Singapore 70.3

Singapore 70.3 March 2012
The endurance fitness race team for Singapore flew in on various red eye flights to all be booked into the Roxy Mecure on Thursday morning. It was a series of bleary eyed "hello 's" as we all caught up .hanging around the lobby waiting for rooms to be ready. The it was food & a bit of a swim and some food and check out race site

Friday was the start of expo. Not very big -- no race memorabilia --no food vans --so it was 1km to McCafe where Blair had a few days start on road testing what was good,average or fantastic in all the local cold drinks.....
Team dinner that night and of course it was....PASTA  (plus Svwensons ice creams afterwards)
Saturday  was swim the course morning then the rego.. A strong current pushed swimmers 20-30 mtrs west  from the turning buoy which worried a few of the competitors . . The efs boys just toughed it out!!

Back to hotel and time to give the No 1 Pro seeding some advice and let him be photographed with the WA efs boys.Ollie Whistler was very grateful and listened to every tip.....
Sunday was race day...the mini bus turned up...really it was a real "Bryce machine " Every piece of glitter and velvet velour on it with a  big sound system, bar ,special blue  lights and "Lexus " badging on the bonnet. WE let some of the Pro field travel with us to give them some "star " experience and improve their image a bit !!.    Unbelievable and what an omen for a great race day

Race time . HUMIDITY 95% and the drone was active filming the race above the swim start like some gigantic dragonfly. A group of drummers added to the atmosphere and it was all happening. A beach start with a 2 lap swim coming in onto a 30 mtr beach run and out after lap one past a water station & back in for lap 2

Luke,Mark and Scotty led their wave and stayed together for the swim then a gap appeared in the 400mtr run to T1 .Scotty took off and the other 2 didn't panic and just kept to their plans. Blair and Ollie were also having great swims and Gareth was right up there in his wave also.

Bike time and Scotty charged to front. Mark and Luke rode comfortably in the heat taking on plenty of fluids...off the bike at T2  it was Scotty 1,Luke 2,Mark 3 .with humidity down to 85% but temp up to 36C Blair was holding 39kph and having a big bike leg whilst Ollie & Gareth continued to tick away with ease. 

The run bought plenty of carnage due to the heat ... many in the Pro field struggled ...including the No 1 seed Mark passed Scotty in lap 1 of three laps and Luke passed Scotty into lap 2 . 

That is how Singapore 70.3  ended.A strong break through race for Mark Luckin winning his first 70.3 Age group title and qualifying for Worlds in Vegas . Luke Burton joined him on the podium with a gutsy 3rd. Ollie in his first ever long course race did a 5.03 in the heat ----wow! and Gareth cruised the run nursing his archillies to finish well. Blair succumbed to the heat along with lots of others and stopped short in the run -- practicing smart self preservation !!Lots of West Aussies also had wins , Megan,Bob,Al all with win grins!!

Rockingham Tri March 4th
Fantastic conditions greeted the EFS athletes at the Trievents Rockingham  Pursuit series # 4. Sunny, a high tide, no wind ...just perfect.The big turnout ensured you had to know your wave start time and the course was full of spectators. The long weekend drew some to Albany but many had decided to race local.

Those racing from EFS were in the various Age Groups with all having some strong swims and a 50 mtr wade to the beach before getting into T1.  Then a fast bike course awaited and it was fast with bike speeds  hitting mid 45kph ++ out there within the open field division.
Solid bikes saw all coming into the run under control for a fast flat 5 km through the crowd as a 1 loop course. Big win to Audrey in her age group set the bench mark for the other girls if they want to get near her at IM
All of the others- Gary, Chris,Andrew,Bob and Tracy, Janet all raced well --with their sights  firmly on May and Busso 70.3 this was always going to be an interesting race day  and recovery test. The 2 Marks battled out the short course bragging rights with today  Marky Marky being the man....