MARC HERREMANS

2002 Ironman Hawaii Rookie of the year
2006 Ironman Hawaii Winner

“I’ll never give up!”

Marc Herremans’ own story reads like a novel. It has highs and lows and a fair
amount of drama. But it’s the Ironman winner’s firm belief in a happy ending that
makes this tale so extraordinary.

At the start of his triathlon career, Marc Herremans was obsessed with becoming the most complete athlete in the world. His result in the IronMan triathlon in Hawaii in 2001 showed that it was possible to fulfil his dream. Herremans finished 6th in the toughest race in the world. On January 28 of the following year, disaster struck. Herremans crashed during bicycle training on the island of Lanzarote and suffered injuries on his D5 and D6 vertebrae. He was paralysed from the chest down.

Instead of giving up, Herremans started his second life from his hospital bed. 6 months after his injury he was back at the start of the IronMan triathlon, this time in a wheelchair. It was obvious this comeback came too soon after the terrible accident, but Herremans kept going. In 2004 he finished 3rd in the IronMan, in 2005 he came in 2nd and in 2006 he won the event.
 

“I still have so many goals”, says the IronMan winner, “but my biggest goal is to walk again. I have a foundation by that name and I strongly believe that one day it will be possible for me to walk again. That is one of the reasons why I keep my body in the best possible shape. The other one is that being in a wheelchair doesn’t mean you have to neglect your body. On the contrary.
Compex is key to a lot of my training. I can only work on my muscles from the chest up. But I do keep my abdominals, back and legs strong. I use Compex several times a day. To avoid atrophy, to keep my blood going in parts of my body I can’t use anymore, but also to optimise the training in my upper body. To me, Compex is pure magic.”
 

“After working for several years with my MiSport, I’ve started using the Compex Wireless. For me it makes the training much easier. When riding my handbike there are no longer wires getting in the way, I can take it everywhere I go. Compex has always been a vital part of my training and my life. I feel that with the wireless unit, Compex has taken electronic muscle stimulation to a whole new level.”