The OD refers to Olympic distance. Which means 1.5Km swimming, 40Km Bicycle riding and 10 Km running. I have done a few ODs before but to speak the truth, the timing is only mediocre or maybe more towards the slow side. Main reason is that I am very slow with the bike section.
The NX113 race is done by the 113 triathlon group by the same Desaru group, which I did the 113 triathlon. The race director is Andy Foo and I feel this group of organiser is very reliable, the races are very doable and reasonably priced. They also emphasize a lot on safety , which I feel sometimes might be lacking for Malaysia races.
Saw Tan Kim Lai at the Marathon Race pack collection
Signing Up
I actually signed this up very early, around March. I was in the thinking that I should do at least one Tri a year just to keep currency. Although this time is a shorter distance, going for speed can also very challenging for me too. I decided to sign up so that I will have the motivation to go and cycle. Glad that I did so which I managed to do the RIBA and also some small cycling stints by myself.
Website for Sign up: https://checkpointspot.asia/event/NX113-ODTM23
All in all I paid about S$100 for this event.
Transportation
Thanks to Larry for bringing us around
After some persuasions, I managed to get 2 other people, Larry and Thim to join with me from my Siloso swim group. One of them , Larry is more of a regular swimmer than other sports. Was glad that he offered to drive us up to Melaka. This saved the trouble of my initial planning of having to find a charter to get there, the organiser, which is reachable by FB messenger and Whats app was very helpful. They could also arrange for accomodation too. At this moment , we also got to know that Richard was going to Melaka for the Marathon and we decided to just all go up together and if possible we will get an Air BNB. I booked the Swan Garden Hotel. Richard also booked a room for himself and Larry, although his race start is further, me and larry had the bicycle to handle so we stayed nearer to the Encore Melaka which is the start point for the race.
He later came back after his race just to cheer me and Larry on.
Race Pack and Race
The race pack collection was in the Makhota Parade shopping mall. The last time I went to this mall was the Melaka marathon in 2018, that was before the Covid. It kinda looked a bit jaded now, but still one of the highlights in down town Melaka. The collection was smooth and there was no big crowd. As usual there were some vendors selling sports stuff like race belts, socks etc.
The race itself is on a Sunday morning, after recceing the place using our bike, Larry decided that we should drive there. This is because we might have a lot of things to bring along. The bike check in was 5am, I thought it would be too early to go there but Larry felt was very excited and thought that we check in earlier. We reached very early and there were not many people. After we placed our stuff, it started to rain, thank god there were sheltered area. We waited and the sky actually cleared, we were all in time for the flag offs which is only around 7 plus. The faster categories like super sprint and sprint flagged off first while we the guys flagged off for the OD after 7:50 by age group. The ladies were quite few so we all flagged off together.
Course
(L to R)Happy to have friends running with me in loops, Thim, Jozzy and Larry.
The course is mainly loops , for the swim it was 750m by 2 loops, while cycling was 4 loops of 10 km, while the running was 4 loops of running at 2.5km. To speak the truth, the course is really very friendly and doable. I enjoyed the running as it was not very hilly too. As usual for triathlon, the running gets a bit too sunny by the time I finish my cycling. Swim course was okay but it was a little choppy and because of my left arm injury, I could not really spot well and veered off course a bit. Overall I was happy to be able to swim in at the second place! It was not something I expected.
Some Action shots
Transition area was very well planned but unfortunately it was not sheltered. Heavy rain hit us at the run leg, just when I finished 15 mins later. Larry and Thim were still on the road and they were hit by the rain so were our items.
Unexpected win!
We got a finisher medal for the ending, overall it was an enjoyable race with many youngsters doing the shorter distances. The refreshment stations were well replenished and there was very good safety coverage. Got a little surprise finishing at the podium in 3rd place for my age category. I must say, I need to improve more on the cycling and also ensure that my arm gets well.