One fine evening in January 2021 and I am recovering from AC joint operation done a couple of weeks ago. No, I am not writing about how I ended up in operation theatre. Rather, I am writing about more colorful experience in Sydney, Australia in November 2019.
I am way behind on posting this race report, which is probably appropriate given it will match my finishing time of the actual race. But, the urge of racing adrenaline really hits my stomach and writing this race report seems fitting my current circumstances 🙂
Planning
The 2019 Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney race date is 24-Nov-2019. After carefully considering my son O level exam completion date, our kids preferred destination, training duration that I will need, and most importantly the affordability factor, I signed up for this race in Aug 2019. We agreed to explore 3 main cities in Australia: Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra by land in two weeks and spend 1 full day for the race. It sounds perfect and it really was indeed 🙂
Sydney Weather
Knowing the bush fire started early that year in October and it went rampage particularly in New South Wales, Australia, we expect to be welcomed by the smoke and hazy weather all over Sydney. Luckily, the haze have died down for the day when we landed at Sydney Kingsford Airport on 19-Nov-2019. It was a nice chill weather that evening. I took up my rental car Subaru Forrester at the Airport and drove straight to our airbnb stay at St. Mary, Penrith.
In the days leading to the race day, the haze went back and forth in any random time. The mercury shoot up to 40 Celcius in a few days leading to the race. There was a possibility the race can be cancelled should the situation gets worse.
On the other hand, the days when the haze shortly gone were the best time to explore Sydney. We visited Bondi Iceberg where my daughter and I swam in the swimming pool located right at the seashore of beautiful Bondi beach. It is a salt-water swimming pool with the water temperature of 19 Centigrade.
Race Day
I collected the race pack and rack the bike on Saturday, 23-Nov. The haze still exists though thinner and weather was warm, hovering 36 Celcius.
On the positive note, the weather forecast for tomorrow is cooler and the race is ON, which is indeed the best news of the day.
The next morning at 4.45 am, we drove down to the race venue.
Swimming
The 1 lap swim course is situated in the man made, sheltered Penrith Lake home to the 2000 Olympic Sydney International Regatta Center (SIRC), perfect for the nervous swimmer like myself. The iconic and purpose built facility is the perfect swim course for both spectators and athletes as the rectangular shaped course starts and finishes in front of the grandstand before finishing by swimming under the bridge through to the warm up lake before exiting to Transition.
The rolling swim start by age group made for peaceful swim until the end. The pros batch started at 6.15am. Meanwhile, my age group started at 6.53 am. I managed to focus on my own pace and survived the swim leg with quite consistent pace throughout. Garmin shown pace 1:48 with total distance of 2000 m. I am happy with my official timing of 00:35:35 for 1900 m or 1:52 min/100 m pace.
Cycling
The bike route took us to the scenic views of the Blue Mountains and roll through the countryside on the two-lap bike course.
We left the race precinct via McCarthys Lane, heading around Whitewater Stadium (hitting it again on the second lap) before making their way onto Castlereagh Rd and head towards The Driftway via Brookes Lane. We then returned to the precinct via McCarthy’s Lane and completed the ride over the bridge and towards transition. We rode through smooth road surfaces as we head onto the run course while introducing a number of technical turns.
I kept focused on my own pace. Completed 1st loop in 01:17 hour. Then, the rain started pouring & sounds of brakes aplenty in this technical bike course with many sharp turns.
I am happy with bike timing of 02:37:03 for 90 km.
Running
The run course set at the base of the stunning Blue Mountains and Nepean River, along The Great River Walk right alongside the Sydney International Regatta Centre before we re-live the best of the 2000 Olympic venue as the rest of the run course encircles the iconic Penrith Lake. The course will complete 1.5 laps heading out and back around the lakes perimeter on the inner footpath, whilst spectators can watch us from the grandstand or meet and track athletes from the outer footpath. We then returned to the Festival Village in front of the grandstand to celebrate down the finish chute.
My Legs were relatively fresh off-the-bike. I started slow and increased the pace after 3k as planned. Checked Garmin watch @ 12k, it shown 5:35 avg pace. Sub 2 hr is within reach. But, a silly sprinting on a downslope section was proved costly. As my tights deteriorated into survival mode, slowing down was apparently a better option than DNF. Revised my running pace target to sub 6 pace. Eventually, I crossed the finish line in 02:06:09 or 5:59 min/km pace.
Take a step back …
This race brought the emotions to the rollercoaster ride. From the uncertainty of the race to happen due to force majeure a.k.a bush fire events to the weather unpredictability. By the Grace of God, we had a perfect weather on the race day. We couldn’t ask for better day, really.
I managed to improve my Ironman 70.3 personal best timing to 5:27:49. which is a breakdown of 05:18:47 of swim,bike,run and 00:09:02 of T1 and T2 combined.
Calm after the Storm
The next day, we left Sydney for Canberra en-route to Melbourne. The other highlights of our journey down under included Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island in Melbourne before we flew back to Singapore 🙂