Fred, David and I all met at the airport on Thursday afternoon ready to fly off to Kaoshiung to compete in the first Asian Series race of the season. The rest of the team had flown in the morning and were spending the night in Tainan before heading to the race site on Friday morning.  As we were not due to land until late that evening, we had managed to arrange to be transferred straight to the race hotel. The flight went by pretty quickly after we had managed to negotiate 3 additional meals for the two guys!  We finally arrived at the hotel about 10pm and agreed to meet the next morning at 8am for breakfast followed by a ride.  I was suddenly not feeling so tired and decided to put my bike together before hitting the sack, at least then I would know everything was OK.  

I found the boys the next morning looking really glum trying to force down a bowl of congee and something that resembled chili scrambled eggs!! Everyone has always laughed at me travelling with my cereal but this time I had the last laugh. I spent Friday checking out the course, stocking up on some edible food ready for when Cookie arrived and I managed a bike ride and swim on the course.  The swim was one lap in a reservoir followed by a climb of about 40 steps up the dam wall and a 500m run to transition.  The bike went out of the hotel complex followed by a flat, fast four lap out and back and the run was two laps along the dam wall with 3 hills on each lap thrown in for good measure. I had a pretty relaxing day, which makes a change and felt ready for the race the next morning.

The race was not starting until 9.30am which is late in Asia, although I wasn’t complaining as it meant I didn’t need to get up at a ridiculous hour to eat. Cookie certainly appreciated the extra time in bed, as he didn’t arrive until midnight the night before.  I set everything up in transition and then we headed off for a bike warm-up, everything was feeling good and I was really looking forward to the race.  After a quick run warm-up, I headed up to the swim start to find they had stopped everyone swimming for what was to be the longer race briefing in history with no English. At an opportune moment, I slipped off and managed to get into the water for a swim. I was able to focus on the race and do some visualization in the early morning calm they hung over the water.  Before long, we were all lining up on the rocks ready for the start. All the Elite and some of the age-grouper men joined the Elite women for the first wave.  

In a thrashing of arms and water, we were off and after the first 100m the pace was just as frantic.  I could see a group forming just up ahead and I spent the remaining 600m to the turnaround just hanging on to back of the pack.  As soon as we passed the turnaround, the pace eased off slightly and I was finally able to find some rhythm.  As my hands touched dry land at the bottom of the steps, I could see Nicole (HK teammate), who I thought would be the second women after the Korean girl close to the top.  Great news, I was in touch and it looked like my swim had stepped up another level since last year.  I powered up the steps and pushed hard to transition and was able to be first out onto the bike from my swim group.  I felt awesome, some days it all comes together and others you just don’t have that extra zip in your legs.  

As I reached the exit of the hotel grounds, I passed David who was waiting for Fred and James so they could work together on the bike.  I knew this would be short lived and soon the pack had caught me which also included Jill (HK teammate). As normal, there were only about 5 of us in the pack who were prepared to do any work but I hoped the constant surging would eventually tire even though who were sitting comfortably on the back.  After about 10km we caught the group in front, which also included the Korean girl and they joined on the back.  After a few failed attacks, I think we had almost re-signed ourselves to the fact we would enter T2 as one large pack.  In lap two there was much more bike traffic on the road and this combined with a few more attacks resulted in our pack being reduced to about six of us entering T2.  I was the lead women at this point but I had no idea how far back the other women were so I wanted to ensure I was out of sight as soon as possible.

As you head out of transition, the first of many small hills on the course greet you and my legs were certainly feeling the effects of my work on the bike.  At least there was a nice breeze as we then headed along the dam wall before dropping back down towards the bike course.  At this point the course heads up a step hill to the hotel, which almost brought me to a walk and it was only the first lap!  I decided to take a Gu at the turnaround in the hope this would revive my legs in the sweltering heat and ensure I was looking strong when I saw the women behind me!  As I ran up the hill from the turnaround, I was counting the seconds – how far back would they be? You can imagine my relief, when it was a couple of minutes before I saw Nicole coming the other way.  At this point it would have been easy to allow myself to ease off the pace a little but I always like to post the best time I can.  I also thought a PB (personal best) might be on the cards so I tried to dig deep as I started the second lap.  At least there were loads of people on the course now as the majority of age-group athletes had finished the bike so there were plenty of shouts of encouragement which was great.  

As I ran across the dam for the last time with only 100m downhill to go, it finally dawned on me that this was going to be a PB which would be very hard to beat!  All through winter training, the Taiwan Asian Series race had been my major goal especially as I want to try and win the Series this year. It was amazing to come over the line with so many spectators and TV cameras.  I couldn’t believe it when I looked up and saw 2:01:42 on the clock – unbelievable, I didn’t think I would ever be able to get close to the elusive 2hr mark!  Admittedly, this was partly due to the fact that the women were able to start with the men, which was a big benefit on the bike. Although I did my part at the front which is more than can be said for some of the guys in the pack, the women normally have to work on our own during the bike section when racing in Asia, so this had a big impact for me. After the TV & press interviews which was fun, Andrew (HK Junior’s) and I went for a cool down on the bike and just got back in time to see Cookie finish.  He had a great race especially considering it was hot and he hadn’t been able to do hardly any training over the last couple of months. Unfortunately, he had had his boss in town from the US and they had a heavy travel schedule.  Training would start again in earnest on our return to HK ready for the Tagaman Triathlon (Saipan) in May.

The race was really well organized with lots of crowd support and they have a great long-term sponsor in Uni-President.  This means good give-ways and more importantly great prize money!!!  This would certainly be put to good use and help me pay for my training camp in New Zealand.