The Big Beach Challenge 2010

"Epic!" That’s how I would describe it. It has to be the most scenic run I have ever done. The roaring pacific on the left and beautiful sand dunes on the right looked something out of this world. The view of waves cracking on the huge ship wreck was just mind blowing.

Schoey (white t-shirt in photos) is a top bloke from trannies. He allowed me to crash at his joint in Newcastle; force fed me the breaky, and gave me a lift to the start, which is 50km from Newcastle. Thanks to people like Schoey, the tranny brotherhood will be always alive. One our way to the Birubi beach, we saw the free range ch0oks by the side of the road. “Now that’s really free range!” Schoey said. The race registration went without hassle. It was a bit chilly in the morning so I didn’t take off my clothes until 5min to the start.

The first half: The race started on time. For the first half of the race, we ran on flat hard sand along the water line. The strong head winds sand blasted the athletes and the excitement of race made it feel like a war zone. It looked like a race in a desert storm, but thankfully, not as dry. I drafted behind three different athletes at different times and found it works, at least to shield off the sand blast. I was in the front pack from the beginning. While Schoey dropped behind in the beginning, he came back charging strong and overtook me around the 20km mark. He finished 10min ahead of me.

The second half: The first half gives a wrong impression of how hard is the second half. By 18-20km, I was feeling a bit of fatigue, but was strong enough to hammer another 12-14km on the similar terrain. Then the terrain changed. The sand became softer and steeper. The steps started to sink, the muscles started to fatigue and cramp. The running form was gone and we were just wrestling with the sand. After a lot of struggle, what I thought would be the 25km mark was surprisingly the 22km mark. That means I wasn’t running as fast I was thinking, and the race felt like getting longer and longer. The athletes who were running a great form a few km ago now looked crippled. Some of them struggling to even walk. I have huge respek for those who kept pushing from there on, and made it to the finish line. YoYo said “I have heard it’s harder than climbing Everest.” I would have to agree.

I could see the colourful flags at the finish line from about 3kms. It was relief to see that there is an end to this. I looked behind, and saw that no other athlete was close. Cooked, cramped, thirsty, hungry, tired, extremely satisfied with the sense of achievement, I breathlessly hammered my way to the finish line with whatever I had left. It was all over in 3h35, and I was the 11th athlete across the line. The sausage sandwiches after the finish were the best!

The organisers did an extraordinary job in setting up the aid stations on the beach. It is a very awkward task. I was impressed by their enthusiasm to run down the sand dunes to the athletes with cups of water and electrolyte drinks. Saves athletes from running up the sand dunes! However it gives too many expectations from the volunteers. The guy at the 28km aid station was sitting up a sand dune with the aid station table in front of him, and poured drinks as athletes come, otherwise chilling out in the sun enjoying watching pain on the faces of athletes. That aid station felt the hardest to reach. Then he said “You don’t look as bouncy as in the morning?” Funny guy iniit? Chambo (who was 2nd at the PM Ironman beer mile) made a top effort to ensure the athletes get water at the 5, 10 and 15km marks. Then he ran from the 5km mark to the finish. Great job by the organisers and the volunteers who helped the athletes so passionately. Awesome party environment at the finish.

There are many long distance running races held every year around Australia, but this race is mind blowing. I would highly recommend it to whoever enjoys a good running challenge, and the best way to race it is in budgy smugglers! If it is held again next weekend, you bet I will be there :-)

Ironman Regensburg Race Report

Pre race day registration was a mess. There was registration at one place, bag collection at another place in the city, shuttle to T1 from a third place, and I was given wrong directions. I couldn’t find threaded CO2 canisters anywhere in the city or at the bike expo. So I decided to take risk and race without a puncture repair kit. The race day morning looked beautiful. There was mist over the lake and the transition area was lit by the pink sun light. It was a 2500 people mass start. This has to be the biggest mass start I have ever done. There was excitement everywhere. As soon as the start gun went off, the triathletes dashed into the water. The swim was a mess as expected. Two noticeable differences when comparing with Australian triathlons:

1. The good thing about European triathletes is that they are more respectful than their Aussie counterparts. They don’t swim over other triathletes, they don’t pull them by the ankles at the buoy turns
2. The bad thing about European triathletes is that they don’t know how to swim. I was drafting behind one and all of a sudden, he stopped doing freestyle, and started breast stroke. Finding him too slow, I decided to swim around him, but his frog kicks were too wide to dodge.
3. European triathletes don’t mind swimming on the wrong side of the buoys and cutting the corners. The good thing about this is that in such a large group of swimmers, it may reduce the congestion at the turns and is safer that way.

I swam 1h17, which is 5min slower than Ironman Australia, even though I went harder. It must be due to buoyancy difference between salt water and fresh water swims. My transition was far from smooth. Took a leak, which was a great idea, as it is always hard on the bike. Then there were triathletes everywhere at the bike mount line, who wouldn’t give way to others. In an attempt to dodge them and sit on the bike, my shoe came off from the paddle, but don’t think I lost too much time. Then I had to remember yelling “Rider left” instead of “Rider right” we would yell in Australia when overtaking. Slow cyclists everywhere, hard to find room to safely overtake. There were a few long climbs on the course, with nice descends and flat stretches. The course was scenic. The 180k bike leg was a two loop course through the old European villages, where you can use the entire width of the road to go fast on the turns, just like you see in the cycling TTs in European pro cycling tours. The supportive crowd yelled “hop hop hop hop...” and “super” to encourage the cyclists on the climbs. I felt great for 60k, then had some back ache but nothing too bad. I started getting slight cramps in calves around 150k. Thinking that there’s still a bloody marathon to go, I increased my water and salt intake. The water in Germany is hard water. It has very high salt contents. It’s like sea water. The more you drink, more thirsty you feel. I probably drank too much. My 310xt says 177km instead of 180km, so either the bike course was smaller or I took some short cut?! About 12km before the T2, we crossed a bridge from where we could see Walhalla. The bike dismount point came without a warning, and there was very short time to take foot out of the shoes. The 6h16 split was 23min faster than PMIM, and I felt sub 12hr is within reach.

T2 was smooth. Took another leak, but the run felt strange. All that water I drank in the last 30k of the bike was sitting on my gut, giving me stomach cramps. I couldn’t find my running form. By 6-7 km into the run, I got frustrated and decided to induce vomit. Then I wouldn’t stop throwing up. I threw up about 3L of fluids at four different times. I felt weak. It was impossible to hammer a good time in the marathon. Soon I started getting bad cramps in my calves. The worse was that I couldn’t eat anything after it. So, the marathon became more of a run/walk. My custom Compressport calf socks were awesome. I discovered their alternate advantage. When I started getting cramps, I took some ice cubes from the aid stations and stuffed them in my compression socks. It eased up the cramps, prevented my legs from seizing, and kept me going from one aid station to the other. I dragged my ass across the finish line in just under 14hours. This time I really enjoyed the finish chute. Did high five with almost every spectator standing along the finish chute, danced with joy, and said “Du bist ein Ironman” to the other finishers who were rushing to the finish line. A great ironman, but my perfect race is yet to come. I hope it will be at Busso. The after party was excellent, and the volunteers party was a great way to socialise with the friendly volunteers from Regensburg and the villages around.

Good food! Good beer! Great people!! Makes me want to go back :-)