Hsieh Shen Yen Performs Well At Hong Kong ITU Premium Asia Cup

Wu Kuan Jung (K-Swiss, Giant)

Wei Chih Hsiang (K-Swiss)

Wei Chen Chan (Giant, Detec)

Hsieh Shen Yen (Giant, Trigon, Asics)

Craig Johns (K-Swiss, Specialized, Novatec, Frontier, VP, Thule)

The Chinese Taipei team arrived in Hong Kong after 8 long days in Indonesia. Wu Kuan Jung and Craig Johns got sick so the team was pretty relieved to know they were staying at the Hollywood Hotel in Disneyland rather than the budget motel in Indonesia. The team was very excited about racing against some world class athletes after some promising results in Palembang, Indonesia.

The field for the Hong Kong ITU Premium Asia Cup Triathlon was very strong, especially in the men’s race. The top 20 athletes were all good enough to start at an ITU World Cup race. The top competitors included world #8 Dimitry Polyansky (RUS), world #23 Tony Moulai (FRA), world #28 Danylo Sapunov (UKR) and world #49 Daniel Lee Chi Wo (HKG). The women’s field also had a couple of top athletes including the 2009 World Duathlon Champion and world #23 Vendula Frintova (CZE), world # 30 Yuliya Sapunova (UKR) and world #72 Emma Davis (IRL).

Conditions were great for fast racing with warm temperatures, moderate humidity, calm seas and no wind. With a 7am start, the sun and heat wouldn’t be a factor today. Johns decided after the warm-up not to race today still feeling the effects of diarrhea and the flu. This allowed Johns to take the opportunity to coach the athletes from the sidelines and gather valuable information from the race to help develop strategies for 2010. 

The women’s race got under way first with a group of six athletes clearing out early with four athletes forming the second pack. All the favorites were in the lead group which stayed together on the 40km cycle and set up for a runner’s race. Sapunova pushed Frintova over the first of the 3 laps, but was not strong enough to match the beautiful running style of the World Duathlon Champion. Frintova ran a very slick 34:33 10km to win comfortably over Sapunova. The young Australian, Michelle Wu, has really improved her swimming this year and finished 3^rd with a promising 37:44 10km. Keep an eye out for this talented young Australian athlete in 2010. Emma Davis put in a solid race to finish 4^th after a year full of injuries and disappointment.

With so many good athletes in the elite men’s field it was important that the Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) team got off to a fast start in the swim and settled into the front pack. The left side was favored on the deep water start. Hsieh Shen Yen had a good starting position on the front row. Wu and Wei (Tom) Chen Chan decided to start in second row as they wanted to get straight into the draft of the faster swimmers. Wei (Andy) Chih Hsiang is the least experienced of the four and it showed as he started in the third row. Being one of the fastest swimmers in the field he needed to be in the front row and possibly on the right. He got taken to school as the hooter sounded and the frantic start began. Wei (Andy) found out what its like to be thrown in the middle of a washing machine as he fought kicking legs and thrashing arms for the first 200m.

The field stayed together for the first 500m at which point five swimmers who had been swimming above anaerobic threshold lost touch. Included in this pack were Wu (who was lacking energy) and Wei (Tom) who has been struggling for form over the last two months. 22 swimmers reached the exit after the 1-lap 1500m together in a long line. Polyansky was first onto dryland in 17:28. Hsieh was 8^th and Wei (Andy) in 21^st obviously a bit shaken from the swim start, all in the first pack. Wei (Tom) came out alone 3:45 behind and Wu was a further 22 seconds back. They both were in for a tough ride as they would have to chase the big packs up ahead.

The transition from swim to bike was very long (~4-500m). Hsieh had a very slick transition and found himself in a lead group of 8. Wei (Andy) was too slow and missed the main cycle packs and found himself in a small group of three athletes 30 seconds down. The front cycle pack, unfortunately for Hsieh, took to long to get into rhythm and was caught by seven more athletes with another four athletes 20 seconds behind.

The first 3.6km of the bike course took the athletes along the main Disneyland road onto Inspiration Lake. The section around the lake snaked its way along smooth cobblestone paths. The course then involved 7 laps on a moderate hilly course with only a 500m flat section. The athletes then return along the other side of the lake and back to transition.

After four laps the chase group of four joined the main pack. At this point Ran Alterman (ISR) broke away on a solo effort. Hsieh was sitting comfortably in the middle of the pack in what would be the first big international race he has been able to swim and ride with the first pack. Wei (Andy) had dropped back and was riding alone. Wei (Tom) was riding strong, but being alone was losing more time to the main pack. Wu was struggling with the effects of being sick all week and would later pull out at the end of the 1^st lap of the run. Johns noted that he was very pale and struggling during the ride and early parts of the run. Andrew Russell (CAN) suffered a puncture on lap 3. Alterman increased his lead to 40 seconds at the end of the 7^th lap, but as they entered the lake section on the way back to transition the main pack upped the ante. There was a dangerous section coming off the lake where athletes had to ride over a grass/gravel section that had carpet placed over top. Hsieh made the mistake of being at the back of the pack going into this section and was part of a group of four that were dropped losing 20seconds going into transition two.

Moulai quickly established a hot pace as he set out to catch Alterman with Polyansky chasing hard. Ukraine’s Sapunov and Hong Kong’s Lee were having a great battle for the 4^th position. Hsieh looked great on lap one and was taking time out of some athletes in front of him. Onto lap two and Moulai had taken the lead and looked like he had the title sealed with his beautiful running style. Wei (Tom) was on a mission as he set out to make amends for a slow swim. His 35:17 run was a good effort and fast enough to pass 5 athletes and finish in 21^st position. 

Wei (Andy) had an average run to finish in 24^th position. Hsieh ran superbly on lap two and was closing on Polyansky’s brother, Igor; two Hong Kong athletes Ricco Chan and Fun Ho; and Lawrence Fanous (JOR). Meanwhile at the front of the race Moulai cruised to victory with a 31:15 10km run, Polyansky backed up with his second 2^nd place in 6 days, Sapunov out-kicked Lee for 3^rd. Lee’s 4^th place was a great effort after only two days earlier finishing 3^rd at the All China Games. Alterman held on well after his brave effort on the bike to finish in 5^th place. Hsieh’s early run pace ended up being a bit to quick as he slowed over the last lap to finish 17^th. However, Hsieh’s 37:07 was his best ever 10km run in a triathlon. He was very happy with his best ever all round performance at an international race.

This was the last triathlon race of a long 2009 season for the team. The athletes learnt a lot from the racing in Palembang and Hong Kong and look forward to improving their strengths and weaknesses as they prepare for the 2010 Asian Games in Guanzhou, China.