Aquathlon Race

I did an aquathlon race this morning in Mottingham, southeast of London. The venue of the race was in Eltham College because we were using the sports facilities in the college grounds. I must attest that I was impressed with the school's facilities. It's like a clubhouse!

A very huge sports field for a school

The race is called the Clash of the Tritons featuring a 500m swim and a 5km run. This is the equivalent of a three-quarter Chin Woo Biathlon that I used to do.

My time was:
500m swim: 9mins 10secs.
5km run: 23mins 2 secs
Total time: 32mins 12 secs

Swimming event in the indoor pool

Transition area

This time I raced under the "Pacesetters Athletics Club Malaysia" banner. When I looked at the participants' list, almost everyone was affiliated to a triathlon club. So, PACM certainly didn't look like it fitted nicely in the list. Anyhow, the MC later announced to everyone that I was "the furthest" they had in the race so far!

The queue for registration and body marking

Because the distances were shorter, the race was pretty much judged on speed rather than stamina.

My time has been fairly consistent for long distance competitions. So I have estimated a finishing time of 40mins based on a 10-min swim and a 30-min run time. Deep inside, I targeted 38. Anything sub-40 would be nice.

When the results were out, I was elated to find that I have shaved 8 mins off the estimated time instead of 2!

Running two loops around the sports ground. Bands given to distinguish the starting and finishing runners.

Still I am a little disappointed because I finished 32nd in my category. That's probably in the top 20%-25% of total ranking.

Biscuits and cakes for runners? That's so English!

The stakes

Ever since coming to the UK, I have never inched anywhere near 10% as I previously could in Malaysia. The level of competition in the UK is so much higher even though the training facilities here are old, cramp and expensive. Sometimes it dampens my spirit of putting anymore training. At other times it pushes me to excel better.

Ever since I have started training in the UK, I have also noticed the differences between the races here and in Malaysia. Competitors here are very passionate about the sports they choose. You can have any competition at any price and not throw in medals or refreshments but people will still race.

However, if the same happens in Malaysia, you can bet your last dollar that no one will show up and everyone will bitch about the race to eternity.

We sign up to a race by first asking if there's a medal, vest and goodie bag or how good they are.

Then again, I am not making a judgement that this is a wrong attitude but I am just saying that runners in both countries perceive competitions in a very different and unique way.

Like it or not, the constant feeling of inadequacy to me, is very much like the feeling of insecurity. And I believe, this insecurity thing always brings out the best of people. I'm sure it has driven me to break personal best records of previous runs one by one, as I unconsciously push the limits little by little even though the rankings have not only stagnated but worsened.

Or maybe I should accept the fact that top 20% is the equivalent of Malaysia's 10. Yes I can accept that. 1:2 is still better than 1: 6.5 if the law of currency applies.