PD Triathlon 10-11 Oct 2015

Date   :  10^h -11^th October 2015

Venue:  Avillion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson, Seremban

This year is my third attempt at the PD triathlon Sprint AND my second PD Triathlon Relay Event.

Added Flavour

For the relay event, I was out of my comfort zone as I was to be the designated swimmer (1.5 km) unlike last year where I was the cyclist.  The Sprint was held on the Saturday 10^th August followed by the Relay event on Sunday 11^th October

The distances to be covered for each event were:-

SPRINT (Solo)

SWIM  - 750m;

CYCLE  - 20km;

RUN    - 5km

OD (Relay)
SWIM - 1.5 km;
CYCLE  - 40km;

RUN    - 10km

Boon decided to skip the OD event this year after having successfully completed it last year. Hence we were left with  only the two of us: Edward and I. We decided to continue the sprint event for the third year running. We also wanted to continue the relay event. Edward managed to get his colleague Leong to take part in the sprint event as well. This year Edward also managed to find enough participants to form 3 relay teams (9 participants)

My training this year was again rather sporadic. This year’s event was pushed back from August to October. I guessed it was a good move as last year the haze struck KL around July. So I thought it was a good move for the organisers to delay the PD Tri to October.  But this year the haze struck rather late i.e. mid-September.  The haze caused the Annual Standard Chartered Marathon to be cancelled. That event was meant to be held on the 4th October 2015, a week before the planned date. Thankfully towards the mid of event week the haze cleared.

 

We did whatever training we could do separately. I did most of my training (cycling and running) in my Taman.  Again my swimming was done at the public pool in Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras.

Footnote: Edward found later that he did not pay for the Sprint event and had only made payment for the OD relay. He had already paid for the accommodation for two nights thinking that he was going to do the sprint.

1) The Carbo dinner (night before event day)

This year Edward managed to book accommodation at the PD Golf and Country Club which is located just diagonally across the road from the event location. The location is much better than the Methodist church in terms of proximity to the event location.

Friday nite's carbo dinner for the Sprint event was the first time I met Leong.  I arrived late from work.  Leong had collected the goody bag and also checked into the hotel.

Sprint Event (Saturday 10^th October):

 Edward , Leong  &  Me

For the Saturday's carbo dinner OD/Relay event, we had a table all to ourselves as we had 3 relay teams (the biggest group we have so far). The dinner was held outside the hotel building.

OD Relay Event(Sunday 11^th October):

Team No	Swimmer	Cyclist	Runner
9024	Cheryl	Michael	Jason
9025	Edward	Jafri	Cheng
8019	Me	Ernie	Scott

Relay Carbo Dinner on Saturday evening
 (clockwise from left : Ernie, Jafri, Me, Edward, Michael,Cheryl, Cheng, Jason and Scott)

2) Event Day- OD & Relay  (11^th October 2015)

All of us stayed at the same hotel. On the event day we drove our cars to Avillion early morning

Grp Pic- Relay team members on event morning -just before start

2.1)Swimming Leg

We had 3 relay teams this year. There was an additional short beach run after the swim at the beach this year.Most of us opted for the runner of the relay team to do the beach run instead of the swimmer. Hence the runners had to be on stand-by at the beach on order to switch the ankle timer tag.

Swimmers flexing their muscles

Grp pic with relay team members at beach

Another Group pic at beach with relay team members

And we are off (Ed in background)....

red caps setting off for the swim

and she's the first to disappear into the water...

2.2)Cycling Leg

The three cyclist were Michael, Ernie and Jafri.  Both Edward and I opted to also try out the cycling as “ghost” riders.

Ernie- biking his way out to 
the main road

Ernie - ready to transition to cycling

We thought as a pre-cursor to next year’s full OD, we would just try out swimming and cycling the OD distances to see if we could handle two thirds of the course.

By the time we got back to Avillion from cycling, we did not meet up with the rest of the relay members. We figured we still had time to catch the free breakfast buffet at the hotel and headed straight for a late breakfast.  We were lucky as the buffet was still open. There were other OD participants there having breakfast too. Both Ed and I thought that they must have completed the course in good time to go to the hotel for breakfast. Super fast they were!!

After filling our stomachs we cycled back to Avillion hoping to catch the runners for a group picture.  We were too late as there had already returned to the hotel getting ready to check out.  So both Ed and I missed taking a group pic with the other relay members.

2.3)Running Leg

Runners waiting for cyclists to return

Jason -running back to the finish line

Cheng - running back to finish line

3)Completion Lunch

Finally managed to get a group pic after completion of the event. Lunch at local restaurant.

Having Lunch at Gin Men Teppanyaki, Port Dickson Town

4)RESULTS

The offical timing results were posted a few days later.

4.1)PD OD Relay Results

4.2) PD Sprint Results

I have made an improvement in my overall timing for the sprint as compared to 2014.
Managed to shave off about 15 minutes.  Yay!

5) More Pics

Leong on the run back

Sprint- Photo Montage

PL (in right of pic) a secondary school friend of a friend was also taking part in the Sprint event. I did not realise it until he came up and greeted me at the start of the swim.  This was his first attempt at the PD tri.  He turned up again taking part in the full OD Tri in 2016.

Sprint members (minus Edward)
 with completion medals