Kenyir International Triathlon 2009

EVENT: Kenyir International Triathlon 2009
VENUE: Kenyir Lake, Terengganu
DATE: 29th March 2009
PARTICIPANT: Fairul

After months of training & preparations, Kenyir triathlon will be the first triathlon that i'm gonna participate. And now the the time has come.

@11pm 27/3/2009, i took a bus from Pasar Rakyat to Kenyir. The journey took about 8 hours. Arrived Kenyir at 7am sharp the next morning. Took quite a heavy breakfast & snapped some photos before heading to hotel.

Meet some familiar faces such as Mej. Kalam & Richard Habeya. Richard participate in the relay category. Mej. Kalam said to me, if i survive Kenyir triathlon, other triathlons in Malaysia will be easy for me. Yeah.. because Kenyir triathlon was labelled as the toughest triathlon in Malaysia. Just look at the tagline on the buntings. Meet a new triathlon friend, Syukor & his friend. He didn't managed to book a room, so i offered mine as i'm staying alone. His doing his first individual triathlon too.

After checked-in the hotel room & registered for the race, took a mild ride around the resort & survey the running & cycling route. Later then, i went for lunch. I decided to go for a swimming that noon, but it rain heavily.

@7.30pm, it's time for the "Carbo-loading dinner". Variety of carbohidrate rich food were served. Eat all you can. I ate slowly but a lot. As a tribute to the Earth Hour, the organizer decided to shut-off the hall's lights. But for 1 minutes only. Well, at least it's a good effort by the organizer. Right after the dinner, Mr Chan, the head of the organizer gave the race briefing. Later, went back to my chalet to prepare the things for tomorrow.

Woke up @5.30am the next morning. After shower & Subuh prayer, took a light breakfast, a bar of Snickers. Without any delay, grab all my triathlon stuff & headed to the race starting area with my roommate.

It's about 2km from the resort. Surprisingly, I was the first person to arrive there. And also the first participant to get body marking. Hahaha.. so early. Too excited maybe. Set-up my transition stuff and parked my bicycle. Mingled around, took some photos, ate a slice of Powerbar that were provided for free.

Swim - 1.5km

Before the race started, i did a warm-up swim with some other participants. At sharp 8.00am, the race started. Water splash sound filled the air. Wow.. what a feeling. What am i doing here actually? I'm doing a triathlon now? Is it now? Hahaha.. i still couldn't believe it myself that i gonna do my triathlon right now.

I let other racers to go first. Then i waded slowly into the water & started my swim. In the water, the situation was very hectic, chaotic, with lots of contact, push & pull each other. I can't concentrate much in my swimming. I have to avoid contact with other racers. I also lost my swimming rythm. But after 250m of swimming, the chaos went off slowly. Now i can swim better, but sometimes have to watch for other slower racers in front of me & avoid contact with them.

In the swim section, we have to do 2 loops of 750m to make it 1.5km. The passed the first loop with no major problem. During the second loop, my both calves crammed, on & off. I tried to recover the cram. Sometimes have to swim with one leg just not to lose my time. In about 100m to finish my swim, my right leg crammed. Arghhh.. this time i can't took it. I have to stop for a while. I hung myself to the float until i recovered from the cram. I continued my swim to the finishing.

Bike - 40km

It took me not more than 5 minutes during my T1 (transition swim to bike). Took out my swim cap & goggle, wore my helmet, glove, shoes, shades, drank some 100+ and quickly left the transition area.

The first hill was bad. It was a 30degree hill climb. I crammed again during the climb, forcing me to jump down from my bike and recover from it. A Pertahanan Awam volunteer offered me a help but i said i can take it myself. I pushed my bike to the hill peak and continued my ride. Right after the first uphill, the road went downhill, a long, steep downhill. This is the fastest downhill that my bike reached 71.4km/h, the fastest ever bicycle ride in my life... Hahahah. I really enjoyed the fast ride.

I can say, the bike section was the hardest part in Kenyir triathlon. The route consist of many uphill & downhill ride. One of the uphill was sooooo long, i lose my momentum and have to push my bike, about 300m long. Stopped for a while at the u-turn, sipped my Powergel & drank 2 cup of water, and continued my ride.

The returning ride was faster because more downhill than uphill. But still struggle to finish it with low energy left. Once again, i have to push my bike at the steep uphill at the earlier stage. Reached the T2 (transition bike - run) after 2 hours bike ride. Arghhh.. so darn late. 2 minutes spent in T2. Quickly start my run.

Run - 10km

In the run section, racers have to make 2 loop of run. I started my run very slow, just to control my legs not to get cram again. Passed by the finishing line for the first time & continued my run. The run route also consist of uphill & downhill sections. Only 1 or 2 sections were flat road. . The organizer have done a very good job by providing water stations every 1 km along the running route. Each time i reached water station, i poured myself with water as the weather got hotter & hotter.

Finally, i finished my first ever triathlon. I reached the finishing line in about 3:45. Not sure about the exact time as i forgot to clock my time during the swim start. So excited till forgot about the setting time. I've been awarded the finisher's medal. Drank Milo & 100+, ate bananas & watermelon. Gathers a while with other racers. Mejar Kalam congratulated me for finishing my first triathlon. Thanks Mejar for your tips & support!

Took my bike & headed to my room. Took shower & packed my things coz buss will be leaving to KL at 3pm.

I'm so happy & satisfied with my achievement in Kenyir. I felt this trip was like a holiday trip because of the beauty & peacefulness off Kenyir, the warm welcome that we participants got, the good new friends and the very good organizer. I'm absolutely looking forward to participate in the next triathlon. I'm inviting more of my Slowmovers friends to join me in triathlon. I can do it, so do you.

A big thank you to those who gave me their morale support for me to do this triathlon, especially my wife. Without you, i don’t have any idea that i’m gonna do this. Alhamdulillah to GOD. Alang, Halil & all the Slowmovers team, my parents, office friends. The rest, you know who you are. I dedicate this victory to all of you.

See you in the next triathlon!!!

By Fairul