La Journée d'Oscar: SINGAPORE BIATHLON 09

Yeah on the 7th March 2009, I finally became a biathlete. A newbie biathlete who did not have any idea what to do on the actual day. It felt a little like an abbatoir, collecting swim cap and race bib, championchip... moving on in line to the next stage where they ink your 4digit (read 4D) code onto your left and right arms, and then moving on to the transit area where you leave whatever you are going to run in/ with after the swim in this bow with your 4D at a corner.. measuring little less than 30x30cm (or maybe that size)..

Then at 8am, it started. Mens Open Flag Off 3. Dark clouds above and light drizzle falling. Nonetheless we went off. Into the sea and against the elements. It was initially easy to manoeuvre but after the first turn I seemed to be drifting off to my right, thus tried hard to keep closer to the cordonned off area. After another turn, the final turn, it was a tough leg back towards shore. Against the current and having little idea where the buoy is... when finally I got out of the dreadful waters, heart was still pumping a little harder than usual.

Put on my already wet shoes and socks (thanks to the rain), singlet and shorts and went onto the 10km run. Turning left towards the hawker, did a u-turn and headed the other direction to the end of ECP at the SAFRA chalet area. It was actually encouraging to see the 7km mark and I was still feeling energetic. Pressed on and surprise surprise.. ended the running leg with not a least bit of short breathness. I was mistaken about the finishing line, thought I had to go back to the hawker area and do a u-turn towards the finish but actually we didn't have to. Darn, shouldn't have conserved my energy. hahaha

Oh well, since it was my first biathlon, I set a target of 1hr 45mins. 65mins of run and 40mins of swim.. ended up, my swimming was completed around 38-39mins and running, the other 1hr +. The time on my watch when I finished?