Around The Bay in a Day - Melbourne

This is the event which I hope I will be in the starting line come Oct 18. I got to know about the event from my cousin, Andrew. After reading some details of the event, it was opportunity not to be missed. I'm sure if there's a bike event like this in Malaysia, most of you cyclist, will not even think twice to sign up. I've already missed out all the big rides in Malaysia, mainly the Inter-State Ride and also The Century Ride. So it was just hard to miss this big ride again.

Oh, if you don't know yet, MM is actually taking part a week earlier. That's the reason why I say I hope I will be at the starting line for the ATB event. Hopefully I don't too sore after the marathon.

I have signed up for the 210km via Sorrento (with ferry) - clockwise. This category has a limit of 4000 riders. Places for the other rides categories, 250km and 210km (via Queenscliff) - anti-clockwise are all sold out. Other distances are 50km and 100km. Here's the map of the ride. (From 50km to 250km)

Here's some history of the ride which I got from the event's website.

Starting in 1993, Around the Bay® in a Day has grown into Australia's largest mass participation bike ride.

The heat in 1993 added to the challenge for those who participated in Around the Bay in a Day, with the mercury climbing to a torrid 32 degrees. The event numbers were restricted to 3,000 due to ferry capacity and the West Gate Bridge was so easy to ride over that some riders thought that it should be open to riders full time – we can dream!

In 1994 and 1995, the ride grew as additional ferries were added. However, although there were extra ferries, the participant numbers still outweighed the ferry capacity. So much so that pedals had to be removed on bikes so there was enough deck space on the ferries. By 2001 the ride had grown even further and a record 5,000 riders participated.

The event capacity was raised by another 2,000 riders in 2002 after securing another ferry, bringing the grand total of participants to over 7,000. The event start and finish location was relocated from JL Murphy Reserve in Port Melbourne to Catani Gardens in St Kilda. 272 teams participated, ranging in size from 4 to 120. On the international front, a huge Irish team of 43 toured especially for the event, as did others from Singapore, New Zealand and Texas.

The weather increased the challenge again for the 2003 event. A number of riders were caught out after a warm morning start, into what turned out to be the coldest and wettest event ever!

By 2006 the event was really gathering momentum with more than 14,000 bike riders across the four ride distances (42km, 100km, 210km and 250km). This was the first year that the 250km distance was offered and it was a hit with the riders.

From 2004 to 2006 the start / finish site was located within the Melbourne Docklands precinct. As this area has became increasingly developed with residential and commercial buildings, we sought a “green space” which meet the requirements of the start / finish site.

From 2007, a three year partnership with the City of Melbourne began with the event being held at Alexandra Gardens. The event joined forces with the GO Bike Expo to bring you the Melbourne Cycling Festival, involving whole weekend's activities at the Gardens Precinct in Melbourne.

38 degrees and hot northerly winds made for very unpleasant riding conditions in 2007. However, once the weary riders reached the finish in the heart of Melbourne, they still had the energy to celebrate of their amazing achievement.

In 2008, the 250km route returned to the anti-clockwise direction and with this being the favoured start direction by riders, the Queenscliff ferry was sold out in record time for the 210km distance - 10 days! and the 250km selling out within four weeks of entry opening.We also introduced a 80km School Challenge ride option to encourage students to have a go, 77 riders lined up for this inaugural event. They had a great time and loved the fact that they were one of the 16,300 riders that took part of the largest ever Around the Bay ride.

The event is considered as one of Melbourne's major events sitting between the AFL Grand Final and the Spring Racing Carnival.

Check out the stats (graph): (frm only 3000 riders in 1993 to 16,300 riders in 2008)

Click here for more info about the event.

How's my preparation so far? Well only a few short 40km rides, when I say few, that's 2-3 rides only. One 70km ride almost 3-4 weeks back. And another 40km ride just 2 days ago...am I ready? Haha, I hope so. Well, hopefully with good weather, less wind and 3999 riders to draft behind, I think I should be fine........

Stubborn, Stupid or Brave

This article goes out to those athletes who goes through the pain of an injury to train or race. I'm sure all of us have been through it or have seen fellow athletes and friends, who just can't sit home to rest and recover from injury.

It's hard to describe them actually. Are they just stubborn, stupid or brave? I guess even high profile athletes goes through this at least once in their sporting career. Lance Armstrong, who won 7 straight Tour De France title, admitted in his book, "Lance Armstrong: It's not about the bike":-

"Of course, I should have known that something was wrong with me. But athletes, especially cyclsits, are in the business of denial. You deny all the aches and pains because you have to in order to finish the race. It's a sport of self-abuse. You're on your bike for the whole day, six and seven hours, in all kinds of weather and conditions, over cobblestones and gravel, in mud and wind and rain, and even hail, and you do not give in to pain.
Everything hurts. Your back hurts, your feet hurt, your hands hurt, your neck hurts, your legs hurt, and of course, your butt hurts.
So no, I didn't pay attention to the fact that I didn't feel well in 1996. When my right testicle became slightly swollen that winter, I told myself to live with it, because I assumed it was something I had done to myself on the bike, or that my system was compesating for some physiological male thing. I was riding strong, as well as I ever had, actually, and there was no reason to stop" ~ Lance Armstrong

Just to let those who don't know much about Lance's history, he was diagnosed with testiscular cancer in 1996. After going through, chemotheray and surgery, he went on a road to recovery, came into his beloved sport and went on to win his first of his 7 Tour De France victories.

So how many of you have gone through this stage, saying the same thing what Lance has said - you do not give in to pain? Of course, I don not mean getting cancer, even injuries such as the common knee pain, ankle pain, etc. Do we rest? Or do we continue on and say this is just something which I need endure to get better in my sport? Or even having a fever, how many times have you heard that from your friend (or maybe you youself have been through it), he or she is having fever, but there they are, at the starting line.

For myself, yes, I do admit that at times, I tried to ignore the pain and train on. More so, if it's a race. But lately, if I do feel pain I will try to rest a day or two, to recover from it. Weeks, if need be. It depends on the severity of the injuries. Even if I come back, will try to do things slow and not try to hurry myself back into shape. Probably getting old. Haha!

The point is, I think there are many out there who just can't seem to find the courage to rest when they seriously need it. I have friends who just went through a surgery or even gone through a series medication/treatments and next thing you know, they are back training and competing, just a week or two after it or even sooner. And they still continue to have pain and try to ignore it as much as possible, until it becomes unbearable again.

Then you have those beginners or those trying to be fit or lose weight. They went straight into the sport and play it like there's no tomorrow. In this case, sports like running, cycling and even gym workouts. These are common sports exposing beginners to injuries. For those getting into running, since it has strong impact on your legs and knees, most beginners will feel sore the very next day, especially in almost every part of their legs/feet. And even beginners will try to ignore it.

Sometimes, they do need to get the right advice before starting out a sport. For beginners in running, what they need to do is to start it slow, maybe doing brisk walking first before they actually start running. One should not go right into what other seasonal runners are doing. You are just exposing yourself into injuries.

For those injured runners, my only advice is (although maybe I am not the right person to say it), you need to REST. It won't kill your fitness, just to rest yourself for a few days, a week or maybe two, to recover from your soreness/pain. If it gets any worse, maybe you will need to see a specialist to diagnose your problem and get treatment.

All I can say is, we are not Lance Armstrong.

Sri Chinmoy Yarra Boulevard Half Marathon

Results and photos of my last half marathon run are out in the Sri Chinmoy Runs website. I finished the race in 1:30:47, placed 39/211 overall and 26/81 in the Mens 18-39 category. For overall results, please click on this link. The winner came in at a time of 1:20:10.

Here are some photos of me from the site (For view more photos, please click on this link):

The Start - On the left side of the road is the 10km start. The are heading the opposite direction.

Campbell Maffett - 10k overall winner (40-49 Mens)

Time: 34:59

Nathan Hill - 21.1km overall winner

Time: 1:20:10

Rohan Day - 21.1km 2nd place

Time: 1:20:35

Rhiannon Snipe - 21.1km Womens 1st

Time: 1:29:13

Ok, ok, I know she beat me lah. Don't have to rub salt into my wound!

Powerman Malaysia 2009

So who is taking part this year? Registration closing today. Too bad I will still be here in Melbourne. Anyways, I don't think I can improve much if I join this year. I may improve my running time from last year but that's only by 1-2 mins in each leg, and maybe improve my transition times. Mine was pretty bad. Most Top 20 competitor are under a minute or slightly above a minute. I did mine in 1:30 and 2:30 respectively (talk about losing time).

As for cycling, I doubt I can improve much due to my lack of cycling mileage. Last year, my time of 2:05 for the 64km ride is the slowest among the Top 35 in my category. Most of them are in 1:50s, with the faster ones doing 1:40s. So maybe if I can improve to 1:50, maybe I have a chance of a Top 8 (that's RM50 of prize money woh...at least something lah). Last year the 8th place finisher's timing was 3:24:51, so I am like...mmh..wait..18 mins 09 secs behind this guy. So let me do the math. If I improve my riding time by 15 mins...that will be 3m09s behind, then take 1 min away from my total transition time, 2m09s, so I just need to improve 1m10s in my total running time.

Top five in each category will qualify for the World Champs in Zofingen. Well that I need to improve my overall timing by 22m35s! Last year's 5th place was 3:20:26.

Haha....easier said that done. Running and trasition legs are possible, but have to train real hard to get to a 1:50 riding time. Add to the fact that each year you may have different competitors, different running condition, your own or other competitors' conidtion on the day itself. There will be a lot of factors that will decide how you will be positioned on race day. So best advice is train hard & smart, and do your best.

So anyone up for the challenge in qualifying for Zofingen? Or the RM50 challenge (No. 8) also can lah...hehe.

Here's the press release for the 2009 Malakoff Powerman Malaysia in The Star today.

Wednesday September 30, 2009

World champ Vansteelant out to reclaim duathlon title
KUALA LUMPUR: Newly-crowned world champion Joerie Vansteelant of Belgium has confirmed his participation in the 2009 Malakoff Powerman Malaysia, which offers a total prize money of RM130,000.

Race director Melody Tan said that the duathlon race in Seri Manjung on Nov 8 would also see South African Jason Spong defending the title and the presence of Vansteelant would make the competition a more exciting affair.
Vansteelant, who claimed the world championship title in Switzerland last month, was the Powerman Malaysia winner in 2007.

The event will also feature Andy Sutz, Erich Felbabel, Jarrad Adams and Miguel Capo Soler, who have all made it to the top five in previous years. The Malaysian challenge will again be led by Shahrom Abdullah.

In the women’s category, Australian Rebecca Preston will not defend the title.

The race will see several new faces, including Camilla Lindholm of Sweden, Caroline Koll of South Africa, Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic and Victoria Beck of New Zealand.

The men’s and women’s champion will receive US$5,000 each.

Today is the closing date for entries and Melody said that until yesterday, a total of 740 athletes had confirmed their participation.

“We hope to see about 800 athletes taking part in this endurance event,’’ she said.

Besides the individual races (11km run-64km cycling-10km run), there will also be a relay event and the sprint duathlon (5.5km run-32km cycling-5km run).

The individual event will have 14 age-group of competitions and top five in each category qualify for next year’s world championships in Zofingen, Switzerland, in August. Powerman Malaysia is the only Asian qualifying event for the championships.

Dish for the Night

What's for dinner tonight? Well, Im beginning to run out of ideas as I got very limited brain capacity in cooking knowledge. Usually I will cook one vege and one meat dish.

Same old stir fry vege (cabbage, carrots and tomato) and this sweet sour beef soup. Only decided the last minute to do this when I found out I have only a little left of beef to cook a whole dish by itself. So cut everything else in cubes, i.e. beef, onion, carrot, potato, tomato. Threw everything in and add some other sauces and this is how it turns out...oklah...boleh makan lah.

SAUCONY Pacemakers Network Run 2010

This is an event hosted by the Der Pacemakers Group. Please sign up online if you are keen to give your support to this event. Limited number of entries accepted, so don't miss the boat. From my experience so far with some of the events hosted by them, thumbs up in terms of organising.

SAUCONY Pacemakers Network Run 2010
Date : Friday, 1 January 2010
Time : 7:30am Sharp
Start Point / End : Tapak A, Lake Garden
Registration List : http://h1.ripway.com/pm1/netrun10.html
Enquires : 016-2166277 Wong Kei Ming OR 012-2795208 Ronnie See
Online Registration : Click Here!

Proposed Itinerary:
06:00am : Arrival of volunteers
06:30am : Arrival of runners and distribution of bibs
06:55am : Last call for bibs distribution
07:15am : Briefing by designated spokesman
07:30am : Race officially starts for all categories
08:30am : Estimated arrival of top men finisher
08:35am : Light breakfast will be served
09:10am : Estimated finishing time of last runner
09:30am : Trophy presentation to all age category winners
10:00am : End of event

Distance :
Men Category - 12.32km (3.08km x 4 loops)
Women Category - 12.32km (3.08km x 4 loops)

Category of Age Group :
- Men 17-29
- Men 30-39
- Men 40-49
- Men 50 & above
- Women 34 & below
- Women 35 & above

Register Online :
http://pacemakers.webng.com/registration.html

Registration Fee :
RM32 per participant

Payment Method :
Payment can be bank-in to Maybank account No: 1-12241-11208-3, payable to WONG KEI MING

Your entry will be confirmed only after payment has been made. Kindly make your payment on or before 1st November 2009. Please inform us after you have made the payment.

Registration : Open!
Registered participants who do not turn up on race day will be disqualified and no medals will be awarded.

Finisher Medal :
All finishers will be awarded finishing medal regardless of completion time at the finishing station, located a short distance from the finishing line.

Trophy Allocation (TBC!) :
- Men 17-29 (? trophies)
- Men 30-39 (? trophies)
- Men 40-49 (? trophies)
- Men 50 & above (? trophies)
- Women 34 & below (? trophies)
- Women 35 & above (? trophies)

Refreshment Station :
There will be refreshment station from the 2nd loop onwards, located 10m before the starting point. Both isotonic drinks and mineral water will be available to all runners at the end of each lap. We urge that you drink at every lap to hydrate yourself.

Collection of Bib :
Participants shall collect their bib number during the reporting time. Please take note that bib number will not be distributed after 7.00am. Runners that do not wear their bib number will be disqualified. The race will be flag off at 7:30am sharp; therefore your punctuality will be much appreciated.

T-Shirt Size :
How to know the size? Please refer to the measurement as follows :

Shoulder x Length
XS : 18" x 26"
S : 19" x 27"
M : 20" x 28"
L : 21" x 29"
XL: 22" x 30"

T-shirt size are not allow to change once you confirm the size (Pls take note that we only order for the exact quantity of the T-shirt).

Breakfast / Group Photographs :
Food and refreshments will be served after the race. Please throw the rubbish into the provided garbage bags to facilitate cleaning up. Do to keep the park clean and LITTERING IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you wish to have group photographs taken, kindly ask our cameraman on duty for assistance.

Parking :
Ample parking is available at the children playground, FREE of charge.

Public Toilet :
FREE of charge (Open @ 7am)

Check Points :
Due to a number of shortcuts available along the Lake Gardens routes, there will be checkpoints along the way, to ensure a fair competition for every participant. Marshalls in charge will also record number of lap you have run, to ensure each participant completed 4 loops (Men) and 4 loops (Women).

Waiver Clause :
The participants hereby agree to abide by the rules and conditions of the race, participants are entering the competition at their own risk and shall not hold the organiser responsibility for any accident, injury, death, loss of property however cause before, during and after the race.

'Do train hard and smart prior to the race as you will be rewarded with a well deserved a unique designed trophy for all your hard work and effort.'

brought 2u by der Pacemakers Network 2009

4 Seasons in One

I was looking foward to another group run on Sun. I had a really great time running with them last Sun. It's been pretty chilly, wet and even hail on Saturday. Oh, before that, Geelong Cats won the AFL Grand Final. I wasn't sure what to expect watching the whole game as I'm not into footie. The game was quite fast and furious. St. Kilda was leading in all but the last quarter of the game. The final score 80-68.

I woke up at around 7.05am, with plenty of time to get to the meeting point. But when I look out the window, I can see the trees blown to one side, sky looks gloomy, I can hear the wind blowing from inside the apartment. It took me a long to decide whether I should step out the apartment and headout for a run or just stay in the warm bed. As I dont have much time to add in more mileage before Melbourne Marathon (MM), I decided to brave the wind and cold. I was already running late. When I reached the meeting point, I didn't see any familiar faces around. I got to know later that they were there but had to leave on the dot as it was cold for them to be hanging around there. Anyways, I knew I was going to be late, so my backup plan was to run with the Melbourne Marathon training series group which starts just a few blocks from the apartment. Their runs start at 8.30am. I got there just in time. One of the trainers informed that some doing shorter and the longer ones will be doing 24km. Perfect. I went with the group and it was a comfortable pace. We ran through some of the paths that will be used for the MM this year. Albert Park, Beach Road and MCG (ending). The pace was ok for me, but the wind was so strong that sometimes you have to hang on to a straight line if it was a crosswind. I tried to stay behind some runners but it didn't work. The sun did come out for a while which helps to heat up my cold body!

As we reach the Beach Road, it was challenging enough to run through it. Running besides the sea, we had lots of crosswinds and at certain parts, the wind blew the sand from the beach which got into my eyes. That was not a good feeling at all. As I was wearing contacts, I didn't want to rub it too hard as the air was really dry and it may come off easily. In the end, we did a sensible thing by running across the road to the opposite side of the footpath. I can't imagine myself riding with this wind. I'll probably get blown off with my bike.

You probably don't see it too often in Malaysia but the ladies are leading the way most of the time. They are really fast and they made it looked so easy. We went into the cover of buildings and that was quite a relief. It drizzled for a while but luckily it didn't get any heavier, otherwise I would have frozen! We stopped a few times for drinks and also to regroup. At one of the stops in front of The Crowns, there was an event and I saw Proton Persona was on display. I wonder what they were doing? Trying to break into the market here perhaps? Cars are so cheap here in Australia that I don't think Proton will do too well here. In the final few kms, the girls cranked up the pace, and I tried to follow, but couple of them were ahead of me. Boo hoo...

So you see....you can't really predict the weather here in Melbourne. It is just so unpredictable. I already went through 4 seasons in one day (kind of). You have the strong wind, cold, sun and rain! I just hope race day will not be anything like today. But if it is, at least I've already been through it and I know what to expect.

At least I went on with the run, and I won't regret the rest of the day for not running.

Australians and Their Footie

The Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final will be played tomorrow between Geelong Cats vs St. Kilda Saints. Lots of events are lined up a week before the final. Aussie Rule Football can be considered as the fourth highest attended club championship in the world. Every weekend spectators will packed the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), with spectators ranging from 70,000-100,000 a match. Tickets are sold exclusively to supporting team club members and only a few are offered to the public. So for us public, chances of getting a ticket are pretty much zero! Victorians practically breathe, eat and sleep footie! 90% of their sports page are on AFL. Normal conversation must include footie and as one of my running friend here says, Aussie Rules is practically a religion here!

A day before the Grand Final, players from the 2 teams will parade along the streets of Melbourne with thousands of people lining up to catch a glimpse of their sporting heroes. I was there today in the pouring rain, but it's not heavy. You can get away with a raincoat or a jacket. Still, thousands of people were there. I was waiting at the National Gallery of Victoria where the parade starts. Caught glimpse of the players of which I knew their names. One is Nick Riewoldt and Gary Ablett. Gary won the Brownlow Medal, awarded to the best AFL player of the year, a very prestigious medal. The highest individual honour to an AFL player.

The Geelong Cats mascot

The Saints mascot

Nick is inside but seating on the left side, so couldn't catch a photo of him

Gary Ablett

Bands playing at the parade

Crowds just behind the parade line

Crowds on the sidewalk

This is a video clip of the parade.