PDIT: Race Report

Set off on a rather gloomy Saturday morning. My vehicle commander was Freddie, a SAFRA Mt Faber runner too, and one year my junior at NTU. He was previously a tank commander in NS so we would be in safe hands under his command. =)

Left SG customs rather late at about 10, but it was ok since our race was only going to be on Sunday. However Freddie wanted to support some of his friends who were participating in the sprint race so our H hour to reach PD was 2pm. I also wanted to watch the elite race at 4pm that day.

Quite an uneventful ride save for a couple of intermittent thunderstorms and a long convoy of Singaporean Harley Davidson bikers. Boy are they fast!!!

Harleys zooming down as far as the eye can see

Reached PD slightly over 2. If the weather in the morning was gloomy, the mood had changed drastically as it was seriously raging with a serious thunderstorm now! Apparently the sprint race had not been postponed but visibility was so bad that I could not see any of the competitors! Not surprisingly as I found out later, Uncle Chan cut short the bike route and the elite was was postponed to Sunday, starting just 5 mins before us age groupers.

Did our registrations, then went over to our accommodation at PD Perdana Holiday Apartments. Jerry and Reeves, our roomates, were already there. It was anything but holiday apartments man.. Everything was so run down! Looked like the last occupants were the PD Triathlon 06 competitors! Haha. But I guess its ok since we were only staying for a night.

Freddie and Tititi Reeves

Jerry

Went for race briefing and carbo-loading dinner at night and caught up with quite alot of friends, both Singaporean and Malaysian! Went back after the dinner for some much needed rest.

Uncle Chan at his best

Luckily it did not rain throughout the night and by race day morning the roads were somewhat dry. Sky was overcast but did not look threatening. Perfect weather to do a PB, I thought. =) Some photos before the start:

me and Whelan.. Too bad he crashed during the bike if not I think he would have done very well!

Alvin's Aquatic Angels

Race started with waves flagged off at 5 min intervals of each other. Being in the 16-29 age group, I started in the 2nd wave, after the elite category. Swim course was rather straightforward and water was calm. Came out in 32mins, which is good for me, as the swim is my weakest discipline.

Ran out of the water and went straight onto the bike. Did the course last year so somewhat I already knew what to expect. As my swim was relatively slow, the fast pelotons had already departed and so I began quite a lonely 40km bike. The course was quite nice.. A little rolling at times but also some nice flat portions. I was quite determined to catch up with the front pack and so I went along quite furiously. Bike split: 1hr 12mins. Not the fastest, but ok enough for me, because afterall I still had my run, which was supposed to be my trump card.

Or was it not to be? My calves felt damn tight coming off the bike. Thinking that I just needed some time to adjust to running, I took it easy and sort of just "spun" my legs. Hmm.. 1.5km later and things were still not easing up. Worse still, it started pouring real heavily. Die lah. So I stopped and stretched. But things were still not improving! @#@$#@% What happened to my secret weapon? No choice, my run became a shuffle, and at some point, a walk. But I managed to
run the last 1.5km.. Think my brain's pain receptors were fried already by that time.

So I crossed the finishing chute in 2hr 49mins, 6mins off my timing last year. @!#@!$% 1 hour to run 10km!!! So much for PB.. =(

Also, I heard that somebody drowned. Dunno much details, but if it is true its damn saddening. When I completed there was not much news about it too. But then again heard that they only found the body at 5pm on Sunday. =(

Oh well that's all from me.. Leaving you with a photo collage which I did. Thanks Fennel for the support and photos! =)

PDIT 2007, no. 143 Jeremy Kang.