History Of Inkaman
BEGINNINGS OF INKAMAN®️
The origins of this competition arise after the organization for the IPM of the Great Lima Marathon, an event showing a broad tourist vision of Lima and its history until its modern stage, starting in the Colonial part of the Rímac district, where The Viceroy kept his mistressla Perricholi’and then toured 13 of the most significant districts of the capital.
Uniting its extremes in an evolution from the City of the Viceroys to the only capital of America by the sea, such as the port of Callao, to then travel through the districts of a cosmopolitan and modern Lima, the one that stands on the cliffs of its sea coast, ending with an Olympic return in the Miraflores stadium, an event that, due to its balanced design between its height and organization, was used by the Peruvian Athletics Federation as a qualifying event for the XXVI Olympic Games in Atlanta, in April 1996.
After this pleasant experience, Edgardo Salas Palacios planned and created the Inkaman®️, a triathlon competition that, due to its simple and strong name, evoked immediate identity to the land of the Incas, but that by the height at which it is held, it is capable of subjecting the new sport of the most complete athletes in the world to greater demands, a movement that was growing rapidly in popularity on all continents. But by proposing a radically different scenery from most triathlons, taking them to compete at the heights of Lake Titicaca at 3,830 meters above sea level, a legendary place in the land of the Incas, where legend has it that from its sacred waters emerged the founders of the largest and most powerful empire of the new world: Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo, descendants of the God Wiracocha.
Inkaman®️ proposed going from sea level to almost four thousand meters of altitude, offering greater demand, and the triathletes had to complete a route where swimming in Lake Titicaca was not the most difficult, just a reference of upcoming difficulties to face, since who had to ascend by cycling along demanding paved roads, gradients above 4,100 meters in height, and face descents at more than 90 km/h, to then relax on the high altiplanic plain and reach the change area from cycling to running, located in an old colonial church that treasures relics of art in painting, reliefs in gold leaf and effigies, and then concludes with the last requirement in the second and steep climb that allowed them to reach the Sillustani plateau, where the stone chullpas are erected, at more than 4,100 meters above sea level, the last slope capable of taking away your last breath
This competition, cataloged by the specialized magazine Triathlete Magazine as“The Biggest and Highest Little Triathlon in the World”because of its distances of ½ nautical mile swimming, 37 km cycling and 6.7 km of running did not have the approved distances, but even so, it came to be considered by Triathlon Digest as part of the 400 most recommended triathlons, and in 1980 placed in the prestigious position of the 100 most important in the world, by the website: www.triathloncentral directed by Katherine Williams.
