All news

Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore March 20 2011 - By Campbell Hanson

19/04/2011 12:28:53 PM

 

 

By Campbell Hanson

Paul Bethell and I travelled to Singapore recently to compete in our first Half Ironman distance race. Singapore is now the biggest 70.3 race outside of North America and this year attracted 1700 athletes with half of them being from overseas. Both being rookies at this distance we decided to pick an event with suffocating heat and humidity just to make it that little bit harder- they will all seem easy from now on right? Travelling up 2 days before the race we gave ourselves plenty of time to acclimatise!!

 

 

First impressions getting off the plane were- 1. it's bloody hot here! and 2. the roads are very fast. Looking at the previous years race the bikes times were exceptionally fast and the run times exceptionally slow. The fast roads reflecting the quick bike splits and the heat causing everyone to suffer on the run. This is how I decided to approach the race with the plan being to ride conservatively and then run strongly. Hydration would be key in the heat so having a solid nutrition plan and sticking to it was a priority.

 

A two lap swim course with a strong current was always going to be interesting. After sprinting to the first marker to avoid the traffic it wasn't long before we were swimming through the athletes in front. Some Singaporean locals were in for a long day having resorted to breaststroke after 200 metres and then having to be swum over by the faster age groupers. Exiting the water second in my age group and having survived the argy bargy it was onto the bike and out onto the hotmix.

 

 

The ride course is 3 laps and it's dead flat. Trying not to get caught up in the excitement of everyone hammering the first twenty k's I managed to settle into a rhythm and continue to pick off riders in front. Near the end of the first lap the pro's went rolling past, 12 of them all neatly spaced exactly 4.01 meters apart with the draft buster riding alongside them as they each rolled off the front! I sat on the back for a few k's and watched my speed go up 3-4 kph with no extra effort. All within the rules and perfectly legal but worth at least 10 minutes on this course. I now see what they mean when they say that if you don't make the front pack as a pro it's going to be a tough day. The rest of the ride went well, fluids and gels went on board without any drama's and I got off the bike feeling in good nick and ready to hit the run.

 

 

The plan here was to try and run 1hr 30min at around 4.20k's. The first few k's went by well at 4.08 and then the body temp started to rise and I had a bit of a rough patch in the middle from 4 to about 14k's. Nothing major but I knew that I didn't want to blow the radiator so the pace dropped a little. Things felt better over the last 7k's and I came home in 1hr 35min for the run after a 27min swim and 2hr 19min ride to finish 4th in my age group (35-39) and get a qualifying spot for the World 70.3 champs in Las Vegas (baby!) in September. Paul also had an excellent race and came home in 4 hr 46 min with the quickest swim split in his age group, a solid ride of 2hr 26min and a run of 1hr 42 min to place him 8th in his age group.

 

 

Singapore was a great experience and a very well organised race that is easy to get to from Australia with minimal time zone differences. We are both looking forward to giving it another crack next year and really enjoyed racing over this distance. See you out there....Cam.

 

 

 

 

By: Campbell Hanson

Source: