Ready for an Ironman despite his heart problem

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Mathieu Morin has already completed a half-Ironman on the 25th of June at Mont-Tremblant.

Catherine Montambeault

Friday, 18 August, 2017 22:40

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Friday, 18 August, 2017 22:40

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A 20 year old man whose heart beats two times faster than normal, will try to make a foot of nose to the disease by doing an Ironman.

Chain 3.8 km of swim, 180,2 km bike and 42,2 km of running): this is the challenge that will face Mathieu Morin during a sporting competition at Mont-Tremblant on Sunday.

If this challenge seems daunting for the common man, it is so much more to this young athlete from Lorraine, in Laurentides, who suffers from a heart condition making her pulse is two times faster.

“I don’t do that to a performer,” he says with aplomb. I do it because it is a challenge that I gave myself and because I want to send the message to the people that the diseases of the heart, it can affect everyone, even a guy of my age. “

Born into a family of athletes, Mathieu Morin dream since he was small to represent his country in swimming at the olympic Games. In 2012, he gets closer to his goal by participating in the canadian junior Championships in Calgary.

The devastating diagnosis

But a year later, a dark diagnosis forced the teenager of 16 years to a stroke on his promising career : he suffers from tachycardia which is constant and a weakness ventricular.

Concretely, this means that his heart rate never drops below 120 beats per minute, while the heart of a person as fit as him should beat between 50 and 60 times per minute at rest. A lesser amount of blood is also pumped through his body with each pulse beat.

“It was so devastating, it is ridiculous, says Mr Morin. As an athlete, this is the worst news you can receive. When I realized that my dream was no longer possible, I was completely killed. I could see all my friends perform, getting to higher levels, while I was staying there. “

Cardiologist reluctant

Instead of dwelling on his fate, Mathieu Morin, roll up your sleeves and get launched a whole new challenge : to complete an Ironman. But when he informs her cardiologist, in 2014, it emits some reluctance.

“He told me : “Listen, I don’t know what can happen. It may very well go as you can have complications.” Once again, I was demolished “, he remembers.

Nature stubborn, the young man decides that he will take all the same part in the Ironman Mont-Tremblant, but that his only objective will be to finish, regardless of the time it will take.

After having had to postpone his project for a year because of an injury to a knee, Mathieu Morin sees now the D-day happen a lot with nervousness. As if life had not put enough sticks in the wheels, the athlete has suffered a breakup a few weeks ago.

“Since that time, I have trouble to train me, he says. My heart was going super well, and since the rupture, it was misery. I’m more afraid than before, but I’m going to do the same. There is nothing that will stop me. “

In the context of his challenge, Mathieu Morin has raised nearly $ 15,000 for the heart and stroke Foundation and the STROKE to help all those who suffer from diseases similar to his own.