Sam's Desaru 1/2 Ironman Distance Race

As you may know I'm on holiday with the family and having a great time. The triathletes I left behind in KL though were left with few excuses to avoid doing one of the hardest races around - The Desaru 1/2 Ironman Distance Race - I call it the Devil's Cauldron Race.

Sam send me an update which is a very worthy race write up - here's what he wrote: -

"Re Desaru, the day started as a real scorcher in true Desaru style. All the participants stood at the starting line sweating their balls off as Chan did his race briefing yet again (I guess he had to since only about 20% of the participants attended his evening briefing).

The shape of the swim course was changed this year to a long “out” followed by a short 100m parallel to the beach and then back to the start, 2 loops. The water was very choppy and once you were in the water, you could not see the first turning mark. The only thing to guide you was the line of small buoys that went vaguely in the direction of the turning mark. Most swimmers kept to the outside of the small buoys where it became a bit of a bun fight and a roller coaster. I chose to take the inside line with the small buoys to my left which turned out to be a wise move. I had much clearer water albeit it was still choppy and I was able to get into a rhythm, if you can call it that after 50m or so. I had no panic attacks, thank goodness. In fact, I quite enjoyed the conditions. They kept my mind occupied on the job at hand and when I came out after the swim in 43min or so I discovered I was ahead of Randy and Japanese Sam, both of whom normally beat me on the swim.

One reason for the choppy sea was the strength of the wind, even at 10am in the morning. So I knew that there would be some head wind on the bike. Sure enough and soon onto the bike, you could feel the effects of the wind. Of course, this helped you in one direction and it was against you in the other. I decided to adopt a conservative approach and to save myself for the run particularly since it was turning out to be a very hot day (39C) and very reminiscent of Langkawi. The last thing I wanted to do was to “bonk” so I took on as much water as I could on the bike which meant stopping at the turn-around by the golf course to refill my bottles since they only had small plastic cups and jugs as means to dispense the water. There were no bike-friendly water bottles that you could pick up on the move. Given that this water station was the only one marked on the bike course, it should have been managed better. I finished the bike course in just under 3 hours which is a tad slow for me but under the conditions, it's what I chose to do in the belief that the worst was yet to come.

I went out on the run not knowing where I was in relation to the others in my age group except for Michael who was not far behind me. As I started the run, the heat of the day started to take its toll and I could feel my body overheating. I got as far as the golf course turn-around and gave myself a "Langkawi shower" by pouring loads of iced water over my head and back. Phew! You could see the steam coming off me in true cartoon style! I knew I was taking too long at the aid stations but it was either that or blow up! So, I took every opportunity to cool down and to take on two cups of water and the odd gel. I could see that Michael was slowly but surely catching me up. Eventually things started to improve and I got into my stride and my breathing became less laboured. I passed Alvin from the Philippines who was in 1st place. He was suffering from cramps and persevering like a true trooper. At the half way point, the sky clouded over and I became less concerned about overheating and more concerned about picking up my pace albeit I was still stopping at every aid station to take on water and to cool down. With about 4k to go and on that nasty little incline, Michael comes past me looking strong. I could not respond and once around the roundabout and heading back to the finish opening my stride, I knew I could not catch him. Good on you Michael! I finished 2nd in 5.22 and I was very happy with my time.

We all went down to Sungai Renggit for the traditional "fish supper" that evening washed down by a few bottles of ice cold Heineken. Lovely! We then retired to that famous ice cream parlour called the "Petronas petrol station" in Desaru for a well earned Cornetto before turning in for the night to watch the 100m men's final on the TV. It was yet another great dayin Deasru. However and for some, the day did not end there. You will be amused to know that Dr Tan who did the race, Nage and Jason of Pacesetters stayed up in the hotel bar drinking beer until 2am.

Cheers mate and I trust all is well in Euroland!

Sam"