Matej Markovic

My sporting path started 1982, when I started to train skiing with only six years. From 1986 to 1988 I won three years in a row a very important Slovenian Youth Championship, a race that gave a lot of world skiing champions. Unfortunately skiing was to expensive for my parents, so I started to train soccer, where I soon did quite an impression on a trainer of a National youth team. I wasn’t talented…I just had endurance skills and good nose for goal.

After some time, soccer just hadn’t been the right time for me, so I (also because of the injury of my eyes) quit this sport…and started with a new, very popular “youth sport”, drinking and smoking. Yes, I drink  and I smoked. But in the same time, I never really quit sport. I did some running, mountain biking and swimming on the Faculty of sport where I studied.

In 2005 I was heading to the Coast with my family. I stopped by my friend’s house and he gave me a triathlon magazine called 220Triathlon. Inside of it I saw an article about Deca, and at that time I decided that I would do it someday. When I arrived home I contact local triathlon club and started to train as a mad men.

Only six month later I decided that I would go to my first triathlon…and that was Double ironman Avstria (Moosburg). In very hard conditions I finished forth with time of 25 hours and with lack of memories. I was so tired on the run that I was running left and right, and at the end I didn’t remember part of the running track. It was a crazy adventure. At that time I didn’t know about Ultra triathlon world cup (UTWC)r a year and half I was doing a lot of long running races, some adventure races and some ultra cycling races.

I started to compete in UTWC in September 2008 on Double ironman Hungary. In 7 races in the row, I never finished less then second. I was three times second, won four times and set three course records (two of them in States). My “winning” stopped at the Deca last year, where I had to, after five days, quit because of the serious illness that I already brought from Slovenia. At that time I was already 8 hours in front of the world record and 5 hours in front of the future winner. But, this is sport…this is life.

Now, I have new goals in my life. I don’t want to compete with time clock and others any more. Now, I want to compete with my limits. And at the same time I wish to give something to the people that need “happiness”. I want to show ordinary people all around the world that everything is possible. You just have to have your DREAM and hard DETERMINATION to grab your dream someday. Somebody do this in a few years…somebody is doing this for their whole lives. The most important thing is, NEVER GIVE UP!

My motto is a motto of Foreign Legion and is: “MARCHE OU CREVE” – “WALK OR DIE”
I wish all of you to never stop walking!!!

- Matej Markovic
Slovenia