Nirjala Tamrakar: Meet Nepal’s first woman to complete a full-distance triathlon

For Nirjala Tamrakar , January to June 2021 were probably the hardest six months of her life. At 41, she was at a crossroads in her life. Dissuaded and lost, she wanted something that would make her feel alive again.

She had been Nepal’s national mountain biking champion for 12 years, from 2001 to 2012, only stopping to start a family. In those 12 years, she had taken part in national and international tournaments in South Asia, Middle East and Europe. In 2012, she had taken part in the Mountain Bike World Cup in France as she stood on the podiums in around 80 per cent of her races. But once she quit, things changed for her. But, her desire and hunger to race never disappeared.