OSIM Singapore International Triathlon (UPDATED)

SATURDAY 28 July 2007

Bern was running in the sprint relay with Clem's sis (swim) and his aunt (bike). We headed to East Coast Park at 10am. It was cloudy and cool. Perfect. Except, the grass at transition/changeover area was SO DAMN MUDDY!!!! sick! my slippers were getting stuck in the mud and my legs and feet was caked in mud.

Here are some pix of the race:

Swim start for Sprint Open Relay. Carina (Clem's sis) is in the dark blue suit.
Clem and I waiting for Bern to finish warming up.
Bern finishing her warm up jog. Looking pro eh. haha.
Bern showing off her flexibility in transition area where she's waiting for Aunty Linda, their team's cyclist.

Bern stretching her arms more than her legs. This is a running race not a squash match...

Strapping the ChampionChip band onto her ankle. Bern flying down the finishing straight in the pouring rain. 20m from the finish line, running herself to a massive PB of 25.58!!! WELL DONE!!

Well, thanks to rigid marshalls on the course, I had to run one big round around transition area in the rain to get to the finish line to find Bern. ARGHHHHHHH. I was soaked, and my legs, shorts, top and bag entirely caked/dotted with mud!! Piss me off.

Oh wells, it was nice being a spectator =)

Oh Tony called me from Melb again this morning to give me a pep talk pre-race. It was good!!! Thanks Tony.

SUNDAY 29 July 2007

Got to East Coast Park at 7am to prepare for my race. OSIM International Triathlon Elite Under 23 Category. It was a large field since this is an ITU/ASTC race and also a qualifying race for next year's Beijing Olympics. But for us Singaporeans, it was the SEA Games qualifying race.

Elite Women lining up on the swim start line. There's me in red, 5th from the left.
Getting ready for the starter's horn.

Start! Off we sprint to the sea.
My supporters: Val, Bae and Mum (taking the photo).

Me running in for my second lap of the 750m triangular swim course.
Me finishing my swim. Guess why there's only one person behind me and I'm swimming alone? Coz I SWAM BLOODY OFF-COURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGHHHHHHHH!!!! I am so pissed with myself for being so stupid.

I was getting worried coz I knew the other girls had gotten away. And the swim felt very long. too long. Shit. Shit happens, but the race's not over. I reckoned Jina and Christine Bailey (HKG) were about 2min ahead after the swim.

I rushed thru transition, jumped onto my bike and...crashed into the barricade. Good thing I didn't fall down. haha. what an emarrassment!! Obviously too disorientated from the swim haha.

On the bike. I didn't feel great at the start, but it got better. It was a 2-man pack (Jina and Christine) about 1km ahead of me so I was just hoping to limit the losses on the bike leg. I was hoping Sandra Arullo (PHI) would catch up with me on the bike so we cld work together. I saw her coming out of the swim some distance behind me. But she was dropping back on the bike so I just tried my best to push it on the bike.

I kept reminding myself the race is not over. And I kept praying that I trust God, and He will guide me. I was looking out for the 2 ppl just ahead of me and finally spotted them roughly 1.5km ahead of me. That's roughly 3min, which is ok, and which means they were not going much faster than me despite being able to work with and draft off each other.

Going into the run I felt strong and confident. I have been running MUCH stronger than before, and I knew I could run myself up. It was hard but I was determined to make up for my horrendous swim and having to ride alone on the entire 40km.

I passed Jina after about 4km and stayed strong, keeping off Sandra who is a strong runner. Oh, but my right quad was threatening to cramp. So I took some isotonic drink and PRAYED. Yup, it worked. Oh, Wang Dan, our coach here was encouraging me along the way (she was on her bike). It helped.

Finally, the FINISH LINE!!! I crossed n 2.28.41. Not a bad time for OSIM course. If I had not swam off course, and stuck with Christine/Jina pack, I would easily have done about 2.24, a fantastic time. Oh wells...now I know what to work on.

Talking to Val and Bae who braved thick mud to watch my race!
Being an idiot walking to the stage for prize presentation.

It started storming so we got ponchos. Very unglam!! haha
Saw Bae n Val standing in the rain waiting to take photos for me. Thanks guys! So i gave my poncho to Bae who looked far worse and unglam than me!!!! HAHAHAHA
3rd place in Elite U23. 1st Hoi Long fom Macau, 2nd Wang Yi from China and 3rd Elaine Chan from Singapore.

I'm glad it's over =)

My Clem on the run
Mok on a good run

Gino

While waiting for me to pass by on the bike and run, Val, Mum and Bae had some ways of entertaining themselves. Bae tried out the funfair games.

Throw the loops into the poles.
Shoot suction bullets onto target squares.

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Mum enthusiastically played those kiddy games...many many MANY times. HMMMM.....

HAHAHAHA. Val was busy snapping evidence of Mum playing those games.