Ricardo Valverde, born and raised in the Republic of Costa Rica, has done a great job to finish Ironman New Zealand at sub 11 - at incredibly 10 hours 57 minutes - it breaks his own record. He has also becomes the only ironman athelete from Central America to finish Ironman events in 5 continents in the world (Asia, America, Europe, Africa, and Oceania) 

Ricardo was deeply influenced by Latin American culture. Football was very important to him before the age of 28. He was a player in Deportivo Saprissa, one of the signature football teams in his country.  

He thought he could’ve played football until the last day. But after a severe injury and two-time surgeries in his knee, he was forced to stop his favorite sport. From this point, he started to try some other sports that are less stressful on his knees: Ironman and cycling. And he started to love these sports. Now, he doesn’t feel right if he misses doing some exercise before he goes to work. 

Until now Ricardo has done 5 times of full Ironman events. What’s more special was that they were in different countries in 5 continents: Swiss, Florida, South Africa, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Richardo also wants to do again in 2018 ironman AWA program representing Costa Rica and take No. 5 - last year he got No. 8. 

Ricardo is not a professional athlete, but he can still get positions in races. The key is to arrange his own schedule: This sport is his life now. He knows how to make limited time for practice from blocks of schedule. As a failure analysis executive, he also monitors his physical conditions by collecting data of himself (heart rate, power output, RPM, etc.) and then exquisitely arranges his weekly training plans. By doing so precisely on training quality, he can make balance as an executive, a father, and a triathlon athlete. 

Some people set goals to beat others, but Ricardo just wants to beat himself. He wants to make breakthroughs in his time and distance. Back in 2017, his own record was total 9,000km of cycling, 1,015km of running, 90km of swimming. 

Let’s wish him to get No. 5 for his country in 2018 ironman AWA program!