It was a dream to do a full ironman for me this lifetime. 2019 I signed up for Bintan 70.3 half Ironman, I thought maybe it is a good time for me to get down and fulfil my dream. However, Covid hit 2020 and the dream was shattered, but all the better because I will end up just becoming the same thing as I did for the previous triathlons, just jump in and hope that having a more decent run time can assist the completion.
Before 70.3
I had only did a few OD before deciding to join the Bintan 70.3. Thus zero experience in open water, worse experience in cycling but quite a bit of running. When Covid hit, I thought it was a good time to brush up the other 2 disciplines and that was when I was roped in. The person who brought me to open water was Oswald, somehow he popped up in my Facebook and rest is history, I remember still very procrastinating to go Open water in Sentosa Tanjong beach. The first time I went , all were like fish in the sea and I could not catch up, there were some newbies with me also one was Josephine. She is not a regular in IM series. I really owe all these swimming experiences to this group and also Richard who corrected my strokes and make me improve more on my swimming.
Cycling was the tricky one, there are simply no long routes in Singapore where you can practice for long for this sport especially the traffic is quite bad once day breaks in Singapore. It doesn’t help we have a lot of bus services here, making it very difficult to ride in the day. Those whom I swam with were mainly the people I ride with. This is because most of them are into triathlon, people like Richard, Larry, Jane and also Oswald and Jac too.
Run is the least worrying for me although at times I do get tired about running and has sustained a lot of bad gait due to long distances, but I still do enjoy running the most because it is relaxing and not cold like swimming at times and inconvenient and dangerous like cycling.
I have written the previous two 70.3 that I have done before this full ironman.
Ironman Gurye
The idea hit when one of our OW friend Chris said to join him for the Korea Ironman. I still remember the idea seeded around Dec 2024. The first person to get really excited was Larry, this was because he had really really wanted to do a full Ironman. Korea was not exactly what I had in mind as the destination for this full show because it is really a great investment. Most of you should have known by now that I am a cheapo athlete. I am actually not very willing to spend too much for Ironman especially the bike. The race did not open until around earlier part of 2025, Chris was very enthusiastic about it so once there was news, he informed me and Larry to sign up. Although we signed early, the bib still costed about 950USD, it was the most expensive race I had ever done. But you will realise why it cost so much and to be honest I do not think the organiser earned a lot from these bib money.
It was my first time to Korea not to say Gurye even. I have no idea where it was until I Googled it, its about 300 plus KM south of Seoul. The place is peaceful and quiet, nothing much in the area except one town which is simple, Gurye is famous for Jirisan, unfortunately we did not get to visit it this time. Most of our R&R was in Seoul. Seoul is also a popular destination for Singaporeans too with the aesthetic treatments, facial product shopping , fashion and food it is a big draw to Singaporean other than Taiwan and Japan. We booked out airtickets early too, I purchased another 10Kg more for the bike, although later lesson learnt, my bike is actually not big and fancy , given my size also I do not really need such a big bike.
Gurye
The race is on a Sunday 28 Sep. We reached Seoul on a Wednesday morning and stayed there till Friday before the Ironman bus bring us to Gurye, they actually arranged transportation from Seoul to Gurye and we are lucky we got a personal pick up bus for three of us and Chris family of wife and daughter. Seoul was fun actually although previously I was not really into K culture and furthermore not into their food. But I changed my mind, the city is clean and has a lot of vibrance. Was good to have Chris’ little girl Athena with us, she really brought life to the trip. I did what I needed, some aesthetic, Hanbok wearing, visiting the palaces, eating Sangye chicken and many other good food. Not forgetting to pole there too as South Korea is famous for very good studios which didnt let me down. Only regret was I did not buy a few more of the Hot Han pole wear over there. Chris’ wife Shiling is well versed with Korea and brought us to the main highlights of the city so that we need not waste time researching.
When we reach Gurye, we checked into the Hanook, JungRuk Jung sa, there was actually another Singapore group here but end up only Oswald and his wife came. Coincidentally, we stayed at the same compound with another group of Ironman duo. The Hanook was very cosy for the five of us, host was friendly and helpful and good that the compound had washing machine and a garden area to wash the bike. First night we were all pretty tired from the ride, we just had a simple dinner in a nearby restaurant which served Korean home cooked food. Simple but pretty delicious, however, I find Korea cost of living not exactly cheap. Its comparable to SG cost for dining out, the alcohol is the only thing that is very very cheap, I can get a bottle of Syoju for S$2 only.
Race Bib Pick up and Drop offs
There are 2 transition areas which are about 7km apart. Transition 2 area is where the bike change to run and also the finish line while transition 1 area is at the Jirisan Lake park where the swim takes on with the change to bike. There were shuttle buses running through these 2 areas and the official hotel of the K jirisan Family hotel, which is further north from the Park and our area which is called Masan as there are some accomodations around. Originally I wanted to book in town where the transition 2 and finish line is , Gurye Stadium. But there were no hanook there and the home stay there are smaller which I felt might not be ideal for our gang of 5. The hotels in town were also pretty small , good for solos or duos.
One thing strange about the bike check was it was done at the transition 2 area and it got many people confused and not logical. The shuttle buses also did not allow bikes up the bus, so we had to navigate and cycle up to the lake ourselves. Good thing was the day was sunny and route there was actually flat and scenic. After leaving our bikes and the drop off bags, Larry and another Singapore triathlete Man Ling , changed up to test the water in the lake. It seems not as cold as the Greece oceanman which I now realise is only 19 degrees.
We went back to town after that on the shuttle to buy some items from the supermarket and had the final dinner at the Ginseng chicken shop with Oswald. Basically nothing eventful for the day and can feel the 3 of us still nervous and worried about the race especially me and Larry. Somehow, no matter how many times you did a race before, the race anxiety is always there.
RACE DAY
Knowing Larry as the very kancheong ( worried ) type, he wanted to wake up 4 plus to catch the shuttle and go race site early. Blessing in disguise that Chris was not the early type so we decided to reach there just 6 ish, in time for the last bike check and change up to the wet suit and stuff. I think equipment wise I am the most chill, wearing a last minute bought Decathlon short wet suit and did not even bother to technical check the bike, I got even time to chill at the refreshment area for some coffee while overlooking the lake and praying hard that it doesn’t rain as weather forecast say there is a very high chance of raining. Rain has its good and bad but generally for mood wise a sunny fair weather is better than rain as it gives me a feeling of crying.
I saw Oswald and Manling joined us at the start line although she and Chris could have been in the earlier wave, just as we were starting the sky drizzled and it was cloudy and grey throughout. Guess this was the type of weather that Larry likes as it means cooling ( cold for me ). Flag off was rolling, this was my first time swimming in a lake, the water was not that bad, not as cold as the Greece one and minus the waves and current does help a bit. Just that after one loop I began to start to feel the cold and I told myself to go faster to keep warmer. After coming out of the water I could still run and not trembling. In the change up tent, I put on the fresh tri suit and the staff were very kind and helpful to help you grab stuff and put back the transition bags, so you need not have to go and find yourself and get messed up with other participants, there were cases where the participants grab wrong bag and just any how hang it other place too.
BIKE
Hopping on to the bike, I think my weakness is the transition and poor bike handling but I thought since we are doing 180k it is best we are feeling comfortable for the ride rather than taking a quick transition. It is also mainly because the bike is going to take the main bulk of my time as I am not fast and my handling is not good, on top of that my little Colnago is not exactly something people thought will survive the 180km. But this bike is the only one I feel comfortable with and I in July I did not have enough time to accustom to a new bike but to continue with this one.
It was raining heavily when I started the bike and it rained on and off throughout since I took about 7 hours plus on the bike. The only good thing is I did not slip, it was quite cold and in the end I let my hair down to keep myself warm. I did come down the bike a few times during the loops for toilet and drink break. I must say the stations are well replenished with the Ironman water bottles of water and isotonic. There were gels, bananas and biscuits for food. I was quite happy that I made it within the 10 hr 30 min cut off for the swim T1 and bike session, I had a buffer of an hour even. The weather had been grey and rainy the whole time, making it kinda gloomy. If not, I felt the scenery would have been nice.
Run
T2 was faster, I changed the shirt but I regretted not changing my whole try suit instead as I was having abrasions on my crotch. The staff was very helpful and they helped me to change up at the same time bring the drop bag and bike to the racks. It helped to save more time and energy. The sky was slowly darkening when I moved out, there were 4 rounds of 10 km to finish up. Although the scenery was nice and there was actually not much elevation, it was still pretty mental to go in and out 4 times. The pit stop stations were well stocked with food and hydration. The whole day I did not really had a proper meal and somehow I lost the appetite. I just want to finish this race as fast as I can. By the second round, my leg was really unable to keep running and I ended up like a trail race, run walk run walk. Slowly, people are finishing their race and the running course became sparse. I keep mentally tell myself to finish it , at first I was aiming a 5 hour marathon but I just got slower and slower and ended up doing a 6 hour 30 marathon.
Finishing It
In my final round I was so elated but yet so exhausted that I can run into the stadium where the finish line was, it was around 10:42pm when I finished the whole thing, in all I took about 15 hours and 43 min to finish this race. I was so tired that I forgot to ring the bell as the first timer and sprinted back as fast as I could. There were not many people in the stadium already. Thank God chris was early and he helped me to take some coming in to the finish line pictures. Larry was actually just 3-4 km behind me , so after grabbing some food, me and Chris waited for him to come back. We were given medal, finisher towel food and hydration at the finish. After larry came back we decided to take every thing including the drop bags one shot so that we need not have to wake early to settle them in the morning.
After math
There were a lot of mixed feelings about the finish, I am happy that the whole thing was over and I was able to finish it. But I felt that my timing was really a bit too slow making it very torturous, I would probably do an Ironman again but not in the near future because the cost is really too high, and logistic is too troublesome. Having 3 types of sports together also add in to the uncertainty of not being able to finish. Most importantly is the lack of bike training. Well I guess I need to brush up more before I attempt another one. But I can say I finished what I listed down for myself to do and for that portion I am very grateful.
