TerraceMaria’s eyes light up as she pulls the bike off the wall. Ready to wear a helmet, goggles and sneakers, she is ready to move on. Arriving at this precise moment has been a sum of many complicated moments and a painful internal struggle. Two years ago her life was cut short and she fell into the void: isolation was the only solution to mourning the death of her 21-year-old sister. It lost its fundamental pillar and everything faltered. Sport became his refuge. “I made a list of things that my sister and I wanted to do but didn’t have time for. Between them, a triathlon. I wanted to start doing all those things that we wanted to do, for both of us.” To stop surviving and live again he needed a goal, a strength to recover from everything that happened on the Vidrieiro Rally.
It was the first time they competed together. Maria and Laura (her sister) were of different ages and therefore had never been able to face each other, both from the co-pilot’s seat. The Vidrieiro Rally in Portugal was its premiere. “She had her pilot and I had mine, and it was the first time we faced each other. It made us very excited,” Maria recalls. In the first section of the route, Laura’s car left the track. “It collapsed about 500/600 meters from the start of the first section,” authorities said after the accident. “The victim was trapped and the emergency services responded almost immediately, as they were very close. Resuscitation maneuvers were successfully initiated. The helicopter was activated and was transferred, already stabilized, to the landing area, about 200/300 meters from where it was, “they added. Despite the duties of the medical services, once he arrived at the hospital he was unable to overcome the injuries resulting from the impact and died.
I made a list of things my sister and I wanted to do and we didn’t have time. Now I’m doing them both ”
“The world stopped me. My sister was my mainstay in life. We had a very complicated family situation and she was the person who understood me directly: we could talk, she knew everything, we never judged each other. it was a devastating blow to her, not being able to count on her. My family’s problems got even bigger, with her death, and I no longer had my only support, “Salvo recalls with tears in his eyes. That moment was the beginning of everything. Her sister’s death changed her forever: her friendships, her family, her job … Everything blew up and she was paralyzed. “I’ve always been very busy: when I wasn’t working I was in rallies. I didn’t have much free time. I always had an overly active life. This stop affected me a lot and I got into a loop of not leaving home. “In a society where we don’t know what to do when these situations happen. My friends and people didn’t know how to react. They don’t know how to be with you. They treat you from the bottom up. “I was having a good time. I always felt bad. People always asked me the wrong way. It was like I always had to be bad. If they saw me well, they would ask me, ‘How are you after your sister’s death?’ And it was like, “I must be sorry for everything that happened to me.” And then I isolated myself. ”
Medicine and sport: night and day
It was months of not leaving home, of spending hours as best she could until one day she made the list that woke her up. All the things written down in that role were new challenges, things that Laura wanted to do with her, and now it was in her hands to fulfill the dreams of both of them. The first was triathlon. “I did it in Portugal in 2021, because it was the place where my sister had the accident. It was a place where I didn’t want to go back and I wanted to get rid of that pain.” He ended it “with the strength of both.” From that moment the sport became his refuge, until everything was broken again. “Mourning is a roller coaster. A few months later, when I reached certain goals, I went through a little depression again last December. My psychologist, whom I never stopped seeing, told me he recommended going to a psychiatrist and starting medication. Since then I’ve been doing better and I have a different way of looking at things, a different mindset, “he says, and takes a sip of water. Emotions tie a knot in his throat.
Maria knew she had to start over. He needed to get back to his shelter to move on. She was thinking of creating a women’s cycling project when they contacted her from Ironman and offered her the chance to take part in the Barcelona edition. “It was a big challenge for me and I was a little scared. I had to think about it for a few days until I said yes. They argued that it didn’t make much sense to always support professional athletes, who “The reality is that 90% of the people who sign up are people with a history of improvement.” October 2, 2022 is the date that Mary has marked on the calendar: “The challenge is very beautiful and I also have the strength of my sister. When I am very tired, I think, ‘She would.’ “She was very stubborn, and now I have my strength and hers, so I have to.”
Since then, he spends his days by the pool, running or cycling. He has sacrificed his rest and part of his social life for this new challenge. She spends her nights in the hospital, however, as an emergency nurse. “I got into it when the pandemic hit. No one could take the time to tell me how things were going. I learned to wafer. It was a situation that no one expected, we didn’t have material. You enter the race with a vocation because you like people and treat them, and you realize there was anything but that. You didn’t have time, it was impossible. you had to dedicate yourself to those who did have options to live. It was very difficult to keep your head in place. ”
The desire to move on has led Maria to survive difficult times of suffering and anguish. Even when it was all dark, she clung to the sport to heal.
