Putrajaya Half Ironman 70.3: A race to remember

Sofian, Raymond Tan, me, and Emma...

Guaranteed no jelly fish sting...

Thanks Ishal, now all I need is 50mm high profiles.

Running on pavement was hard...

Finished in 5:26 (minus 10 for 3rd wave)

After months having doubts on the event going on, finally an email confirmation came to validate its' presence in Malaysia.

Didn't have much hope for the race, except just finishing within a good time. And I've got friends doing this the first time, so I think it would be something more memorable for them, as a must do event before IM 2010 langkawi next year.

I'd came on saturday evening to get the registration and bike done. Notable was the lesser bike racks compared to a full IM event.

---

Race day: They had us released in waves. The pros goes first, then followed by the age groupers. Met with fellow tris whom I think made this whole race, a fun affair. oh well, the swim was pretty bad. Made a few detours and had to come back to the main traffic. The turning point took forever to reach, which had me in wonder if this is really longer than it looks. The water visibility was pretty ok. Only thing is you can't see the murky bottom. Finished in 40 minutes.

The bike was a pretty fast affair. If you had a TT bike, you'll be flying. If you have both a TT and high profile wheelsets, you probably might break the sound barrier. Occasionally I was cresting 40km/h.

Now, at the end of the first loop, we had to make a left turn back to PICC, and then back to the main big loop. That begs the question why. Simply it's because the main loop is a bit too short perhaps like 26km only. Some didn't really complete the whole distance because they overshot it.

Managed to bumped into Roger and Keat seong during the bike course. Chatted a little and somehow we lost touch afterwards. It's only at the end of the bike course Abu went pass. Dush whom I exited the swim together had went way ahead. Finished the bike in 2:50

And now for the run. Came back with the crowd cheering, so I guess it's a have to run just to make up the show, or else I'd prefer a cool drink and a seat. We ran on the main road temporarily, before going right next to the lake's side path. A nice cool breeze was whipping, and the sun has yet to come up in full force.

Up till now, I'd be worried of getting baked. Putrajaya has too many road pavements and less trees. So the cool weather did helped.

I did enjoy the run with aid stations along the way. There was fruits, gatorade, and iced water. Sometimes I had the whole bottle down my neck to cool off.

There were lots of supporters to cheer us on. So that kind of lighten the mood of having going through the 2 loops.

I was determined to run the whole course, and not walk. Tried to follow some Mat Salleh but even their jogging pace had me running faster than I could.

In the end, caught up with Roger, and finished the whole race in 5:26 with a running time of 1:56
I was just happy with sub 5:30

---
Thanks to all supporters who had captured photos, cheered, and made the whole event merrier. As for the management, I'd hope they continue this next year, but with a less confusing bike course, and also nicer Ts.