Siok Bee has bought a brand new Fuji road racing bicycle to take on the challenge. It took me a race or two later in last year to recognize that Fuji is a renowned brand in road racing bicycle and it can burn quite a big hole in your pocket to own one.
What happen to Yours Truly? Well, I would be taking photos instead after doing three consecutive Duathlon races in 2005. Hmmm… I do have tough decision to make whether to participate in a race or to take photos.
May I request those runners who are not participating in this race to cheer the racers instead? Here is the plan:
The race would start at 7.30am at Dataran Merdeka for the first 10km running segment. The racers would then continue with the 45km in cycling. Considering the top performers, they would require at least one hour to arrive at Bukit Aman car park.
Bukit Aman car park is the most ideal location as most Pacesetters runners would do their Sunday morning training runs that start and end there. We should assemble the cheerleading team at Bukit Aman car park at 8.30am to welcome the cyclists passing by the area. I assure you that there would be lots of fun and laughter cheering the cyclists zooming past.
I actually bought a road racing bicycle after standing there cheering cyclists last year. Instead of standing at the sideline seeing them having fun, I decided to have fun too. After I had bought the bicycle, Marvin sent me one e-mail: “KC, now that you have bought a racing bicycle, you need to buy another MPV or SUV to transport the bicycle.”
For more information of my previous Duathlon challenges, please click on the following archives (at the left sidebar of this web site):
Johor Duathlon – July and August Archives
Powerman – September Archive
For more information on Duathlon, please click here: www.duathlonseries.com.my
Below is the modified version of a published write-up of my first encounter of Duathlon in 2005.
Malakoff Dualthon Series #1 - 2005
Not many Pacesetters runners were seen doing training runs at Bukit Aman car park this morning. According to Mr. Bruce Wan – the great marathon runner who has done 33 full marathons – quite a number of the Pacesetters runners participated in the Nilai Half Marathon on the same morning which offered fantastic lucky draw prizes.
The Malakoff Duathlon Series #1 was also held this morning, 27 March 2005 at Dataran Merdeka. The format of this race consisted of running 10km for the first segment; cycling 45km and end with running another 5km – single-handedly done by a racer or in a group.
At 8.45am, we managed to assemble an impromptu cheering team consisting of Bruce, Kent Chan, Gurdev and I. Since I was holding the camera, obviously, I was the camera man there. The cycling route passed by Bukit Aman car park. So the strategic location was to station ourselves at the entrance of the Bukit Aman car park, right in front of the Teh Tarik stall.
Since we were not prepared, there were no placards for display of elaborated messages like: You can because you think you can; Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing; When the going gets tough, the tough goes cycling. Instead, our quotes were down to earth simple. There were lots of laughter; even the cyclists were amused with our quotes. Here are some of them:
Looking Good (when the cyclists smiled at us)
Do Your Thing (coined by Bruce. I was puzzled; Bruce explained later that just continue cycling)
Eat Your Power Gel (coined by Bruce; possibly for more power)
Cepat Sikit or You Can Do It (when the cyclists were struggling)
Cheers or Yam Seng (while holding up the canned soft drink; not sure it was meant for the holder or for the cyclists)
Come on, Baby (a few guy cyclists responded with puzzling look)
Final Lap (coined by Bruce; I believed it was a test of their mental alertness even though the cyclists still have two more laps to go)
At one point, Bruce introduced a new cheering quote such as “leng lui (pretty girl), go faster!” – only to cause identify confusion to the cyclists. Imagine you were cycling and the cheering team called you “leng lui” instead of “leng chai” (handsome guy). You would think that cycling alters certain parts of your body and makes you more feminine.
One cyclist was seen cycling with a punctured rear tyre. What a strong determination to complete the race. Another cyclist was heard telling us his calf muscle was cramped, but struggled on. Bravo!
Since all cyclists put on safety helmet and some put on sunglasses, it was rather difficult to recognize the gender. It took me a few practices to be able to identify the gender correctly. There were a few cyclists calling my name and I had a hard time identifying them too.
Then there was one lady cyclist who called my name while approaching us. When I took a closer look, she was Wendy. The sweet young lady from Ipoh who assisted in organizing the successfully staged Ipoh KRI 10km race in October 2004. I was surprised to see her participating in this race. I recollected reading her weblog that she likes biking very much. I presume this race was a good testing ground for her.
Our macho guy, Penguin-3 (Tony) came in after Wendy. We were puzzling that how could he be trailing behind Wendy. There was no scheduled pit stop for Penguin-3 for a quick Teh Tarik powered by Tongkat Ali for enhanced performance; instead, he stopped for a photo shot with the cheering team members, and raised the saddle to match his leg length to surge forward.
After cheering for more than one hour, I decided to walk to Dataran Merdeka to have a glimpse of more actions there and get connected with our friends.
This cycling/running race is fun, double the excitement of pure running. We may consider taking part next year. For other runners, how about going to the Bukit Aman same time next year to cheer and amuse the cyclists. It was real fun to be part of the ad hoc cheering team; we were laughing continuously – an excellent place to get non-stop laughter.
To the participants, I believe you would agree that it was encouraging to receive a little motivation and amusement quotes that cast smiles in your hearts. Cheers and see you at the next Malakoff Dualton race.
By KC
1 comment:
aiyo..my name appeared again...paiseh paiseh... :)
im joining individual too this time :) remember to take my photo ok ... hehehehe
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