This month we’d like to introduce you to Cesar Centeno.
I started swimming when I was around 12 years old and quickly realized that I was not going to be the fastest person on the team. When I turned 14 and was allowed to compete in 400 meters freestyle I found that I was stubborn enough to not quit on the longer distances so I found my niche on the team in these events. From that time on I have had a lifelong affinity with endurance sports although I always joke that “at my slow speeds everything, even a 5K, becomes an endurance event”.
In 1998 I decided that I would walk a marathon before I turned 30, which I did the following year finishing at 6:59:58 on a 7 hour cut off time. After moving to Canada from Colombia permanently in 2006 I found myself too busy reorganizing my life in a new country and put swimming and walking in the back burner for a while.
Eventually I decided to start walking again around 2012 and moved on to running in 2014, I did however got injured several times and was not making much progress but I did still get back to walking half marathons and running 5Ks. During one of these injuries I decided that I needed to look for plan B as my doctor told me to hold back on running / walking for at least 3 months and I started riding my bicycle regularly again and got back to swimming, this time in open water.
Mid June last year I decided that if I was going to be doing the 3 sports, might as well do them in one go and sign up for a triathlon which led me to finding FMCT. Where I have been very lucky to learn a lot from the experiences of other team members and coaches. I have since done several try a tris and plan on moving up to Sprint and Olympic distances this year.
Outside of multisports, I am very passionate about the environment and especially the water. I love spending time in the lakes and due to the amount of travel I have to do for work you will constantly hear me complain about not being able to spend as much time as I want in the water.