Contributed by reader Devathas Satianathan
The Singapore Management University Aquathlon team at the Bintan Triathlon. (Photo © SMU Aquathlon)
Bintan, Saturday and Sunday, May 22-23, 2010 — A team of 15 Singapore Management University (SMU) aquathlon team members competed in the Bintan Triathlon over the weekend of 22 and 23 May in the Sprint Distance, Olympic Distance, and Relay categories.
Benjamin Lau, Xander Huang and Freddy Ng finished first, third and fourth in their age-group (16-29) in the Sprint Distance category. In the process, Benjamin Lau, who represented Singapore at the World University Triathlon Championships in Spain in the past week, also finished as the first overall.
Chong Yi Mei, the only female in the SMU group who travelled to Bintan, finished eighth in her age-group (16-29) in the Sprint Distance category.
In the Olympic Distance category, five of the SMU aquathletes made a sweep of the top-five positions in their age-group (18-24). Eugene Lim, Xuan Sheng Ou Yong, Lionel Wong, Jeremy Say and Dennis Chong filled the first-fifth positions respectively. A sixth SMU aquathlete who competed in the Olympic Distance category, Cai Xihao, finished in tenth position in the 25-29 age-group.
Finally, in the relay, the team of Poon Nga Teng, Lester Lim and Brendan Lee swam, biked and ran respectively to second position overall.
The following story is told from the perspective of Devathas Satianathan, who competed in the Olympic Distance category as part of the SMU team.
At 15 athletes, this was one of the team’s biggest forays overseas. The task of putting together the team for the event was no small feat and was thanks to the team’s vice-president, Xander Huang, who took it all in his stride. The schedule was planned to perfection, allowing us to focus on our respective events.
Being no veteran of the field, the opportunity to concentrate on the task at hand was much cherished by me. While most of us had competed in triathlons before, Bintan’s geography, in terms of her undulating terrain and mid-day heat, came as quite a shock to the system.
For Yi Mei, it was furthermore her first sprint distance triathlon. She was exceptionally worried about the open water swim that would accompany the mass flag-off.
The pre-race jitters remained alive and well amongst us despite our two days’ worth of preparation that included reconnoitring of the race route.
On the morning of 22 May, after a hearty breakfast, I went down to the race venue along with my Olympic Distance teammates to witness the flag-off of the Sprint Distance category and to cheer on our teammates — Benjamin, Xander, Freddy and Yi Mei.
They did not disappoint with the men’s finishes in the top five and Yi Mei’s finish in the top ten. And so, as the rest of us, who were competing in the Olympic Distance race later in the day at 1.50pm, returned to our rooms to prepare for the race, we focused on raising the bar that the sprinters had set.
Tyres pumped, sports drinks mixed and transition gear packed, we headed off to the transition zone early to get a good parking spot for our bikes. An early trip down was necessitated by the “free-racking system” utilised by the race organisers, which meant that bike-parking slots in the transition zone operated on a first-come-first-serve basis.
And so, after racking our bikes and seeing to the rather unglamorous, logistical aspects of the race, we proceeded to our warm-up. I was pretty nervous at this point. I had little confidence in the swim by virtue of my lack of swim experience and my bike was also in a pretty bad shape.
The expectations began bearing down on our shoulders as a team. In addition to the sterling performances of the sprinters earlier in the day was last year’s 1-2-3 finish that the team garnered in the same competition.
I told myself from the onset that it was going to be a race of attrition, yet I never quite truly appreciated what that meant until I stumbled across the finish.
Before I knew it, I found myself standing alongside hundreds of competitors on the sandy beach of Bintan. As the countdown began, I braced myself, as did those around me. I looked to the buoy bobbing in the distance on the sea and tried, as best I could, to block out everything else in my mind.
3-2-1 … and a mad sprint ensued towards the water. It was a mangled mess of arms and legs, flailing and shoving, pushing and kicking … I expected this and yet found myself dumbfounded by the sheer extremity of the chaos. I desperately attempted to hold my ground and defend myself against the ardent proponents of the “frogstyle” kick.
I tried to convince myself that the pack would thin out within a few hundred metres. Alas, it was not to be and I found myself battling for the most part of the 1.5 kilometres swim. I found out later that my friends suffered the same experience.
Dazed and confused as I got out of the water, it took me awhile to find my bearings in the transition zone. I vaguely recollect being shouted at, which I managed later to attribute to my sprint teammate Benjamin cautioning me not to get lost. I grabbed my bike and duly embarked on the daunting second leg of the race.
A few kilometers into the bike, I realized something was not right. My stomach was churning and I began berating myself for giving in to my insatiable appetite at the hotel’s restaurant over the last two days.
I passed my teammate, Dennis, on the bike and realized that I was probably amongst the last in the team out of the swim leg. Despite desperately trying to catch up with the rest, I did not manage to see a single other teammate through the course of the bike leg. It was only with a few hundred metres to go on the saddle that I overtook another teammate, Xihao, which meant I had much work to do on the run.
While I knew my run was the strongest of the three legs, I understood the task that confronted me was a gargantuan one as I rushed into the transition zone. In the fatigued state induced by the daunting heat and the climbs, I felt I had little command of my legs and was severely short on confidence given my dismal standing coming off the bike. I sorely wanted a clean sweep for SMU but I began questioning if I was going to be a part of it.
These thoughts plagued me throughout the run as I fought hard to overtake each and every age-grouper who had whizzed past me on the bike.
It was after the first 5km loop, having only passed one SMU teammate since transitioning into the run, that I was close to giving up.
But near the 6km mark I saw two of my teammates together. One of them was Lionel Wong, who joked before the race that he would “try not to walk” on the run. Seeing him struggle with his recurring injury at that moment propelled me onwards, as I sought to engage them not as competitors but teammates fighting for the same cause — to do SMU proud.
As I passed the bike-in point (and the 6km mark of the run), I was informed that Eugene, the team president, was one minute ahead. While this served as a daunting reminder of the work I had left to do in the last four kilometers, I was reinvigorated by my clear mission — to hunt Eugene down.
The slopes slowed me down, but they did not stop me. As soon as I had him within my sights, I picked up the pace and gave chase, passing him with 2km to go.
Neither of us said anything in that split second our strides met but it was truly a bitter-sweet moment we shared, one that juxtaposed adversity with camaraderie. Our relationships as competitors and teammates intermeshed into a confusing and incomprehensible phenomenon. Essentially, that moment epitomized the beauty of triathlon and of competing in the sport as a team.
I raced towards the finish, constantly wary that Eugene could pass me the same way I passed him. I also knew Xuan Sheng, another teammate, was not far behind.
I attempted to chase down everyone ahead of me, treating them all as direct competitors in the same age group (even though they might not have been).
Expending the last of my energy reserves, I stumbled past the finish and — although I hate to admit this — collapsed. It was sheer fatigue, not theatrics, that inspired my calamitous descent to the ground. But I did not care; it was over. I was a happy trooper. My job was done.
I soon discovered that Ashley Liew, another member of the SMU aquathlon team who represented Singapore at the recent World University Triathlon Championships, had sustained a major injury after the bike.
Word of his plight forced me out of my stupor and I pressed my teammates for more information. He sustained a deep cut on his right leg, that required 13 stitches, when proceeding to the second transition.
He had been slated to top our age group (18-24) easily and he probably knew that as well.
As he recounted his harrowing experience of falling over in the transition zone and then watching in dismay at his bleeding foot, I could almost feel his pain and agony. It had nothing to do with the physical hurt; it was the psychological tumult of choosing the “smarter” option and being able to “live to fight another day”. Ashley had truly lived up to Robert Ingersoll’s pearl of wisdom that “the greatest test on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”
American distance-running legend, Steve Prefontaine, once said: “A race is a work of art that people can look at and be inspired by in as many ways as they’re capable of understanding.”
For me, the race was about blind perseverance, of pushing to the limit and not knowing anything better. Yet I believe Ashley took away far more. He exercised the discipline to call it quits despite knowing he had an insurmountable lead off the bike and in spite of that, remained in high spirits through the rest of the trip despite his injury.
It was a great victory for SMU, having done well in both the Olympic and Sprint distances. Yet, in my humble opinion, the greater victory was our growth as individuals, and as a team.
Results
Sprint Distance
Benjamin Lau, 1 hour 9 minutes 54 seconds — 1st (Men’s 16-29 and overall)
Xander Huang, 1:18:48 — 3rd (Men’s 16-29)
Freddy Ng, 1:20:58 — 4th (Men’s 16-29)
Chong Yi Mei, 1:40:45 — 8th (Women’s 16-29)
Olympic Distance
Eugene Lim, 2:34:07 — 1st (Men’s 18-24)
Xuan Sheng Ou Yong, 2:35:21 — 2nd (Men’s 18-24)
Lionel Wong, 2:41:24 — 3rd (Men’s 18-24)
Jeremy Say, 2:44:24 — 4th (Men’s 18-24)
Dennis Chong, 2:49:03 — 5th (Men’s 18-24)
Cai Xihao, 2:48:16 — 10th (Men’s 25-29)
Devathas Satianathan, 2:32:39 — disqualified for “consistent drafting on the bike leg”
Ashley Liew — Did not finish
Relay
Poon Nga Teng, Lester Lim and Brendan Lee (swim, bike and run respectively), 2:25:17 — 2nd
