2007 OSIM Hong Kong Triathlon ITU Asian Cup

I was in HK from fri 21st Sept to Tue 25th Sept. It was fabulous. Jie came along to support me. thanks Jie! And we did lots of shopping after the race.

The HK Triathlon went well despite horrific conditions. Pre-race, I was really worried about the swim after sighting 2 big brown jellyfish near the swim course during race recee on Friday. Also, the race route was changed from previous years. The bike course was particularly hilly. 4 loops of 10km. On each loop, there is a steep 400m climb, then a long 1.5km climb just before the 5km turnaround. The 10km turn around was at the foot of the steep 400m hill. Insane, I was braking like crazy but still going down was scary. The run course was 4 loops of 2.5km, plus a 1km extra bit before the finish line.

Race morn was bad. Typhoon warning level 1. It was raining and very windy. Setting up transition, my bike hanging on the bike rack was flapping like a leaf. The wet roads made the bike course very dangerous. Many people fell. Strong crosswinds as well.

setting up transition and preparing for a warm up jog.

The swim course was definately long, and I didn't go out too hard since I was scared to swim alone, so I just swam near jina. The bike was alright, I survived the hills. haha. Kinda think I cld've rode harder tho, but I was quite worried about the wet roads. No point taking unnecessary risks.

Thanks for the very enthusiastic cheering Jie! She was standing near the peak of the 400m hill and would take photos, shout n jump/run ard whenever I rode past. I actually felt like laughing, but going at about 9kmh, I might fall off if i laughed...if I still had the energy to laugh. Yup, and Uncle Brian would say "okok I got a photo/shot of you" everytime i rode past. haha.
going up the steep 400m hill.

Thanks everyone for the cheering and support! Definately helped in the rather spectator-unfriendly course.

The run was fabulous!! Fantastic! I was not sure how i'd feel coming off the hilly bike, kinda expecting my legs to feel heavy, but no. Not at all! I felt super fresh and fast. I was pacing an Aust athlete, White, on the first 5km of my run. she was on her last 5km. haha. But i managed to keep her within sight. I started feeling it on the last 2km of the run, legs were kinda tired. And there was an enormous blister on the sole of my right foot, which affected my running a lil.

Nonetheless it was a blazing 44.04min 10km! WHEEEEE...

Somehow I was not totally wrecked after the race, could probably have run faster but there was no competition (the elite field was huge, but they were out of my league)! The girl ahead of me, a China athlete, was 10min ahead, and the Thai athlete behind me was a further 15-20min behind.

anyhow, my new adidas Chiba Pro shoes were great, save for that one big blister and a few small cuts. Markedly better than all my previous racing shoes.

Jie took many cool shots of my race, including those above, but i don't have all the pictures with me now. check out her blog for some photos!

Post race was fabulous. Dim sum, wanton mee, street snacks, roasted pigeon and goose, etc. Good (and quite cheap) food and good shopping.

Mad shopping actually. Our motto was: don't think, just buy. haha. we had so many things to buy for Dad, Mum, Val, Bern, Rong, Bae, Clem, ZW, snacks for family, Tony (my Aust coach) and ourselves. We had several great buys at Esprit.

I think HK is similar to S'pore in many ways. Transport, housing, economy...

HK, like S'pore, is famous for its shopping and food. Tho i'd say HK is WAYYY better--you get street market, imitation goods and mega malls of high end brands...and good fashion sense/clothes. Altho I wld consider Jie having good dress sense, she made us the objects of many stares because of her fabulous idea to wear ponchos and walk around Tsim Sar Tsui. It was practical actually, considering how we were relatively dry in the typhoon.

Also, HK doesnt have many of its own attractions, it's more like a gateway to China, Macau, just as S'pore is the gateway to South East Asia's attractions. But i must say, S'pore is more liveable. Some parts of HK were just too old! Like near Mong Kok area. The buildings are so old! It is really a concrete jungle, scarily congested and crowded. Shopping on Mon and Tues was worse than weekends in Orchard in S'pore.

HK was rather heavily Jap inspired. They had alot of those kawaii stuff. Cutesy trinkets and clothes. Actually, it was like a East meets West. Lots of Western fashion and brands as well. And they had alot of snacks/food from Taiwan and China...like S'pore, not too much of its own products, things unique to HK.

HK has a very unique skyline tho. Uber tall apartment blocks (which look identical), skyscrapers and multiple flyovers against a back drop of mountains. Weird.

FYI, HK has 2 beaches on the south of HK island. One is a small public beach and the other is where the rich and famous congregate.

HK was fun yet tiring. Shopping and walking from morn to night. haha. just like the HK tourism ad "mai dong xi, chi dong xi, x5" I feel that HK is not very liveable and suddenly feel Singapore is liveable. I can't understand why 7 million ppl want, or live in HK. perhaps coz the salary is higher? haha.