aviva singapore 70.3

So it turned out that the Nike run last week was not my last race.

The Aviva Singapore 70.3 was, yesterday.

However I participated not as an athlete, but in another capacity, as a bike course referee.

More used to swimming, biking, and running, I found the prospect of patrolling the course on a motorbike to be both relieving and weird at the same time. Heh.

Reached transition at 5 in the morning and as expected it was all wet from the thunderstorm the night before. But it did not seem to dampen any single one of the spirits of the 1000+ athletes as they cheerfully went about prepping themselves up for the race. I managed to catch up with a couple of old friends who I have not seen for a while as well, so it was good.

Went to meet up with my chauffeur for the day, Shaman, then went back to the beach to catch the pro wave start. The sun had just peeped over the horizon and it was shaping up to be a great day.

After some splashing about in the waters of East Coast, waves of triathletes began charging out of T1, looking to get started on their 3-loop, 90km bike ride across Singapore. Time to work, for both them and me!

It was a refreshing experience, both physically and mentally, to be sitting on a motorbike riding alongside the cyclists. While the physical aspect is certainly quite obvious, I found it very interesting to be participating in the race as a third-party official, to look upon the race from a very different angle.

Whilst before I had to contend with the headwinds, yesterday I had to grapple with drafting pelotons seeking solace from the headwinds together. Whilst I once had, as an athlete, to obey by the rules, I had to enforce them yesterday.

This year's bike course was interesting, with the route including both ECP and the West Coast Flyover, in a loop which spanned almost the entire east to west of Singapore. But alas as expected, coming from the Singaporean authorities, only 2 lanes of roads were allowed to be closed, even though there were many other viable traffic detours with full-road closure, which resulted in some very narrow, technical, and dangerous sections.

And of course, drafting.

I did my best at refereeing, most of the times preferring to give warnings rather than pulling out my cards. Of all the rules, drafting and littering were the ones which the most infringed upon. I also had to play the role of bike mechanic, medical liaison, as well as bike marshal as I came across athletes and volunteers who needed my help. And while I felt myself out of water at some of the roles, I did my best to offer my assistance.

Afterall, Ironman is sometimes about dealing with the unexpected.

At the end of the day, I gave out numerous warnings, but zero cards. As an athlete myself, I had been in the competitors' shoes before, and so I understood how terrible it would be for someone else to rain on my parade by giving me a card. Besides, nobody committed a foul bad enough to warrant a card. Apparently most of the people raced clean yesterday, with only one yellow being shown to a racer who drafted persistently even after being warned (given by my fellow referee team mate Alan).

So anyway headed back after most had finished the bike portion and caught the rest of the half-ironman on the sidelines watching people finish. Met up with more familiar faces before heading off for a quick KFC lunch, and then home.

All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday morning; giving back to the sport, as well as learning from one of the world's best Ironman referees, Ross McLennen. =)

one of the perks of the job

For more photos, go here.