NADIM ALY & MATT HANSON TEAM UP FOR THE CAF SAN DIEGO TRIATHLON CHALLENGE
Nadim Aly is every age group triathlete you’ve ever met. A senior manager with a financial services company, he got in his first IRONMAN at Ironman Texas in 2025, finishing 44th in the 30-34 age group in a time of 12:00:59. He has Kona dreams like so many of us do. But one day, his path took a tremendous detour.
As he’d done so many times before, he headed out on an open-water swim training session as preparation for 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 Little Elm. “It was going to be in my backyard near Dallas where I live, and I headed out for a training swim—and a boat hit me,” Aly said matter-of-factly. The damage required a bilateral amputation of his legs.
Nadim Aly & Matt Hanson
And that was the summation of Aly's discussion about the thing that altered his life so profoundly. No self-pity. No hatred. No “why me.” However terrible the accident, it did nothing to dull or extinguish Aly’s optimism in general, and especially his optimism for sport. For Aly, there’s only a crystal-clear view ahead. What’s past is past. Everything is in front of him. And maybe, hopefully, a Kona start someday soon.
“I’ve been blessed to be here less than a year out, my body allowing me to get back to it,” he told us. “My goal is to get back to triathlon. I’ve been swimming, been biking again, and yeah, I’ve started running again.”
Kona is the target. But this past weekend, he got the unexpected chance to race in the Challenged Athletes Foundation San Diego Triathlon Challenge. Quintana Roo is a Challenged Athletes Foundation Supporting Partner and came with an array of bikes for athletes to test-ride, as well as a service team working with both able-bodied and disabled athletes. Our team was on-site near transition, airing up wheelchair tires and doing full-on mechanical chair service at our booth.
“Bob (Babbitt) messaged me and said, ‘Hey, would you want to run a 5K as part of a relay team with Matt Hanson? No pressure!’” Aly said. “I was like, ‘I’m in.’”
The two met in the transition area and chatted about Aly’s challenges (this was going to be one of his first runs on his prosthetics) and about Matt’s race in Kona and his coming race at IRONMAN Florida.
Then they were off. Aly took off for the 5K, came back and leaned in to tag in Matt, who headed out for the bike and closing eight-mile run. Mission accomplished. Team Aly-Hanson took their own win, which was a finish full of smiles as the two recounted the day of racing afterward.
For Aly, the weekend in San Diego only served to bolster his desire to get back to racing. His “new normal” will be his old normal of swim/bike/run, just as soon as his body allows. And having a day with Hanson, along with a weekend of adaptive run clinics and swim clinics, only threw gas on the fire. He’s ready to race again.
“A chance to meet Matt—someone whom I’ve been watching for a few years at all the IRONMAN events—was crazy,” Aly said. “Never in a million years would I have thought I’d get to interact with him in person. But beyond that, it’s been amazing to meet all the great people participating, supporting the event, and all the amazing people with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, providing such a great benefit to athletes like me.”
Michael Andreasen riding alongside Matt Hanson.
If Aly thought he was the one benefiting most, he was sorely mistaken. Hanson participated in a weekend full of adaptive sport clinics and competitions, taking part in an adaptive run clinic early in the weekend. After meeting the athletes and participating in the race, he came away with a new sense of appreciation and felt grateful for the chance to be there.
“I’ve been talking about CAF and this event with Bob for almost a decade now,” Hanson said after the event. “All the conversations and stories he’s told me over the years didn’t come close to being here to experience the impact that CAF has had on so many people’s lives. That made for a number of amazing moments this weekend. Doing a relay with Nadim, someone who was an IRONMAN triathlete and now he’s back trying to get to do the 70.3 just two years later, to share the same race with him made for a pretty special day, and a lot of fun. I’ve really enjoyed being out here with the QR team and CAF team. I really learned a lot, and coming away inspired, in a way I didn’t think was possible.”
“When it comes to the CAF community and the people I’ve met, the most incredible people I’ve met have come from this ordeal and this organization—people like Bob, who have been advocates for people like myself,” Aly added. “The family aspect and encouragement—it’s amazing. It motivates me more to just keep on pushing.”
Because races like Little Elm—and Kona—will be waiting.
