Marina Boulevard, Sunday, June 8, 2008 – George Lawson (1:36:09) and Monica Torres (1:51:51) were the fastest duathletes at the City Duathlon but the post-race conversations were centred on the confusion arising from the shortened bike leg.
Riders were expecting to cover five loops of 8km each but were left scratching their heads when their speedometers indicated only 20km at the end of their bike leg. It seems a failure in marshalling and route set-up led to the mistake.
Said COL Lam Shiu Tong, the race director of the City Duathlon: “Our review showed that due to the affected route being only partially closed to support continual operation of the Marina Pier, the gaps between cones used to barricade the junction allowed the lead pack of the 4th Wave to miss their left turn towards Marina Mall and go straight ahead towards Marina Pier. This resulted in numerous cyclists following the lead pack and as it was deemed too dangerous to redirect the cyclists and unfair to disqualify the many cyclists who had missed their checkpoint in Marina Mall, a judgment call was made to stay with this “modified” route which resulted in a shortened bike route.”
On the Triathlon Family website, participants filled page after page with their own experiences. Said a participant with the username of cyclist_sg: “Bike leg was a real mystery to me as the reduction of total distance was only made known by a u-turn marshal. I did check the map the night before and thought that it will help my overall effort due to my cycling background. However, the route was horrifyingly short, overcrowded, crash-trap cones lying about the middle of lanes.” Said delinux14, another participant: “…for 85 bucks, i expect at least some standard in the organisation.”
The duathletes weren’t so hot about the muddy transition area as well, bringing back memories of last year’s Singapore International Triathlon. Wrote cyclist_sg: “Oh yes, the favourite area – transition! What a mud fest and extensively long run in/out and bike in/out. Getting both in and out of the mud trap was really a pain to equipment. In fact, should have brought a MTB and shoes for the occasion.”
N.B.: The City Duathlon is also known as the “Saab City Duathlon” and the Singapore International Triathlon is commonly referred to as the “osim Triathlon”. You can find the race director’s full explanation at the event website.
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Don’t even get me started…. It was the worst race I’ve done. My friend was disqualified through no fault of hers. Being an experienced triathlete and fast-runner, usually a podium finisher, she was as in the front pack of runners for the Full Duathlon. At the 5km u-turn of the 10km run, the marshals (either mistook them for the previous flag-off categories, or just plain incompetency) directed them into the transition area instead of u-turning! The confused runners ran around the transition area, and upon exit, crossed the timing mat prematurely, and the race was over for her.