Bintan Triathlon May 27th 2006

I decided to apply for a "pro package" to the Aviva Bintan Triathlon when it was clear I was going to be unable to prepare adequately for the Florida 70.3 race. My initial thought many weeks earlier was that I would have resolved my injury problems and had plenty of time to prepare for the Florida race. That wasn't to be the case though unfortunately, as I have only been able to start running again in the last three weeks. The attractive thing about the Bintan race was that only 10 athletes, 5 men and 5 women ( I know, I am not a man, barely even a boy ) were to be eligible for the "pro package" which was to include race entry, accommodation and all meal expenses, so it was unlikely many more than 5 pro's would show up. This, despite the fact that there was some relatively substantial prizemoney on offer, considerably more than 99% of the races held in my home country - US$6000 for the win down to US$1000 for 5th. The point I am making here is that I could participate in this race somewhat underdone and still have a reasonable chance to win some money.

As it turned out, there were 6 of us racing for the dosh - one unlucky soul was going to miss out. I was rooming with Brad Beven, and, as we were probably the most underdone of anyone racing, the going joke was which one of the two of us was going to go away empty handed and bitter. ha ha ha. I was realllllly hoping it wasn't going to be me, but wasn't all that confident I was going to be able to get the job done based on my questionable race preparation.

Joining both Brad and I on the start line was Courtney Atkinson (untouchable - bastard!), Bryce Quirk (not quite as untouchable as Courtney), Fraser Cartmell GBR (unknown) and Tristan Calwell NZL (unknown). It was funny in the lead up to the race as we tried to figure out just how good the unknowns were. My methodology here is that if you haven't heard of them, then they aren't as good as you are, ha ha ha. Brad was just worried. The bad thing about that methodology is that it can blow up in your face - the world is a very big place with plenty of triathletes! I am not bad am I - barely 80% fit and thinking like that. (I can just imagine the race field for Alcatraz looking through the start list, reading my name and thinking, "don't have to worry about him" - karma)

I had a chat to young Fraser after the race and there is a connection between the two of us. He is a Scotsman, coached in the past by my first coach when I was on the Gold Coast, Darren Smith. The world can be big and small all at the same time.

The weather all week was pretty warm and humid and race day was no exception. Thunderstorms in the area are commonplace at this time of the year and the small print in the race documentation stated that in the event of a storm, a siren would sound (actually used to warn the golfers at the resort to take cover) and the race would be stopped. The position on the road of each athlete at the time would be deemed their finishing position. We joked about that amongst ourselves too - hoping that our fellow competitors were unaware of the thunderstorm procedure. ie if you notice a storm coming in, go hell for leather! As it turned out, we were all informed of this rule at the pro meeting - damn! - no surprise that really.

Without the hint of a thunderstorm in the air, we started the race at 2pm on the Saturday. The water was, without a doubt, in the vicinity of 28 degrees, but that wasn't the major hurdle to be overcome. For me it was the beach start and the extraordinarily long wade out to deeper water to commence swimming proper. I was last of the pro men to commence swimming after the wade, and that was pretty much the end of my chance to try and stay with the pack as long as possible, the string had been snapped right from the gun! The news was to get worse too, the course involved exiting the water, running around a marker on the beach and reentering the water to finish off the rest of the 1500 meter journey - 4 wades in total - jeepers!

Courtney stamped his authority right from the gun. He led the wade, but still had company in the form of Brad, Bryce and, I think, Fraser on his feet in the initial stages of the swim phase. Bryce said after the race that at this point in time Courtney slowed right down for twenty seconds or so and then put in a 60 second 100m. He cracked everyone with this surge and got away, exiting the water a minute up on Brad, Bryce and Fraser. Tristan exited about 2 mins back and I was arse end charley, 3 mins in arrears. I was praying that there were no thunderstorms in the immediate vicinity!

The initial stages of the bike were undulating with some sharp climbs. After negotiating this first challenge, most of the rest of the course consisted of longer shallower climbs with a few more shorter sharper efforts at the far end of the out and back course. The end of the initial climbs, 2 k into the cycle, marks the exit point of the resort hosting the race and the start of the shallower flatter parts of the course. Just after I exited the resort it started to rain torrentially, there was thunder and visible lightning flashing in the immediate area. As I was in 6th place at this time, I was praying that the race would not be stopped (I was also praying I didn't get struck by lightning). Luckily it wasn't,(and I didn't) but it was quite a laugh as we discussed it amongst ourselves after the race.

The amount of rain falling was incredible, I have never experienced a downpour like it.

The rain, thunder and lightning slowly diminished as the race progressed and by the time I had Tristan in sight at the 15k mark, it had virtually disappeared. At the turnaround point at about the 20k mark, Tristan had 20 seconds on me, Brad 5 seconds more, Bryce and Fraser about a minute and Courtney, minutes. Tristan, Brad and myself converged on each other with approximately 15k to ride. I went passed them both and tried to blow them both away, but I had used a lot of energy up in the initial chase and they were able to cling onto me for the rest of the journey back to T2.

My transition to the run was a bit of a shocker, but I had to make sure my shoes were laced up tight so my foot got the support it needed. I lost 15 seconds to both Brad and Tristan right there, so started the run in 6th and out of the money. It wasn't looking good! I was patient though and bided my time, running the first 5k lap relatively conservatively. Despite my conservative approach I was able to limit the time gap to both Tristan and Brad. I knew the race between the three of us would be won on the last 5k lap as it was starting to get very sticky and uncomfortable and the run was particularly hilly and challenging. I had not given up all hope of catching either Fraser or Bryce, as they got off the bike only about a minute in front, but the task at hand was to get by either Brad, Tristan or hopefully both, and take away some money.

At the end of the first lap we all converged on one another again, I went straight past the both of them and put in a surge - if you can call it that. Anyway, it seemed to have the desired effect and I managed to drop both of them. Brad was gone at this stage, but Tristan was hanging in there (bastard!) and it meant I had to work all the way to the finish line. About a kilometer out from the finish is the top of the hardest hill on the course, and I was gagging at the top of it. It was at this point that I saw Fraser for the first time, but there was no hope of catching him with a kilometer left to run. I looked back a few times running down the other side towards the finish and was relieved to discover that I was safe for fourth position. I was shattered at the end of the race, but happy at the same time. I wasn't the one missing out, but I was disappointed for Brad at the same time. He has had a rough trot for what seems like an eternity now and was pretty bummed out after the race. He cheered up soon enough though - he is a trooper and will regain some of his old form soon, no doubt.