AVIVA 70.3 20 March 2011

Yeah. That was my number tag! Didnt strike me till I got my bodymarking done. The volunteer muttered... 7-11... "Thank Heaven for 7-11"?


No pressure was what went through my head. I remembered in 2010, I didnt have any pressure doing the AVIVA 70.3 either. Not that I was confident of the race, but more of calming myself down. My Coach reminded me again that I had done the time training, I would not be any readier and told me to enjoy the race.


I did my warm up swim. On the way back to the shore, I found myself being swept westwards. And pretty strongly as well. So in my head, I was thinking that the swim may not turn out to be too easy. And I was right. According to ironman.com, I came out of the swim in 48:56! I had expected 35-38min! This was just too far off. I had planned to draft Matthew as I told him at the swim start. But the moment the horn went, I lost sight of him. there were so many blokes around. Some breast stroke, some grabbing my body. Past AVIVA had not been like this. I am not sure why this year was so different. Possible reasons were the current, my poor sighting and inability to find somebody to draft at all. I was passing people and people were also passing me. I kept swimming into people, even on the 2nd loop, which really frustrated me. Bad swim was what crossed my mind.


Coach told me to try riding out of T1 with the shoes clipped on. I had practiced it but decided against it to do it during the race because my shoes velcro tend to slip back very easily. Instead of fumbling with the strap while riding, I decided I should just run with my shoes. In any case, the ride out of T1 was a gentle slope, I may lose more seconds trying to put on my shoes instead.


Bike leg was good on the 1st loop. I let the faster riders zoom past. I was already holding speed of 35-38kph on my own. I didnt want to trash my legs. The 2nd leg There was a huge group of riders going at my speed together. I sat on their train and sped along at over 40kph! I had no intention to draft but the suction power was just too strong, and besides, they were going at my speed and I couldnt go any faster nor slower. So I took advantage of that.  Passed Poon when he slowed past the aid station at the start of 3rd loop. But the lead was not for long. He passed me pedaling leisurely. Darn! Clearly not "Muscle Poon" for nothing. And I lost the group on the 3rd loop because there were some of the guys who slowed down and the fast group had zoomed off again. I didnt want or couldnt give chase so for most of the 3rd loop I was on my own, riding at 32-35kph. Hell of a difference compared to the 1st loop because of the wind at different sections.

Photographs by Richard Leong

Photographs by Ng Yong Feng

According to the ironman website athlete tracker, my bike splits were 50:34, 47:56 and 51:55. Total time taken on the bike leg was 2:30:25.


Run was alright. Spent 1:45 in T2. Basically ran at the pace I was most comfortable with at that point in time. I wanted to push it slightly faster but the lack of confidence took control of it. I was afraid that I would not be able to sustain. Had told my wife that I would want to run hard since I had trained so much for it. Clearly didnt take place. I was able to pick up my pace and ran some of the runners down on the 2nd lap, but still not the fast pace which I trained at. As I entered the chute, I still had quite a fair bit in the tank. Possibly a very good pace for my ironman I think. Provided I can still do the same after 180km bike?

Photograph by Adeline Khoo/Alethea Lim

Crossed the line in 1:58:56. Total time taken was 5:23:35.


Among the local athletes, I was
1) ranked 20th of 420 (with 1 female ahead of me)
2) 3rd in my age group of 82 registered athletes (but only 72 took part in the race)


Among the international field, I was
1) ranked 59th of 339 in my age group
2) 266th out of 1538 athletes

Photograph by Richard Leong

This was a vast improvement over my last year's AVIVA, but bearing in mind that the bike leg had changed and the run could have been slightly shorter. I know of people who did not take part in it because of the bike leg which had the Sheares Bridge ride dropped for the 1st time after 5 years of inception of the M Dot event. Regardless, my target of 5.5hrs was met and surpassed. My first race of 2011 and it was good. I can only hope that Challenge Cairns will also be enroute to a good timing.


My family was there, as per past 3 years. And it was nice to see familiar faces in the crowd of people I didnt know. My colleague and friends were there to support the athletes too. I enjoyed the race. Even when my wife forgot to bring the camera to take pictures, I just laughed at her and went off again on the bike. Their presence was good enough for me.


Will I do it again? Why not? As Matthew said, it is not everyday that we will get to do a race at race pace and with all the support - although I hardly made use of the support except the sponges and water to pour on myself. I will do it again.