Monday 15 December 2008

So many!

I had never had so many of my pictures taken at a race, and considering this Chin Woo Biathlon distance would only take about 45 minutes, I'm really delighted with the picture coverage! Thanks, Mr Tey for the wonderful photos!

Barely 10 hours after I arrived in KL International Airport, my family and I were already at the Chin Woo Stadium... with myself, brother, sister and dad taking part. Mum was our faithful caddy cum cheerleader!

I skipped quite a few of my pre race rituals as I opted to give myself more sleep instead. However on hindsight, I could have done them after all, as there were many waves before mine with the younger children and veterans doing their swim first.

I did a rookie's error by bringing the wrong set of goggles, good thing dad was able to lend him mine. My wave started about 8.45am, 75 minutes past the first wave's start time. The Powerbar Performance bar I ate at 7am would most likely not give me any more power for the race!

I was in lane 6, sharing with Kevin Chan, brother of national triathlete Eugene Chan. My main rival for this event is our representative to the recent SEA Games, Ah Wei. He was in lane 18, so I couldn't see much of him from my end.

I managed to overtake Kevin Chan by a full lap in the 800m swim. Transition was pretty smooth, the secret is to not tie your shoelaces too tight! But mum was yelling that Ah Wei had just left the transition. My total swim time including transition was 12 minutes.

After climbing the steps out from the swim pool, I headed out for the 3 loop 7km run, and saw Ah Wei just about 50-100 metres ahead of me. The run route was around the Chin Woo Stadium. I'm so not used to running near vehicle traffic, inhaling exhaust fumes and risk getting knocked down at the same time.

Towards the end of the first loop, I met Doc Ray, Tomato Ray, and Ultra Yip manning the drinks and ribbon stations.

Fatigue got the better of me on the second and third loop, I gave up chasing Ah Wei and he got further and further. I was worried that someone would catch me from behind. But I was lucky, I reached the final hill and ran to my 2nd place position with a run time of 30.12 and total finishing time of 42.13, about 40 seconds after Ah Wei.

Kevin Chan just pipped Andy for third placing. While Sue, Andy's wife had a tussle with Eugene for the finishing. Sue came in first for the women category.

We stayed for the prize presentations and lucky draws, which finished at 11.15am. It was a good outing. Finally meeting the people whose blogs I have been stalking! And sharing this racing experience with my family. My brother won his category and also gave the boys in the older age category, who competed at ITU events, a run for their money. His average time per lap was also quicker than mine... the lil' rascal!

While my sister who never swam so far before in a swim pool, managed to come in 2nd in her category despite coming out 3rd last from the water.

See you all at the Malakoff 12km run this Sunday!

8 comments:

yipwt said...

hi kev, glad to meet you. You did not bad for 2nd...

I kinda agree it's weird running alongside unmanned traffic. Don't think you'll have this in aussie.

Kevin Siah said...

Thanks very much, Yip. There is no bike involved, so I probably looked better than I actually am! Hahhah.

Just a matter of getting used to running on traffic roads I guess. Hope Langkawi won't be too busy.

Raymond said...

Welcome home!Great arm stroke Kev!Well done! My PB in the swim for Chinwoo was 12min also incl transition but my run sucks;hence i will give up chasing u also if i were to take part hahaha
C u this sat ok!

Kevin Siah said...

Thanks Ray, my run ok ok only lah. Also gave up chasing Ah Wei heheh. Yup, see you this Saturday! Don't cycle too fast ah!

Abu Soffian said...

Wah....U macam pro laa.... Memang Pro. Well done!!!

Kevin Siah said...

Hehheh thanks. Nolah, not pro lah. Was very lucky not many elites took part, otherwise no podium finish!

Anonymous said...

apa macam pro, dia pro lah ABU. cograt bro.

that why i do not want to race this time becoz there is pro coming home to race here. :D

sure kalah teruk punya. hehehe...

Kevin Siah said...

Thank you, thank you. Malu lah kena puji kau kau. Short distance lah, so didn't seem that far away from overall winner hehheh.