son alone when I’m traveling, together with being my coach and having her own coaching company in Denmark,” says the Swedish IRONMAN record-holder.

“She knows everything about me. She knows about my recovery, my training, my life. She is always able to change the training so that we get the most out of it. It really is perfect.”

Turning dreams into reality

If Teresa is the person steering the ship, then it is Matteo who is undoubtedly the driving force behind it.

“Matteo is a huge motivation for me,” says Patrik. “It’s important for me to show him that everything is possible if you work hard and have a dream.”

“I’m in good shape, have trained hard and feel ready for race day. I will do everything I can to perform at my best.” Patrik Nilsson

Will that dream of topping the podium in Kona materialise this weekend?

“My main focus is to do everything I can and perform at my best,” says Patrik. “I’m in good shape, have trained hard and feel ready for race day. I will do everything I can to perform at my best, and then we will see how far that will take me.”

Photo credits: Peignée Verticale, Activ’images and Patrik Nilsson

Keep track of Patrik’s progress and all of the HOKA athletes in action at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona on Saturday by following HOKA ONE ONE.

The burlesque dancer who became a marathon runner

Dancing in the spotlight of a burlesque stage taught Inga Poste that she could push limits elsewhere in her life too. Her journey is the latest in our Huck x HOKA series, looking at mavericks who found a new perspective through running.

A tiny stage in an intimate venue in Berlin. So tiny, in fact, the audience is within touching distance. The light is pink, not too white, not too red, exactly as Inga Poste told the technician it should be. Her act is about to start and she doesn’t know what she’ll get. If people are used to burlesque, or if they are first-timers who have no idea what to do and need to be encouraged.

“I love the first minute when you’re up on stage and you’re trying to see how people react, trying to engage them. It’s a very cool moment, because you need to open up completely but at the same time you’re playing a role. It’s a lot of fun to let go and be in that moment.”

Building up the courage

It also takes a lot of courage. Looking gracious, cool and mysterious on stage is one – pretty hard – thing, being brave enough to take your clothes off in front of an audience while still looking graceful is a special skill. But a very transferable one, according to Inga, whose second great passion is running. “Burlesque made me a lot more self confident, which transfers to running. You have to believe in yourself to be able to run a marathon. And the confidence that burlesque gave me made it possible for me to believe in myself.”

Inga, who has been running for a decade, has been focusing not so much on time, recently, but distance. She now runs marathons. Numerous medals dot her West Berlin apartment. They even adorn the dressmaking doll she uses to design her burlesque costumes. But she’s still reluctant to describe herself as a natural athlete.

In fact Inga hated phys-ed and always got picked last for schoolyard teams. But unlike other sporting Cinderellas, she didn’t use this common experience of childhood humiliation to push herself to be the hardest, the strongest and fastest. The opposite is true.

“I run for myself and I work very hard to keep it that way. When you train with other people you start comparing yourself very quickly, you see other times improving and want to improve your own time, all the time. I try to stop when I have pushed my body as far as it can go.”

Running as therapy

Running is therapy for Inga, a healthy outlet for feelings she used to suppress. She is a high achiever – she just finished her studies and works as a literary agent specialising in memoirs and in cinema. Growing up, she was always keen to meet the high expectations of others. Expressing her own desires and accepting things as they are was something she had to learn. “Through running and dancing I learnt that it can’t all be about perfection. That always makes you unhappy. After running 42 km you need to be able to be proud and say you did something amazing, even if you are somewhere near the bottom of the table.”

Inga doesn’t run to look good for others either. “I’m training my body to be fit, not for other people to like my body. It’s not about being thin, but about being strong for myself.”

A bit of extra strength obviously comes in handy for the highly athletic pole dancing she incorporates in her routines. But for Inga, dancing isn’t only about physical strength. It’s empowering for her to reclaim the rhinestones and the glitter; to take traditional notions of femininity and turn it all into something powerful by really owning it. “Burlesque taught me to be upfront with myself, when I’m on stage I’m in charge of everything.”

Powerful women

It doesn’t come as a massive surprise that a lot of Inga’s friends from the burlesque scene are also powerful women. They are strong “because they all went through something in their lives that they had to be strong for.” But there’s also a party side to burlesque, a “little girl side with sparkly things and makeup and hair.”

There is also a transgressive, challenging side to the scene. But Inga doesn’t get involved in blood, guts or gore — as do some of the more extreme artists out there. Her latest performance was all about chains. “I emerged from these chains as my act went on. I was freeing myself from something, becoming more myself. It’s like when you hit the wall in a marathon or longer run. You’re in pain; you feel trapped and as if you can’t go on. But you do go on and the feeling you get next is everything.”

Huck is a youth culture channel. It celebrates and explores independent culture — people and movements that paddle against the flow. Find out more about HUCK.

Check out the responsive and lightweight Hupana trainers Inga wears.

From skateboarding prankster to extreme endurance athlete

What did Matthew Pritchard, Welsh pro skateboarder and all-round daredevil do next after leaving the Dirty Sanchez crew? We find out in the first profile in our Huck x HOKA series, looking at mavericks who found a new perspective through running.

Matt Pritchard was used to seeing himself look wrecked on TV. As a creator and co-star of Dirty Sanchez, MTV’s notorious noughties prank show, being filmed doing stupid stuff while drunk and high was essentially his job description.

Nostrils were super-glued together, tongues were stapled. One week he was whacked with a meat tenderiser until his skin bled, another he was slapped in the face with a cactus. He always felt fine about it. Found it funny even. Until one day he didn’t.

From carnage to Cardiff

“I saw some footage of myself on TV and I thought, ‘Christ what’s happened to me? I looked an absolute wreck and I thought that’s not the person I used to be,’” he says. “I have wicked memories of those Dirty Sanchez days, but I wanted to change. So I thought, ‘I wonder if I can do the Cardiff Half Marathon?’”

This was in 2007. It wouldn’t be the first time Pritchard had entered the event. He’d also done it at 15, when his Mum bribed him with the promise of a pair of Hi-Tec Silver Shadows if he completed the course, which he did. But it would be the first time in almost 20 years, with zero running and an insane amount of partying, or as he puts it “all out carnage” in between.

“I have wicked memories of those Dirty Sanchez days, but I wanted to change. So I thought, ‘I wonder if I can do the Cardiff Half Marathon?’” Matthew Pritchard

How did it go? “It was amazing. I got such a big buzz off it. So then I did a full marathon and then a half Ironman [a swimming, cycling and running race that ends with a half marathon], then a full Ironman …” He’s since become a full-time endurance athlete, albeit one with an incongruous amount of tattoos, who doesn’t take himself too seriously. He once ran the London Marathon in a mankini.

Shifting passions

Last year, Pritchard did a triple Ironman, that’s 54 hours of continuous and mega-intense exercise. This year, he did another double Ironman, though he’s had to temporarily shelve his other running plans for 2017 while he recovers from a foot injury, much to his annoyance.

It seems an unlikely passion shift for a former pro skateboarder. But Pritchard sees a lot of parallels between hardcore running and skateboarding. “Skateboarding takes a lot of patience,” he says. “When you learn a new trick, it doesn’t take a day, it takes week or months. But if you focus and keep going, eventually it clicks. That’s similar to training month in, month out, for a race. You have to put the hard work in to get to that point.”

“Skateboarding takes a lot of patience. When you learn a new trick, it doesn’t take a day, it takes week or months. But if you focus and keep going, eventually it clicks. That’s similar to training month in, month out, for a race. You have to put the hard work in to get to that point.” Matthew Pritchard

He also credits skateboarding with stoking his interest in endurance challenges. In 2006, he skateboarded the 192 miles from Cardiff to Newquay with his friend and Dirty Sanchez show-nemesis Dainton. “Looking back, I think it did spark a lot of other future stuff in my head. Like running from John O’Groats to Land’s End.” Which he did in 2010 — in just 30 days.

Keeping things together

Why does Pritchard think he got so extreme about running, rather than just say hitting the park a couple of times a week? “Whenever I get into something, I go all out. It was the same with partying and skateboarding. When I found this fitness buzz, I thought, ‘Where can I take this?’”

“The longer races are a massive fight [with myself], but when it gets to the pain part that’s when it gets interesting. Of course, you say to yourself, ‘What the fuck am I doing?’ But once you cross that line you’re like, ‘I’ve just been through hell, but I’ve done it and I’m fucking buzzing’.”

On a day-to-day basis, Pritchard admits he also uses running to keep his head together and regulate his mood. “I do get quite down and running gives me a high,” he says. “I get such happiness from it. If I’m feeling depressed and go for run, I come back a different person. With this injury I hadn’t trained for four weeks. I’d been partying in Ibiza and I went to a pretty dark place. I’m dangerous in my own head. But then I went out on my bike and I feel like I’m back on track again.”

“I do a lot of training and partying used to be a reward for that, but now I’ve got to the stage where I don’t even want the partying stuff. I’ve got to the point in my life that I’m having words with myself and the next step is to become teetotal.”

Positive change

What do Pritchard’s old skate buddies make of this new sporty him? “My mates think it’s great. They can see I’m doing something positive. You can’t have a problem with that without being a dickhead. And in terms of giving up the booze, the ones who’ve seen me partying over the years probably think it’s a good idea,” he laughs.

But the most pleasing part for Pritchard has been the number of Dirty Sanchez fans who’ve gotten in touch with him through email or Facebook to say they’re inspired by what he’s doing. “They message me saying, ‘I’ve followed you since I was a youngster and to see you doing Ironmans is mental. I’m going to start running too.’ It’s such a simple thing. Go buy yourself some trainers, open the front door and go for a run.”

Huck is a youth culture channel. It celebrates and explores independent culture — people and movements that paddle against the flow. Find out more about Huck.

Learn more about the innovative Clifton trainers Matt wears.