I did my first ever Olympic Distance Triathlon in Bintan. Well not the best place for beginners but it was a well worth it one for me. I've learnt to enjoy the race and have fun with it. I experienced many things I never knew I could in the past. Take cycling, for example; I couldn't last the distance while cycling in Pulau Ubin.
Race Briefing
Well, the OD race started with a heavy downpour when it was race time. The sea was churned up and choppy. You can see everyone running into shelter and anticipate what's going to happen next. Soon the rain began pouring even more heavy with thunder and lightning. You can see all the althetes are very cold and some were shivering. You can see all the kids supporters cheering on daddy and mummy. There were many guesses what's going to happen next. Some said that they will replace the swim for a run while we thought they will cancel the event and give us free entry or some discount next year. Metasports officials came over and said we will start at 2.15pm and as fast and heavy as the storm came, it went away by 2.15pm.
Check out the transistion with filled with ankle deep water
Very cold water - after the rain
We went to the transistion area to do a final check and to my shocking horror, all my stuff were submerged under the rain water. The flood was ankle deep. Hpmh! that was so encouraging and motivated! (yeah like real >.<) I quickly stacked all my shoes up and off to the swim start point. (note to self: Time to get a plastic container with cover)
Swim Start
The swim start point was HUGE! Probably 1.5 of a MRT cabin, which was fantastic. Enough for people to choose where they are most comfortable. As the horn sounded, everyone was running to the sea. As I was not a strong swimmer, I stayed at the back. Already predetermined which stroke I wanna use; breaststroke. The swim was fantastic. The water was warm (probably due to the rain, as cold water sinks) and still very very clear. You can see the sea bed even out in the deep. How cool can that be, if only it did not rain! I will be way much clearer. I took 36:02mins for the swim. Comparing to the trifactor swim at 45mins plus, this was faster by 9mins. This is my average time for a 1.5km swim.
Swimming - Checked!
Reaching the SWIM IN, I proceed to transition. Erm, I was "caught" taking my own sweet time in T1 by Andrew. I was putting on my socks, drinking water, taking gel, putting on my helmet.... I think I probably could have take a good whole 2-3mins (ok that will cause me in my time later)
As per the briefing session the night before, we were told that the start point for the bike was a steep up slope. The officials told us to put our gears in easy mode. At the starting line, as usual in races, I would be very nervous to be able to find my bike clip (needs more improvement). This bike course was one big challenge for me. It was hilly and climbing almost throughout! Flat course was minimal (maybe 5-7km of it). The first climb almost demoralized me. As I was climbing, I can see people over taking me one by one and saw people dismounting from bike and walking up. Well back in Singapore, I can see myself overtaking people, but here people are overtaking me fast! partly I was slow and not used to the terrain. Climbing was really not my game. Haha. Often or not, after you climb, you would expect a flat road but rather it was another climb. However tiring and tough the course was, i took it as a challenge and that motivated me even more. At my 30km, we rode past Bintan school. I slowed down to take a look at the school. Saw kids and their teachers/parents coming out to cheer on everyone. The school was a rub down one but the kids seems to be enjoying it. The kids was so happy to see us. Standing in a row they reached their hands out and gave us high 5 while cycling. Okok! That scene will be etch in my mind forever. It was the most memorable thought that kept me going the last 10km or so. Ok also, in that 1-2sec of high 5 with at least 6 kids, my hand hurt so much that it was hot! But it was fun.
Don't ask me what i'm looking at
Phew!
This is one of my toughest hilly ride I ever done so far. Even climbing on ECP/Benjamin Sheares bridge was much easier during the OCBC Cycle!The run was a 2 X 5km loop. We had to run outside Nirwana Gardens, into some forest terrain and finally back into Nirwana Garden. The run started with a very steep climb. It was so steep then I could only slowly jog up and when I reach the top it was another climb to another steep pavement. The terrain outside Nirwana Garden was very hilly and undulating. There were no flat throughout. Only when entering back to Nirwana Garden (probably 2km) than we had some flat route. During the run, I experienced cramp/ pins & needles to my calf. It felt like I could not feel the floor; feels like part of your leg is in mid air. But thankfully, the organisers gave use iced sponges to cool down. With that, I squeezed as much icewater I could to ease the numbness. I felt so relief to my calf once the cold water an sponge was on my calf. Also, when reaching Nirwana Gardens, I had to decide if I want to use the toilet. Eventually, I went! I had such a bad tummy ache after dismounting from the bike. When i past Banyu Biru Villa, I quickly made use of the Swimming pool toilet. If you wish to use the toilet to take a dump, you need to swim 1.5km, cycle 40km and run 4km to reach to the nearest toliet. After that, the toilet would appear on your 8km run. Well throughout the race, if you are really in desperate means, there are many tall bushes that can quite do good job as a makeshift toilet so no worries there :-)
Down the slope and entering Nirwana Gardens
Back of Nirwana Gardens
Beach at Nirwana Gardens
Beach at Nirwana Gardens
While running through Nirwana Gardens, the atmosphere was truly a great one. One by one, people are just calling out your name cheering you on. The feeling was so great that one actually can go further and the supporters are just guest of the resort!
My race result is not the best as I believe I could have done better. Perhaps I'm not used to the terrain but that's shouldn't be an excuse. This is my first Olympic Distance Triathlon, I took it as a learning experience however bad the results. Overall, it was really damn fun to do. I would do more OD to improve myself.
Going into the Finishing Line
Crossing the finishing line
Glad that we complete it
There were many accommodation to choose from in Nirwana Garden. If you are going there next year, do book early. I stayed at 3 bedroom villa - Banyu Biru Villa. It's a 2 story villa that has all the essential items (towel, kitchen with cooking equipment, shampoo, LCD TV) . You can cook or even BBQ, if you have the time. Bintan is actually quite a boring place as there are not much things to do so we brought our mediabox and just watched movies after movies. Thank goodness they provided LCD tv. I booked my villa under Costa Sands Resort - www.costasands.com.sg
Banyu Biru Villa
