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 The second MRA
Bali International Triathlon was held Sunday June 26 with almost
perfect conditions and a super fast field. Bali, like most Asian
cities has had its ups and downs and at the moment the community is
feeling the effects of rising oil prices affecting tourism. However
the Balinese are friendly, happy people who are always willing to
help where they can and the Triathlon community was welcomed back
for 2008 with open arms.
More information visit the MRA Bali International Triathlon - www.balitriathlon.com |
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STRIC - Shanghai Tri Club is a
free and open club. We take no responsibility for injury during events
or training. |
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Friday was the course tour on the bike and the bike blessing. We all
met by the beach at the Four Seasons Hotel, introduced ourselves and
we all headed off on the bike course. This was fun; we had several
Police as escorts to clear the traffic. We quickly realized the
course had changed this year and was a little more challenging than
first thought. I’ll give the rear disc a miss next year. As our
friend AJ Anderson said “I won’t be using my disc again either, it
was like carrying a brick up those hills” The 25 cassette and some
stiff, light wheels is the call for next year. For the most part the
course conditions were good, there were a few tricky places over
speed bumps and ‘not so good’ surfaces, however overall it was a
nice course.
After returning to the Four Seasons it was time for the bike
blessing. Wow this was special. There was a Balinese Hindu Priest
who did a ritual near the athletes as we sat on a special mat. Our
bikes were lined up and they attached offerings to each of the bikes
and blessed us and our gear. It felt like we were part of something
a little more than just another Sunday ‘hit out’. Without getting
too mushy, after this experience we all knew the local were
supporting us and it was going to be a really fun day, and it was.
The weather was sunny, hot under the sun but not too humid. Bali has
this great climate where the temperature rises and falls ten degrees
across the year but since it is a small island it is never very
humid. The evenings were perfect, t shirt and shorts weather the
whole time.
The swim was long. That’s pretty much all I’ll say about that except
I personally had a shocker. After a personal best in the China IM
70.3, I was really disappointed not so much that the course was
long, more that I swam into a bunch of jellyfish and had to stop and
change course and also the fact that swimming is the only discipline
of the three that is completely unforgiving. If you haven’t trained
hard enough it will show. I hadn’t done enough in the water before
this event and it smashed me at about the 1km mark. I quickly pulled
myself together in transition and loved the bike and run course.
The Race was won by invited professional Australian Luke Mackenzie.
Luke is one of those really down to earth types who got around and
met most of the athletes and had a chat. Luke had come straight off
his first Ironman win in Japan and was racing like the champion he
is. Second overall was our very own Freddie Croneborg followed by a
familiar field of athletes who get around the Asian events. STRIC’S
Andrew Hay was 9th overall and 2nd in his age group. I had a lot of
fun and can highly recommend making this a must for your race
calendar. The guy from Bali Discovery did a great job with the
transfers from the airport and the packages that are on offer
represent really good value for all budgets. Congratulations to
Brennan and Rob for putting together a great Bali Tri experience.
We’ll be back - KP
