The race organisers were calling it the worlds toughest race. I dont know about that but it sure was the hottest race I have ever done. August 16th was the date for this years annual Desaru International long distance triathlon on the coast of Malaysia. 500 people took part in the race, being the largest field so far,with a very small but quality pro field including Pete Jacobs who finished 2nd in Ironman Roth only three weeks earlier and Matt O’halloren a young guy with huge potential training with team TBB and some of the best athletes in the world.

I had been based in Singapore for three weeks prior to the race to get used to the heat and humitidy as it is only a short ferry trip away from the race site, which turned out to be a great idea. I was ready for the most extreme conditions and that is what we got! 38 degrees with 80-100% humitidy!!! The race didnt start until 10:00am so after a good sleep in we rolled out the door of the motel to transition which was quite conveniently located in the car park 10 metres away from our room.

2 lap swim course (2km), 3 lap undulating bike (90km) and a 2 lap run (21km), was pretty straight forward, so after a rather slow start I came out of the water in 3rd position about 1.30 down on the leader and 45sec behind second place which I thought was rather good considering the two guys in front of me are amoung the best swimmers in triathlon and it was a really choppy ocean swim which did’nt suite me.

Once on the bike I just wanted to work at my own pace and if I could catch the two in front before the run that would be great, but as it turned out I had caught both of them in the first half lap and still felt well within my comfort zone. I have done many halfs in the past and simply run out of power because I have gone to hard to early, so I was very cautious not to fall into the same trap. I also had to make sure I was staying hydrated and eating enough to be able to run the 21km in the extreme heat to finish the race. At the front Pete and I swapt of turns quite casually for the first two laps before I decided to try and get away, sencing that Pete wasent having his best day, I was able to open up a 4 minute gap going into the run. Behind us there was a quite a big gap back to the rest of the field, who were really suffering in the heat.

I had four water bottles on the bike and needed more where as most of the guys only had two so ended up in real trouble going into the run. Once out of transition I hit the bitchumen again with a convoy of escorts in front of me. I felt terrible but for the first time I was’nt cramping and was’nt short on nutrition so I just tried to set a good pace and see what happened. It was so hot that running fast just wasent an option, it was more just trying to survive and make it from aid station to aid station to cool off which were about 1km apart. After the first turn around I knew Pete was in real trouble, he’s a great runner on his day but the time check that I got was 5min to start with, then it blew out to 15 min with about 7km to go which was a massive relief for me. I still tried to get to the finish as quick as I could but it meant I could relax a little and stop a lille longer at the aid stations.

I crossed the line totally exhausted but very happy, finally I had got everything right and I raced as well as I could have. Perfect preparation for my upcoming races over the next few months starting with Singapore 70.3 on the 7th of Sep

The race organisers were calling it the worlds toughest race. I dont know about that but it sure was the hottest race I have ever done.August 16th was the date for this years annual Desaru International long distance triathlon on the coast of Malaysia. 500 people took part in the race, being the largest field so far,with a very small but quality pro field including Pete Jacobs who finished 2nd in Ironman Roth only three weeks earlier and Matt O’halloren a young guy with huge potential training with team TBB and some of the best athletes in the world.

I had been based in Singapore for three weeks prior to the race to get used to the heat and humitidy as it is only a short ferry trip away from the race site, which turned out to be a great idea. I was ready for the most extreme conditions and that is what we got! 38 degrees with 80-100% humitidy!!! The race didnt start until 10:00am so after a good sleep in we rolled out the door of the motel to transition which was quite conveniently located in the car park 10 metres away from our room.

2 lap swim course (2km), 3 lap undulating bike (90km) and a 2 lap run (21km), was pretty straight forward, so after a rather slow start I came out of the water in 3rd position about 1.30 down on the leader and 45sec behind second place which I thought was rather good considering the two guys in front of me are amoung the best swimmers in triathlon and it was a really choppy ocean swim which did’nt suite me.

Once on the bike I just wanted to work at my own pace and if I could catch the two in front before the run that would be great, but as it turned out I had caught both of them in the first half lap and still felt well within my comfort zone. I have done many halfs in the past and simply run out of power because I have gone to hard to early, so I was very cautious not to fall into the same trap. I also had to make sure I was staying hydrated and eating enough to be able to run the 21km in the extreme heat to finish the race. At the front Pete and I swapt of turns quite casually for the first two laps before I decided to try and get away, sencing that Pete wasent having his best day, I was able to open up a 4 minute gap going into the run. Behind us there was a quite a big gap back to the rest of the field, who were really suffering in the heat.

I had four water bottles on the bike and needed more where as most of the guys only had two so ended up in real trouble going into the run. Once out of transition I hit the bitchumen again with a convoy of escorts in front of me. I felt terrible but for the first time I was’nt cramping and was’nt short on nutrition so I just tried to set a good pace and see what happened. It was so hot that running fast just wasent an option, it was more just trying to survive and make it from aid station to aid station to cool off which were about 1km apart. After the first turn around I knew Pete was in real trouble, he’s a great runner on his day but the time check that I got was 5min to start with, then it blew out to 15 min with about 7km to go which was a massive relief for me. I still tried to get to the finish as quick as I could but it meant I could relax a little and stop a lille longer at the aid stations.

I crossed the line totally exhausted but very happy, finally I had got everything right and I raced as well as I could have. Perfect preparation for my upcoming races over the next few months starting with Singapore 70.3 on the 7th of Sep.

Will let you know how it all goes.

Cheers, Aaron

 Firstly a massive thankyou to the Crailsheim tri club and the Simsch family for looking after me so well for the last three months while I have been in Germany.Being my first time to the country and for such a long time was a bit dawnting to begin with, but it was so hard to say goodbye in the end. Although I still havent picked up on much of the language I am determined to be able to speak next year.

My races went pretty well. With the club(LBS cup), I finished third in the first race then second in the next three! It was a little dissapointing not to get a win but I gave it my best shot, I even had some help from Luke in my last race, who sacraficed himself for me, but we still couldent get up there. Maybe next year. My other races were quite successful as well. I finished 7th in Ironman70.3 Switzerland and 3rd in the ITU Athlone European cup in a really close sprint finish.

From Germany I headed back home to Australia for a week and right into the middle of our winter, my first ride back home was -4 degrees and a total shock to the system. I had planned this week to be a very easy week and after that ride I decided it was going to be a hell of a lot easier!!

At the moment I am in Singapore preparing for my next race in Malaysia on the 16th of August which is a half Ironman event followed by Singapore 70.3 in early September. The heat and humitidy is really taking alot to get used to and the traffic is a nightmare. It is impossible to get a good training ride in after about 6.30 in the morning so to beat the traffic I have to start training at 3.30 in the morning!! (lucky I can come home and have a sleep). This should give me a really strong base to build on into the Aussie season and hopefully get me to a world cup standard.

Well, I will let you know how it all goes.

Cheers, Aaron