Feel it HOT, HOT, HOT! That basically sums up my trip to the Philippines. The weather was hot, the people were great and had warm personalities, and the place was amazing. We were treated like rock stars and the venue for the race was beautiful. The Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 was truly put on at a world-class level, which is an amazing achievement for an inaugural race. Plus, I hate it in cold weather when I can’t feel my toes after the bike—so bring on the heat! Onto a quick summary of the race. The pro field, although small, was definitely high quality with Cameron Brown, Chris Macca McCormack, Pete Jacobs, and Tim Mar summing up the male pros. But with the prize money only going three deep, it was going to be a fight until the end. The swim kicked off at 7 a.m. The pace was controlled as we all knew how hard the day ahead of us was going to be. Jacobs led most of the way on the 2-loop course around the wake board park—which I will come back to later.
All five of us where out of the water together, and it was onto the 90km bike. I had a shocker of a transition losing both of my shoes getting on the bike. I quickly fixed this and caught back up. Most of the ride was steady, except for when Brownie made a break for it at about 30km. He managed to keep away for a good 20km, but we soon reeled him back in. The crowds out on the bike and run course where huge. Thousands of locals were out there supporting and cheering. It reminded me of Ironman Frankfurt where there were half a million spectators.
Then it was off for the 21km run. The course was pretty flat, but the temperature was well over 30’C. Macca left transition at a crazy pace that I didn’t match. He gained a 30-second lead, but was always in my sights. At about 7km, I caught back up. We ran together for 5km. Brownie was not too far behind, and we were dying. We ran through aid stations trying to collect as much fluid and gels as we could to hydrate and cool ourselves down. I got a bit of a gap on Macca and didn’t want to slow, as I knew Brownie was close and he looked like he was running fast. I made the last turnaround at 15km and was homeward bound, but then I really started to struggle. I managed to hang on for the win, but my insides were cooking. Macca stuck it out for 2nd and Brownie came in 3rd. I guess if you count Macca’s Maori heritage, you can say kiwi’s 1/2/3. As for the women, we had Lisa Bentley 1st, Gina Kehr 2nd, and Charlotte Paul 3rd.
Once the race was over, we all had a go at the wake board park. What fun! I will try to get a picture of the insane move that I managed to pull. But when shown how to do it by the pros—and governor LRay of Camsur—my trick looked almost invisible.
All in all, a great trip. The community really got behind the event and put on an awesome show. I can’t wait to come back next year. Now it’s off to Kona.
Powered by Compendium Blogware