Michael's Last 5 days from the eyes of C2T buddies

Rest In Peace, Michael

You will always be in our hearts.

The Northface 100 Endurance Race

Another picture slideshow by Smilebox

The Everest Journey by Esther Tan Cheng Yin (The Northface Athlete)

The Everest Journey.Thank you for having me share with you stories of my Everest expedition. This took two years of planning, training and preparations to make this dream a reality. I sought a personal experience with the highest point on the surface of the earth - Everest peak. My motivation was to never stop exploring new territories so I chose to climb Everest the hard way by the North ridge. Captivated by the wonders of climbing Mt Everest by the north from Tibet instead of south from Nepal, I trampled up into the thin air where people were never designed to go. Chomolungma, known also as the ‘Goddess Mother of the World’ became my personal quest.

Understanding the Risks. The northern route from Tibet can be a bureaucratic nightmare, with sudden political intervention and closures from the Chinese authorities causing last-minute changes to plans. The North ridge takes several more days at higher elevations, which can cause acclimatization problems. It is notorious for its long tricky technical sections, and extremely windy conditions. Weather predicting was crucial and the very few days deemed suitable to summit Everest did not fall on our chosen summit date!

High Costs of Success and Expectations

A high cost of $48,000 (SGD) was paid to Project Himalaya expedition company. Essentially, they were expected to have all the right ingredients that will contribute to the success of our mountain experience. Such as a good ratio of qualified crew to climbers. However, this significant cost did not include the cost of personal gears, clothing, and extra training climbs needed in the build-up. Even with the TNF’s generous support for our mountain apparel and bag packs, the overall cost I’ve paid amounted to a whopping price-tag of $65,000 (SGD). I was either buying a car or going for an expedition.

The expensive costs of engaging an expedition company is balanced by the level of good organizational skills required by such a massive undertaking. Our mountain guide,Mr Jamie McGinness, owner and exemplary leader of Project Himalaya expedition company, provided our team of 6 clients, all the infrastructure necessary to climb Mt Everest. It was a huge complex operation of ensuring all the necessary equipment, oxygen, food, water, medications, radios, mobile toilets, permits, tentage, and down to the tiniest detail of having a table cloth in our dining tents! Having the right support made a huge difference. The good operators will run a safe operation, complete with detailed weather fore! casting, devise robust rescue plans and make conservation efforts to keep the environment clean. Whether we go mountaineering with an expedition company or not, we are responsible for an element of our own safety. I learnt in my adventure races that in the end, every member of the team owns the ultimate responsibility to be safe on the mountain.

Truth be told, with all the planning and preparations in the world, things can take a turn from one’s path. No summit destination is guaranteed. To summit Everest is as much at the mercy of the mountain, its environment, the individual and the people. At such extreme altitude, it is a matter of staying alive.

I’ll share three stories. The heart of my stories is about the journey, rather than the destination. It is heartfelt because my stories need not encourage you to take up mountaineering, rather it is in the hope of motivating you to keep striving despite our sometimes growing weariness in facing the mountains of our lives.

My first story is about Conquering. Mt Everest cannot be owned, won, or conquered. Instead we can only conquer ourselves. Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the World humbled me! It had been tough juggling a full time job with training, racing and massive equipment preparations. My week nights and weekends were spent running, biking, and alot of lonely stair-climbing. So I often signed up for races to keep me motivated with high intensity workouts. Everest mountain taught me that I can never be fit enough at altitude because altitude affects everyone differently especially at the extreme height of Everest. The b! iggest factor to success at altitude is acclimatization. I had the lowest oxygen saturation in my blood as my body took a longer time to acclimatize. Above 6000m, the body starts to break down, wounds cannot heal properly, effective functioning of the body deteriorates and eventually death can occur.

At the North Col climb, I caught a bad cough from breathing in cold dry air that agitated my lungs. It was so sensitive that talking would trigger a coughing eruption and inflamed my ribs with sharp pangs of pain in my breathing muscles. I sustained a crack left rib just from my violent coughing eruptions. Coughing also triggered my vomiting reflux. And at times, I swallowed my vomit to keep the tents clean. Vomiting is not good because it agitates stomach gastric that cause cramping even while sleeping. No matter how careful we were, everyone in the team suffered from the effects of cold cough and diarrhoea at some point of the expedition. Somehow, whenever we looked at the immense landscape before us, we felt better and any altitude headaches and sickness were forgotten.

For the body to heal properly and combat altitude sickness, we trekked from North Base camp to 7000m height elevation, 4 times before we headed for the 8848m summit climb. On the night before our destined summit date, with barely enough sleep and reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen deprivation, we plucked ourselves from our warm sleeping bags to make our night-time summit push at 11:30pm in cold windy conditions with temperatures as low as -35 deg Celsius. This is so that we could reach summit in daylight hours.

It was not just fighting physical traumas, but also finding the mental strength to get up whenever you get knocked down. That is when I realized there are things I can control like my own pain management and things I cannot control, like the deteriorating weather conditions. Humility is the very wise virtue that can help prepare anyone of us for all possible changes of life. I must be prepared to choose the right path, even if I was very close to my final destination.

My second story is on the long road to Humility. We come closest to the great when great in humility. Every long hard treks took an average of 6 – 8 hrs long, Panting over the steep endless crests of Everest made me ponder a lot on the mountains life and the daily uphill struggles of work to be done. To get motivation, I looked to great heroes. The unsung heroes were the Sherpas and Tibetans who tirelessly carried our tremendous burden of food and oxygen. They energetically pitched our tent! s while we were certainly feeling half-dead. They enabled the whole team to eat, rest and climb Everest safely. Despite their heroism, they lead a simple lifestyle compared to us Singaporeans! The simplicity and serenity of the Everest region brings peace to any troubled soul and a much needed restoration of the mind. Its also when you may realise, life need not be so complicated. Even in its simplicity, life can be so deeply meaningful.

The 6 weeks long Everest journey, gave me time to do a lot of journal writing and reflecting. One of which, “To be truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.” This resonates deep in me when I consider how I wanted to be on top of the world, and yet in the end, was 100m, or 1.5hrs shy of my desired destination. I can only imagine my summit picture to be on bended knees with my hands raised to the heavens. Humility becomes so desirable because it creates a capacity for the closest possible intimacy with God. There will certainly be a time in anyone’s journey when one will be in a situation of not having all the answers.

And this brings me to my last story about Life & Death. For all the excitement of climbing Everest, there was also always an inescapable sadness. A place of ghosts and nowadays, by all accounts, a place of visible corpses.

Walking pass three visible dead climbers along my summit route made me realize I could be dead too. That was the most important thought I’ve encountered in this expedition. Realizing what is important in life becomes more significant if we live step by step facing death each day. I hammered through thick snowy 1^st steppe, hauled my heavy body up the tricky technical section of rocky 2^nd steppe and after 10hrs of climbing, finally reached 3^rd steppe. I realized my team mates were no longer with us because we did plan to summit together. We radioed back to Jamie, our mountain guide, to seek his inputs.

Our guide explained on the radio that the strong winds were not going to improve; he had advised the team to turnaround because of bad weather. I have learnt in this journey what I can control and what I cannot. Or can I for that moment play God to risk His inclement weather and climb to my peak? Where there was a jet stream of lenticular clouds hovering above us. Although I had this one chance to summit Everest, I had only one lifetime to live, so for reasons of bad weather conditions, at 8750m high, we turned our backs on Everest peak to make a quick descend back to the safety of our expedition team. “A person who believes in something larger than himself, could almost immediately accept the gravity of the moment”. To shed some light on the gravity of the situation, I was chided for not turning back earli! er than I should! The cold howling SW winds gushing relentlessly at 30kts gave me a frostbite on my cheek, even the water-bottles inside my suit froze my water into ice!

Decision-making. The hardest part of my journey was making the decision to turn our backs from the top of the world, even more so much harder to let it go when I think I felt strong that day. This made me consider some basic questions of life. Have I done right? Have I lived right? Am I ready for what’s next? This means I must keep striving even as I come back to office to face papers, monitors & blinking e-messages that never fails to remind me, success cannot be made overnight.

I might have been tempted to over emphasize climbing Everest mountain where so many people live with their own ongoing mountains of struggles. When someone you love deeply and closest you know, suddenly dies; like my dearest mum who died of cancer, I felt that “life was already tough, why not make it tougher.” And after 12 years of saying that, Mt Everest was indeed a turning point needed to restore my sense of purpose for pushing myself harder for more challenges. Now having climbed Everest, I can say with more certainty that this journey had been a useful intellectual reflection of life:

Mt Everest had claimed the lives of many climbers whom we honor at their graveyards. No one wants to die. No one has ever escaped death. And yet death is the destination we all share. That is as it is. This is the most powerful thought revealed or a revelation to me. As much as I love the summit chance, it does not matter when you know the joy of the journey; the gift of being with great people, and fully understanding that ultimately the success of this expedition hinges upon our safe return to embrace our dear lives and loved ones.

Finally let me conclude, as a competitive person, the hardest part was to turn my back on Everest peak. As a saying goes, “Judge not a person by how well he wins, judge him by how well he loses”. The fact that I did not summit makes it far more important and tougher to accept our losses with humility than to seek gl! ory in our wins.

In this lifetime I am grateful to have climbed Mt Everest in my capacity. My intrinsic motivation was really to get closer to the great God, and the mountain was a platform for me to do that, but, I discovered through the hard way that it was not about climbing the highest mountain to get what you want. Instead, my quest for a personal experience with God on the mountain came truly from my amazingly driven expedition team-mates, tireless support crew, generous gears support of TNF people, wonderful friends & family who also selflessly inspired me on my BB live facebook & emails updates. In their special ways, the p! eople I came to know, made the extremely cold, harsh and tough Everest Mountain very much alive, meaningful and heartfelt – lasting forever. That's the mystery of life. It is not about conquering the top of the world, instead, it is a reality to be experienced.

Now that you have read my stories, I wish for you that whatever journey of quests you choose to embark on, will be fulfilling!

Please click on the you tube website on the song “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy me, of what my true summit would have been like.

The song and the pictures really help me speak alot on the journey that I've experienced at Mt Everest.

Northface 100 Endurance race 9 Oct 2010 (by Terence Ng)

After 3 Ironmans and 5 marathons, it's time to redefine the limits again. I have never gone beyond 42Km on foot and certainly not in off-road terrain. So, as the next frontier, I chose the 3rd edition of the TNF100 Asian series, the 100KM Duo, which means my partner and I will cover 50KM each.

Preparation :

• As a base, at least once a month, 15km from home to MacRitchie (11km loop) and back.
• Once a week, regular cycling loop of 70 on the road
• Intra-week, 1-2 times gym work. Mostly 30 min interval treadmill or hills interval. (can't be help – travel 60% of time)
• 3x long run of 2.5 to 3.5 hour at MacRitchie and Mandai, 2-3 months before race
  
• 320Km charity ride in Mersing (Bike and Blades with Crazy2tri), one month before race
• 1x long run of 5 hour at Rifle Range and Mandai, two weeks from race
• 20km barefoot run (with socks) at East coast park, one week before race (with Ivan, Michael and Danny)
  

Race plan : simple - 7km/hr and do even split. Walk up all the uphill in first half. Feed and hydrate regularly. By the way, the qualifying criteria for 100K Solo is sub-7 hour for 50K.

Pre-race :

Usual anxiety set in. Had dry throat three days before and the day before, my right heel got a bit tight. My wife reminded me it's probably psychological. Logistically, there are my hydration pack (2 litres), 3 packs of GU Chomps gummy (my favourite now, much better than gel), 2 packs of oat energy bar, 9 salt-stick tablets, 1 tube of Nuun electrolytes tablets. (I used 1.5 packs of gummies, 6 salt tablets and 6 Nuun tablets). My attire : an old short sleeves quick dry Tees, Izumi arm sleeves to keep out the sun, 2XU tights (my unfair advantage J), Surfas eye-shades (cheap $65 at Bike haus), head band cum shade from Halo (great for keep sweat off your eyes). For my footwear, I have Adidas Adizero Adios, a superlight racer 280grams with Polar footpod to keep pace and distance. I will be using my favourite toe socks which have been giving me a blister-free marathon races (and proven right again this time).

Race-day :

Woke up at 5am. Had my breakfast (coffee and peanut butter bread) and had Luan dropped me off the start point (MacRitchie Reservoir) at 6am. Compare to the other races, this is a lot smaller and simpler with 300+ 50KM participants. The 100K race started at 4am. Caught up with Joe, my race partner. We talked about his trek to Mount Kota Kinabalu which he did with his wife, Michelle. (Between now and a month ago when we had our 320KM Bike and Blade ride in Mersing, he actually squeezed in a climb to the highest mountain in SEA? That's my crazy partner, Joe Chua) Saw some familiar faces - Chong Mien, Roger Chow. The crowd is relatively younger, compared to the triathlon crowd.

Flag off at 7am. The first section is the MacRitchie loop (anti-clockwise). I have never seen so many people on the trail at one time. Due to traffic jam, the pace was good at 7-8km/h. Without the benefit of a heart-rate monitor, I knew that I was in the right zone if I could breathe comfortably through my nose with mouth shut. Soon I lost track of Joe, Roger and Chong Mien.

Toilet break at Ranger station. Just before Jelutong Tower, we turn right at Rifle Range Link. About 500m from Rifle Range road, while going up a big slope, I felt a sharp pain on my inner left thigh as though someone had jabbed me with a needle. I realized I was stung by an insect, mostly probably a bee or hornet. Can I continue? Will the poison travel to my heart? Two other people around me got stung as well. I went on with the pain on my thigh, for the rest of the journey which obviously paled compared with the other type of pains later on. (A day after the race, I had to go to my doc for a steroid jab as the swell got worse. Doc said it's not from a ordinary bee.)

After Rifle Range Road, we passed through Bukit Timah Nature Reserve car park and took the mountain biking trail. Surprisingly, we didn't meet any mountain bikers on this part. From here to Mandai Road is familiar ground for me as we used to have our MTB rides. This is the 7km Bukit Timah mountain bike loop where many MTBers horn their technical skills.

At Chestnut Drive's aid-station, I saw Michelle (Joe's wife) who asked me if I needed any food or gel. She told me that Joe had passed through earlier. I took a banana from her and took off my left shoe to empty it of small gravels to prevent blisters from developing.

Turned off to Zheng Hua park connector and took out my iPhone to text Luan on my location and posted a picture on Facebook. Luan replied "Go, go, go. See you at Mandai".

About 40 minutes later, on the park connector near the Mandai Army Rifle range, I saw Eng Boon walking with his hydration pack slung to one side, prodding along in his Vibram Five-finger. He told me that he is calling it quit due to breathing problem. Felt disappointed for him - I knew he was a finisher last year and returning for his PB.

A little later on, I crossed the Mandai Road and caught up with Joe. He said he was not feeling good, hurt his ankle while avoiding a Mountain biker. We turned into Lorong Asrama and Luan was there waiting at army training shed, next to the checkpoint 3 aid-station. It was just after 10am, 3 hour and 20k – slightly off pace but it's good. Luan passed Joe the heat cream for his ankle. We took some Chee Cheong Fun and Yam cake - yummy! I did my first refill of my hydration pack.

The Lorong Asrama section is the worst section, based on past experience. It's about 12KM long, twisting through the tracks and hills in this army training ground. Not far into the Asrama section, Joe started to slow down and he said he just had to "dong" all the way and I went ahead. Together with the numerous tired souls out there, I must have walked up 5 or 6 hills, including the infamous 265, which stands at the race half-way point of 25KM. At the top of first 265 knoll was the RFID sensor and I noted that the banyan tree cluster were cut down. As I ran down the last South knoll of 265, on the slope peppered with loose gravels, I noticed my Polar watch was beeping. My foot pod was gone, probably dislodged by a flying stone. I was too tired to turn back and searched.

By the time I finished with the Asrama maze at 32KM mark, I only managed to beat the cut-off time by 20 mins (cut-off time was 12noon). I was happy to be back at the training shed with Luan. I took a 10 min break here : lying down on the bench (to let the blood going into my head and upper body), cooled myself with water and took in more yam cake and cheong fun. I saw a number of people whom I have passed earlier heading back to Mandai Road, so I quickly filled my hydra-pack and started my last 18KM return journey. I am happy to leave the crazy Asrama section behind me.

My morale went up, knowing that the rest of the course will be known territory for me and no crazy hills. The next checkpoint 2 is at Chestnut Drive and the cut-off time is 2pm. This is a hard cut-off, if you don't make it, you will be scooped up. I passed Roger Chow just before we hit Chestnut Drive from the MTB dirt track. Faithful Luan was there with our MPV and supplies but this time I needed nothing. Roger who was right behind me asked for water and told us he was out of water for last 3 km. After that, we proceed down slope under the BKE expressway and up the slope to the Chestnut checkpoint. Time was around 12.50pm. I met Michelle and told her that Joe has sprained his ankle, but he will make it knowing how tough he is mentally.

I asked around with my tired voice how many more kilometres we have left, but the volunteers at aid-station were clueless. Roger told me it's around 10.5KM to the finish line and if we go for it, we can do sub-7 hour and qualify for 100KM solo. I laughed with disbelief and he quickly regained his sanity and saying it's not an incentive at all. Hahaha. Anyway, I was not capable of 10.5km in 1 hour 10 min.

Roger took off while I slowly cranked up my engine again, heading for the next checkpoint at Rifle Range road (cut-off at 3pm). I run a pretty comfortable pace along the MTB trail and met a dozen of mountain bikers. I spotted Wee, whom I ran together in our long run two weeks ago. He was running in the opposite direction – his second loop of 50KM. He was steady in pace and looking good, despite having covered 60 to 65 KM. "Go, Wee, go", I muttered.

By now, I have noticed a constant companion whom I have passed a few times, only to be passed by her during my two breaks at Asrama and Chestnut. She is probably in her 20s and I liked her pace (and well, she has nice back). For the rest of the journey, we would keep passing each other but I knew I had more reserve since she was always panting heavily when I drew near her. I was still observing my run-with-mouth-shut routine. (Later after crossing the finish line, I went up to her to congratulate her and thank her for the pacing).

By now, the heat was coming down hard on us. (I later learned the temp was 33 degrees). I have gobbled down the last of my 6 salt tablets and my third refill in my backpack was running low without me realizing. I have started to overtake quite a number of people and the feeling was good. Now I know why you should do even or negative splits – overtaking is FUEL. But I was careful not to draw into my reserve tank, with 6.5km more to go.

Rifle Range road was a welcomed sight, with aid-station and volunteers cheering us on. I took my last two cup of 100 Plus and pour cold H2O over my head and thighs. (The bee sting was still there, a dull pain). Running on flat tarmac was really a nice break even though Rifle Range was a uphill run most of the way to the top. Just to be sure and kiasu (or kiasi), I would run half the up-slope, walk- to-crest then ran downslope and on flats. That strategy has kept me from cramps so far.

I met a fast walker and he was just walking - uphill and downhill. I chatted with him and told him he was walking really fast – I couldn't keep up with him if I walk. He must be going at 6 to 6.5km per hour. He can easily finish within 8 hour even if he walked the whole course.

End of Rifle range road and 5KM more to go. Met my constant companion again. She was trying to run up the big slope on the pipeline. I let her go, knowing she will pay for "cheonging". True enough, I caught her on the stream – she missed a rock and sunk her foot into the water. Good thing she didn't twist her ankle. Went passed Ranger station – yes, the end of suffering is near (3.5KM). I actually started to feel sad that it's coming to an end (I am going bonkers!).

The last 3KM (on MacRitchie track) was generally downhill. My constant companion was still going strong and I just latched on. I eventually overtook her for good at the last 1.5KM stretch at the last slope. As I ran the last 500meters on the reservoir fringe, passed the canoeists carrying their canoes (get out of my way, your morons), I could feel the heat that my 2XU tights was absorbing. As I crossed the finish line, I saw Luan taking a photo shot of me, making sure I was captured at the moment of complete depletion of energy. The clock showed : 7 hour 22 minutes.

(Roger Chow came in couple of minutes earlier, after Chong Mien. Joe managed to finish before cut-off time)

What I learned :

• Pacing is key. I did my last long run two weeks before and established my pace of 7 km per hour. Leave your ego at home and resisting to "Cheong" in the first half is critical. (Thanks, Wee, the 100KM soloist, for the tips – we met on the trails on my long run.)
• Eat and drink as often as possible. Since I was walking up all the slopes, that was the best time to chomp and drink. I found my new love – the GU Chomps. I started this during my Mersing Bike and Blade and I hit upon a winner. Beat the Powergel anytime.
• Off road running is much tougher but actually less injury-prone. You tend to take smaller steps and use more muscles and for the same distance/time, you get to expand more energy. It's a good workout and it trained your legs to be stronger and less injury-prone. I nearly tripped 3-4 times as I did not pick up my foots high enough. Each time I tripped, I felt a mini spasm going over my whole legs and have to walk to recover. It even works your upper body – I remember my whole back got crampy while going up the slope. Even now, two days post race, my upper body was aching all over.
• Read "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. It will inspired you with stories of Tarahumara tribes who ran 100 miles with a smiles and all the crazy US ultra-runners stories.
  

So sign up for next year's TNF 100?

Other blogs and links :

http://runnerzcircle.blogspot.com/2010/10/north-face-100-singapore-2010.html

NTU 218KM run

27-28 March 2010
NTU's 55th anniversary
Singapore Longest Endurance Run
Record breaking 218KM in 36hour

Stephen Lim Nghee Huat (林义发)
Nantah Class of ‘75
Age: 56
Occupation: Editor, Chinese Current Affairs, MediaCorp
Endurance is the hallmark of Stephen Lim’s life-long
sporting achievements. He zeroes in on the most extreme
endurance events around the world and is still going
strong, even at 56.
He was once ranked among Singapore’s top five triathletes and has taken part in many extreme races around the world eg. the Sahara Marathon, Dead Sea Marathon, Hawaii Ironman World Championships and the World Triathlon Championship in Australia. Four years ago, Stephen tasted victory in Run Round Singapore 2005 with a time of 24hrs 44mins. But that was for a shorter distance of 168 km. It only whetted his
appetite for more. In 2007, he ran the extreme 217 km Death Valley Challenge in a punishing air temperature of 53°C, hot enough to melt the glue in a runner’s shoes. He finished the the race in less than 52 hours and helped raise $200,000 for charity. In 2009, Stephen came in at 26th position in one of the most extreme 217 km marathons in the world – the Badwater World Cup 2009 held in Brazil, a feat most men half his age don’t dare to think about, let alone try.. And now he’s gunning for the 218 km Run Round Singapore challenge.

Yong Yuen Cheng (杨渊菁)
NIE Class of ‘97
Age: 38
Occupation: Teacher, National Junior College
He wears his passion for endurance sports like a badge of honour, and willingly instills the same fervour in others, inspiring them even as he teaches them the finer points. Yong Yuen Cheng runs, bikes and kayaks extreme distances, often for charity. He has endured and conquered numerous marathons in Singapore and overseas, such as the Death Valley Challenge and the Gobi March. To prepare for the coming Run Round Singapore Challenge, Yuen Cheng will be taking part in the Thar Desert Run in India during the December holidays.
Yuen Cheng’s passion extends beyond his own training into coaching and inspiring others to achieve similar feats, which is true to his calling as a teacher. He believes that everyone, even if they are convinced they are just ordinary people, are capable of achieving extraordinary things. He draws this conviction from his own experience in running. He started out neither fast nor talented but by dint of serious planning, thorough preparation and personal sacrifice, he has achieved extraordinary feats in various endurance sports few men
can dream of. When he first signed up for Run Round Singapore 2005, the 168 km looked daunting and he doubted he could overcome the physical challenges of the run. But with total dedication to his training, he came in second for that quadruple marathon. He has not looked back since, taking on even more challenging races overseas.With all those races under his belt, Yuen Cheng now trulybelieves that there is no limit to the human spirit and hopes more people especially the younger generation will strive to realise their fullest potential. And the 218 km distance that Run Round Singapore presents is just another challenge to conquer.



I caught Melvin Lee and his supporter at the West Coast road around 1.15pm on second day on the home run stretch.

Congrats to all the three who finished.

Ironman Western Australia 2009 (Bernard Tay)

Thanks so much for your support and emails! I just got back from Perth today and my bike has arrived home in one piece. Here is just some thoughts about my race for those who might be interested to take up the challenge in subsequent year(s).

I must say I agree with Boon Pin's statement, but unfortunately it was not me doing the killing, this year I got killed! Mainly because of the scortching heat.

In the swim this year I was tangled up with some violent swimmers during the swim leg and got my goggles and cap knocked off twice, as you all know, the Ausies are huge, so when they grab your shoulder or ankle you're put into an immediate reverse gear. Besides the crowd, the water in Busselton was around 20 degrees at the shore and around 15 degrees at the turn around. This proved to be a little concern when I entered transition as my fingers were numb, making it diffcult in putting on my gloves and attire for the bike leg.

The bike leg was pretty smooth sailing apart from the fact that temperatures rose to a high of 34 degrees and wind speed picked up to around 20-30kph. So for those intending to use a disc wheel or anything more then 60mm, hmmm... might want to think twice. Last year I was pushed around with my Hed3c's so this year I brought along a conventional 50mm wheel. I felt that it was a good choice and it paid off espicially on the 3rd loop of the bike when the wind speed picked up a great deal. All in all, I felt great on the bike and was pretty happy to pass some guys on P4C's and disc wheels.

The run in WA is one of the things I enjoyed the most. The scenic view of the ocean and amazing shore line helps to take away the pain of running a 42k after 6+hrs of hard work. The wind during the run can be a significant factor espicially on the out lap (when you are dead tired), however, whatever you get, you get back on the return so it makes for a really fast and fun run. Besides the haze-free and fresh air definitely helps a great deal in making the run just that bit more enjoyable.

All in all the race support (supporters, aid stations, transitions, logistics) can be described with the words of Patrick Vernay, the champion in 2007 and 2009 as "nothing to complain about". Superbly positioned aid stations providing water, electrolytes, coke, cookies, bananas, jelly beans, more water, more bananas, more electrolytes, more coke; stretching over a 50meters long provided more then adequate race support. Sometimes it makes me wonder, am I in an Ironman, or buffetman? During the bike, aid stations were so frequent and ease of getting bidons were so easy that you basically need to carry only 1 water bottle if your plan is to reload every aid station. In addition, the post race tent feels more like the comex expo(size wise), with everything from massage, to places to drink, sit around and off course a buffet table with unlimited drinks and alcohol for the daring.

The cumulation of all these makes WA on of the most enjoyable races I've had, even though I expected a much faster timing this year. For all those who are looking to do it, all I can say is " READY GO!"