In this episode

Nikos Matziaris lives in Neo Iraklio, has children aged 19 and 17, is a chef and student and often holds two or three jobs. He entered triathlon in 2017 and quickly moved to long and extreme distances.

He describes how a branded Ironman differs from races involving night lake swims, thousands of metres of climbing and trails, his cold-water experience and the Nepal documentary The Holy Elephant.

Detailed show notes

From water polo to Spetses

He grew up in Kavala, attended culinary school in Thessaloniki and moved to Athens in 2002. He played water polo until 18–19. As a child in 1990, he saw triathlon on Eurosport. In 2017, a five-a-side football friend went to Spetses; he entered the endurance event straight away on a borrowed road bike.

During 2017, he raced every sprint he could find and the Ocean Lava half in Rhodes. In 2019, he did Ironman Copenhagen, his first and, he says, last branded event. Extreme racing followed.

Extreme triathlon, not mountain biking

He mentions Olympus, Icon in Livigno, Swissman, Greek Hero in Corfu twice, Nepal, Malaysia and Norseman as the world championship. The bike is a road/triathlon bike rather than MTB; over 180 km, climbing often exceeds 3,000 m and sometimes reaches 5,000, followed by a mountain run.

Finishing Copenhagen seems easier to him than an extreme event, but chasing time makes it difficult in another way. For extreme racing, he trains hours and aerobic base rather than sacrificing everything to threshold and the clock. Triathlon inspires him; trail running is his passion.

Cold water

Night swimming frightened him in his first extreme races. In Livigno, he entered wearing a cap, gloves and booties, without a thermal layer, and looked back towards the shore. He says an extra neoprene vest makes a difference across the chest. This is not presented as equipment advice.

Nepal and The Holy Elephant

He went to Nepal in May 2023 with OK Nice and Manolis Armoutakis. The Holy Elephant came from a climb that reminded him of Agios Panteleimon on Olympus. His next confirmed race is Ascent in the Pyrenees, a new, sold-out extreme event in France.

Key takeaways

  • Extreme triathlon is not mountain biking: it combines road cycling, elevation and trail running after hours of effort.
  • Cold night swimming can be the first obstacle, before the legs face the mountains.
  • Extreme training builds hours and aerobic base; branded Ironman draws attention towards the stopwatch.
  • Two children and two or three jobs need not remove sport when friends keep the opportunity to get out alive.