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The weather was fine, humid but not
too hot for me, might have been for others as I hear it was 34
degrees. I had a bad swim start and didn’t get on the feet of anyone
so I wasn’t able to draft. After a few hundred meters we caught up
with the slower swimmers in the group ahead and that’s when it got
really messy. I had to swim crisscross between the slower athletes
and I just couldn’t get any rhythm. I ended up swimming around 35
minutes which was very slow for me. I took around 2 minutes for the transition between the swim and bike, again a little slow for me but I needed to focus for the ride ahead. Out on the bike I stuck together with another guy for the first 15km then I let him pass as I wanted to find my pace. From that point I went about a lap by myself and got caught by some other cyclist, however I felt their pace was good so I joined them and kept my drafting distance, but it still give you some extra wind reduction. At the half way mark (45km) the leaders from the Pro group passed us and they where fast, but the group I was in decided to go with them. We rode with Luke Mackenzie, Terenzo Bozzone and the Pro leaders and we were able to keep the same pace until they finished. We had to do another lap since we started over 20 minutes behind them. Our group ended up splitting for the final lap and I managed to ride with a few others until transition but it would have been better to get in a pace group from the start. The Friday before the race I bought new pair of shoes, Saucony Fastwitch 3, I thought they might have been better than the ones I have been using, the Type A’s but they felt the same. On the run I was feeling pretty good, even though it is a 70.3 and I was a little fatigued I managed to keep the pace and started passing people. By the end of 2nd lap I started to feel sick, my stomach was really upset from the drinks and gels. I had to stop so at the beginning of 3rd lap I just needed to visit the toilets, I was there for a few minutes and it cost me the victory as I lost by 41 seconds. I have no regrets since I wasn’t able to continue the race if I didn’t stop. Overall I didn’t think the Singapore race is great, it’s ok, there is a lot of room for improvement but being another new course I am sure they will learn from the athletes. The swim start waves are messy and the bike and run loops are really crowded, especially the last lap. Another issue is you have no idea where you are in the field. It would be great if they had a timing board so you can at least set your pace. Even after I finished, no one was able to tell me where I came. This was the 2nd race for Singapore and I am sure it will improve with better features and course. I am sure they can do better. The organization was good; they need to be a little more athlete race focused. While I know most of the field is happy to keep their own time with their watches, a few timing display boards with split times will make it a more competitive race. Overall I came 2nd in my age group 25-29 year olds and 4th overall. The other Shanghai Tri Club STRIC crew did really well; it is always great to race with the Club. Results are here: http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/singapore70.3?show=tracker Freddie Croneborg | STRIC |
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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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