I woke to howling wind and rain beating against the window, it's times like this when I could have easily rolled over and hidden under the duvet!  Daniel and I had arrived in Tokyo the night before for the ITU and Japanese National Championship Triathlon.  We had agreed to meet for a ride and swim on the course, so I was soon busy digging around in my bag for some warm and preferably waterproof clothing.  The race was held in Tokyo Bay, which is an industrial estate and trade centre on the edge of town and as we soon discovered a hot bed for Japanese weddings.  The swim was being held in the small protected area just of the main bay with the bike and run going round Hotel Nikko and the nearby shopping complex.  It was actually much nicer than I expected with lots of cafe's and restaurants with terraces overlooking Rainbow Bridge and the city.  You could have spent ages exploring all the shops and as always in Japan, there are lots of cool things on show.

Back to business and we managed to stay in the water for 25minutes while getting some very strange looks from the locals for being stupid enough to swim in the Bay and braving the cold elements.  I was ready to dive straight into the nearby Starbucks for a hot chocolate but realised I probably wouldn't venture out again so onto the bike course it was.  After finding our way back to the hotel, I did my short run which managed to warm me up as I was freezing after the ride.  As I came back into the hotel lobby, I spotted Melissa Ashton, Michellie Jones and Peter Robertson from Australia.  Great, my day was getting better by the minute and to think I could be sitting on the beach with the others from Hong Kong for the Singapore Triathlon!  Joking aside, I knew it was time I jumped into the ocean with the big girls so it was good that the field would be really strong, at least I would know where I was.

Race day dawned bright which was a relief and I when I arrived to deposit my shoes at T2 they were still setting up as it would be in the middle of the road. They had decided to run the race using World Cup rules, which meant I was faced with the prospect of being pulled off the bike if I was close to being lapped by the leaders.  This is not too difficult if you have some good swimmers like Susie Gallucci (nee Stark) in the field and the bike laps were only 5km.  I was determined after my experience in Gamagori to make it to the run this time and re-assured my shoes I would be seeing them later before heading off to T1.  Soon the horn was sounding to get us all back onto the beach ready to be announced to the crowd before they started the women's race.  I had to laugh as they proceed to make us to listen to a whole range of horn sounds only to confirm none of them would be the sound to start the race!  Eventually, we were given the correct starting sound before running down the small beach to pick our start position and then it was BANG and we were off.....

My start seemed to go reasonably well and I was relieved to still be with the second pack at the first buoy - a step forward.  As I started the second lap, the girl I was drafting unfortunately lost touch with the pack, as I wasn't quick enough to get round her I was able to sit comfortably on her feet for the rest of the swim.  As we ran up the beach, I could see a number of other girls just ahead - cool, this should mean a nice little group to work with which would be a novelty for me.  Having not raced in my wetsuit since February, mine wasn't the slickest of exits but I was soon free of rubber and jumping onto my bike.  I was surprised to be first out of T1 from our group and hoped the others would catch me while I put my shoes on but I could also see a couple of athletes ahead so I pressed on and soon passed them.  I was so determined to finish this race that I didn't want to hang around on the bike and put my head down from the start.  It was tough to have to work so hard and not to be able to get to the two large packs which were ahead of me.  I was just trying to limit the time they were putting into me and hope my efforts would be enough to hold them off so I could get to my run shoes.  

With two laps to go, I started to feel more confident I was going to get onto the run but the wind was picking up and my legs were beginning to scream with the effort.  In normal Japanese style the course was packed with spectators with everyone encouraging all the athletes on despite nationality.  On with the runners and I was directed straight up a huge flight of stairs - just want my legs needed to get into the run!  It was 3laps on the walkway by the hotel and shopping complex over a number of expressway bridges and then down to complete the lap on the waterfront followed by the staircase back up to walkway again.  The signs were not looking good and my legs felt stuffed combined with the fact I was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.  I kept telling myself to relax and take deep breaths but my chest was so tight I just couldn't fill my lungs.  I had to resign myself to panting my way round and focusing on just making the next step - the finish couldn't come soon enough and at this point I was thinking I would be lucky to break 50 minutes on the run.  

I finally made the finish line and sat in a heap on the other side for a good 10 minutes - I think this has to go down as one of my hardest races yet.  While I was disappointed with my run, I was pleased to have finished the race and this has given me more confidence for next year when I hope to attempt my second World Cup race.  I think my breathing problems came from a cold I had had earlier in the week combined with the intensity of the race and the colder, drier weather in Japan.  There wasn't much time to think as I wanted to see the men's race and I just managed to get to T1 in time to see Daniel come out of the water.  He was with the second pack so I knew he would be a little disappointed with that as we had talked about how he should do in the swim the day before.  I hoped he was going to be with some good cyclists and they would be able to bridge the gap for the run.  Daniel ended up in 16th place out of a strong field of 80 starters and will now be focusing on the World Championships in Mexico in 2weeks.

I came 27th out of 43 starters so I was happy considering I hadn't had my best day out and I could now look forward to my last race of the season.  Tokyo would be a race to put on the list again for next year with a good course, an electric atmosphere with great crowd support and right up there with professional organisation not to mention the awesome Japanese food......

Male Elite:

1. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:50:39 (17:37/58:49/34:13)

2. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:50:46 (18:04/59:34/33:08)

3. Hideo Fukui (JAP) 1:55: 44 (17:30/58:55/35:19)

4. Hirokatsu Tayama (JAP) 1 :51:5 5 (17:33/1:00:06/34:16)

5. Brent McMahon (CAN) 1:52:00 (17:58/59:40/34:22)

16. Daniel Lee (HKG) 1:54:57 (18:34/1:01:15/35:08)

Female Elite:  

1. Michellie Jones (AUS) 2:05:09 (19:56/1:08:04/37:09)

2. Machiko Nakanishi (JAP) 2:05: 47 (19:13/1:08:46/37:48)

3. Kiyomi Niwata (JAP) 2:06:43 (20:00/1:08:00/38:43)

4. Melissa Ashton (AUS) 2:07:02 (19:54/1:08:05/39:03)

5. Susie Gallucci (USA) 2:07:15 (18:30/1:07:39/41:06)

27. Claire Murray (HKG) 2:18:30 (22:40/1:11:18/44:32)