Meet Nidhin Valsan, Goa IPS officer, who defeated cancer and completed tough Ironman triathlon race

Beating all the odds, Nidhin Valsan, an Indian Police Service Officer (IPS) from Goa, has defeated cancer and completed the difficult Ironman triathlon race successfully.

Valsan is currently serving as the superintendent of police (crime branch). He is also handling the sensitive land grab cases in Goa.

The 2012 batch IPS officer won the hearts of the audience with impeccable strength and willpower even if he did not win the triathlon. He competed against more than 1,400 other participants.


He completed the race within the stipulated time, to be exact in 8 hours, 3 minutes, and 53 seconds, the organisers said.

Valsan told the news agency PTI after finishing the Ironman 70.3 race, "I thought if I am able to do this, I will be able to show the world what one can achieve and hopefully show to everyone that cancer is not an impossible disease to fight."

Last year he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is a type of cancer that generally develops in the lymphatic system.

He did not give up and fought against the disease. He was declared "all-clear" in February this year, the police officer said.

He added, "I am fine now."

He told that this was the first time he participated in the Ironman race. Earlier in 2014, he had participated in a half-marathon in Delhi.

The Ironman triathlon included 1.9 km of open sea swimming, 90 km of cycling and 21 km of run.

Nihal Baig, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, won the Ironman triathlon. Defending champion Bisworjit Saikhom of the Indian Army grabbed the second position as per the results declared by the organisers.