Well its been two weeks since the opening race of the 2007 Taiwan Triathlon Season. I was pretty relaxed sitting on the sidelines, especially with a few extra pounds at the moment. I kept out of the limelight on the Friday night, staying at the Yoyo resort in Nanwan (South Bay). I had an interesting journey down, which included a police escort of the motorway to meet with Kelly and Sarah RED BULL mobile energizers from Kaohsiung. With 4 dozen red bull loaded in cooler and an interesting little detour I was back on the motorway. I had a great Beef Stew at Waves Kitchen, definitely worth a visit if you haven't already.
After a run and surf ski paddle as dawn broke I headed to the race start. It was interesting to watch peoples character as they go set for a superb day of swimming, cycling and running. 
I met up with a few of the familiar faces. Josh Colp provided a waterproof camera so I could take some shots out on the swim. Shane Dennison was spotting his new sponsors Giant bicycles, 2XU triathlon gear and 720 eyewear. Dave spotted his usual smile.
The Columbus girls trio looked ready with controlled nerve's and a bubbly sense of humor. Transition looked pretty relaxed, did they know what they were getting themselves in for?
The swim course was the same as previous years with a two lap beach start that takes swimmers across coral reefs full of tropical fish. 
The weather was warm adn teh wind calm for Kenting. I jumped on my paddle board and spen the entire swim taking photos, supporting teh athletes and checking on a few of teh aquatically challenged. I am still concerned that they allow triathlet
es to enter that are unable to complete the swim leg without a floatation device. I will discuss this in another post. To the race.
Yang Mao Yong (Sorry if I spelt it wrong) took the field apart as usual on the swim. He looked very relaxed and calm throughout the swim continually extending his lead. He a bit of company early on, but the pace was to hot. Making his way up the beach for the second time Yang Mao Yong (26min34sec) had a 3min30sec lead on 2nd, 4min15sec to 3rd and 5min to the main pack which included Shane Dennison, Dave Toman, and a couple of top locals. Sun Ji Shan 6min further back. In the womens race four of the top women were out around the 40min mark with Lin Fang-Jeng 6min further back.
The bike course reverted back to the old out and back course that was used two years ago. There are a couple of good hills at the half way section of the race to sort the men from the boys. I know this section all to well, smacking the pavement at 65km/hr while leading in that race. Got to love gravel rash. Anyway, I didn't venture out to see the bike course as I know how annoying it is having traffic weaving in and out of the competitors. 
I enjoyed a sublime brunch at my friends (Amy and Catriona) restaurant el Cafe Margaritas instead. In the meantime, Yang Mao Yong continued strong throughout the ride (on his Italian KUOTA bike) keeping Shane and other competitors at bay. Shane did have the fastest bike split in 2hr38min, with Yang Mao Yong 2nd at 2hr40min32sec. The other top males were around 10 minutes off the pace. There was some exciting action between the top female competitors. After giving 7mins up to the top female swimmers, Lin Fang-Jeng of the Columbus team showed her strength on the bike with the only sub 3hr split (2hr58min). She headed out of transition 2 with fellow team members, Yun Chuen-Ping (swim leader, 2nd fastest bike split, 4min down) and Tsao Tsuiyu (Tracy) (3rd fastest bike split), not to far behind. Both races were setting up for some exciting racing over the final 21.1km.
The wind had dropped and the temperatures were mild for Kenting, setting up for some potentially fast run times. At the end of the bike leg Yang Mao Yong looked like he was riding scared, Shane looked extremely relaxed as though he was out for a training day, the third placed guy (competitor # 6) looked like he was running on empty, Sun Ji Shan (race # 276) headed out in 4th place 
with his chinstrap around his chops look set for a lightening fast run and Dave looked cool, calm and collected ready to test out his run stamina and speed. Once onto the run
Yang Mao Yong g looked impressive. It was the most relaxed running style I had seem him use. Shane and Sun Ji Shan both had gastrointestinal problems and were struggling to stay focused on the task at hand. Competitor #6, after a good swim and bike, had fallen off the pace quickly and was going into damage control mode. Dave looked pretty smooth and was making inroads on the competitors in front. Ya Mao Yang continued to run strong, he effortlessly made his way up the 120m ascent to the turn around as Shane was working hard on the mind games to keep himself focused. Dave was gaining on Sun Ji Shan who looked a little shaky coming up to the turnaround.
Yang Mao Yong kept lifting his game and was putting any chances Shane had, well out of reach as he turned it on over the final kilometers to run the fastest split of the day (1hr32min59sec) and take the Kenting 113km title. Shane gave it all on the day, but it wasn't enough as he crossed 4min39sec behind in second(2nd fastest run split 1hr35min). Sun Ji Shan found some extra energy to run a strong second half of the run and finish 3rd (3rd fastest run split 1hr36min30sec). Dave had a solid all round day, showing great form on the run leg , finishing in 4th place. Lai Jin Yuan finished in 5th place. Lee Zhi-wei had an uncharacteristic day finishing in 9th place. He won the JinShan 1/2 marathon a week before, which may have taken too much out of him. Hopefully we will see the 2006 3rd place and 2005 2nd place getter back in the top 3 later this season?
In the womens race, Yun Chuen-Ping showed her excellent running ability to quickly catch team mate Lin Fang-Jeng. The both were making good use of the aid stations to refuel and rehydrate. Tsao Tsuiyu (Tracy) was running comfortably in third position. Was it going to be a Columbus 1, 2, and 3? Yun Chuen-Ping stepped up a gear going into the climb to the turnaround and made this race her own. As one of only two females to go under 2hrs for the run, Yun Chuen-Ping's 1hr53min14sec half marathon gave her an easy win. Lin Fang-Jeng hung onto 2nd place with a solid all round effort. Bai Ling Hua (#24), Huang You Qin (#22) and Xiao Hui Dan (#11) ran well to finish 3rd, 4th and 5th consecutively. Flora (#14) had a good all round effort to finish in 6th place. Tsao Tsuiyu (Tracy) battled out a tough day to finish 7th.
The competitors will have plenty of time to recover and get ready for the Olympic distance season ahead. Shane and Dave head to Ironman Japan in June. Yang Mao Yong will be out to show this win was no fluke and that he should be on the national triathlon team come My 19th in Hualien. He will have plenty of competition from the short course specialists including Wei (Tom) and myself (back after injury layoff). Yun Chuen-Ping will need to being working on her speed work as Li Xiaoyu and Wang Yi-Wen will be back in the mix.
396 competitors finished this years Kenting 113km half Ironman. It was interesting to note that 5 out of top 10 men where 40 years or older. Only 1st place, Yang Mao Yong was under 30 years old.
Each year the race directors are putting on a better event. Good things:
- wetsuit legal swim (been waiting a long time for this)
- transition area in same spot for T1 and T2
- lots of water safety
There were a couple of things I noted that need improvement to make next year a better and safer one for the athletes:
- Medical tent not close enough to finish line.
- Medical staff were slow to assist athletes in need (I had to assist 5 of the athletes)
- No electrolyte or carbohydrate drinks at the finish line. (the couple of dozen RED BULL and bottles of coke and supersupau i handed out went down well)
- No food at the finish line. (fruit and salty high GI carbohydrate foods would be great)
- Put finish line down by main road (more people will gather to support finishers)
- All competitors to provide a certification (signed by Red Cross certified swim coach) that they can swim 400m (or 800m) non-stop (in a certain time).
I look forward to being back on the start line for next years race. For now, a huge congratulations to all competitors for giving your all, having a great time, pushing your body further, faster and longer than before.
Top 5 Female
1st Yun Chuen Ping (#20) 5:42:44
2nd Lin Fang Jeng (#10) 5:58:14
3rd Bai Ling Hua (#24) 6:18:29
4th Huang You Qin (#22) 6:26:04
5th Xiao Hui Dan (#11) 6:27:09
Top 5 Male
1st Yang Mao Yong (#39) 4:40:05
2nd Shane Dennison (#1) 4:44:44
3rd Sun Ji Shan (#276) 4:56:44
4th Dave Toman (#7) 5:02:47
5th Lai Jin Yuan (#277) 5:04:44
Results: Taiwan Super Triathlon Association
Results (Excel): Download 2007_kending_113_sat_324_results.xls
Photos to be loaded soon....
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