By Jan Lin. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports and Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.

Changi Beach Park, Sunday, April 19, 2009 - The absence of Sprint Duathlon champion Daniel Plews gave Singaporean Wille Loo a clear run at the Singapore Sprint Series Triathlon men's title. In the women’s category, Singaporean permanent resident Trudy Fawcett completed her 2009 hat trick of Singapore Sprint Series titles.

The anti-clockwise Sprint Triathlon was the final leg of the three-part Sprint Series and both Wille and Trudy were crowned overall champions in their respective gender categories. The race comprised a 750m Changi Beach swim, a 20km bike ride along Changi Coastal Road and finished with a 5km run along Changi Beach Park.

"I didn't expect the victory," said 26-year-old Wille. "I had expected Daniel to come and race and I still have a bit of work to do to catch him." 26-year-old British expatriate Daniel Plews had pulled out of the race due to a calf injury sustained while training on the treadmill. "I only heard at the start line that Daniel wasn't going to show up," he said. "It made the race slightly open for the rest of us."

A household name in the triathlon fraternity, Daniel was candid about his misfortune. “It's strange because I’ve never injured my calf like this before,” he said, and added cheekily, “anyway I have to give Wille a chance!” Daniel’s absence at the Sprint Triathlon meant that the overall champion title was effectively Wille’s to claim. It’s his first since returning home from his studies in Australia 2 years ago.

Today, Wille trains almost daily and sometimes even twice a day, but his interest in triathlon was only cemented when he began training at his university's triathlon club.

"I started triathlon five years ago after the army as my good friend was a national triathlete," revealed the Economics and Finance graduate from the University of Melbourne, "but I only really learnt to put in a lot of hard work when I was training with the guys at my club. They are really, really good. Much better than anyone here."

“I enjoy the bike [segment] the most,” declared the swimmer by training. Wille's solid background in swimming and water polo allowed a smooth conversion to triathlon, but running has always been his Achilles' heel. Reflecting on his race preparations, he said, "I try to do a lot more work on my run as it is my weakest… I warmed up at the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge on Thursday."

“I want to see if I can turn professional,” admitted Wille, who works part-time at BikeHaus and gives triathlon coaching to a small group. “With the amount of time I put into the sport,” he said, “I might as well give it [turning professional] a shot, in half Ironman. I’ve been racing age-group for the past two years, but there comes a point in time you know you can only race age-group for so long.”

Cheered on by an army of fans comprising his friends and his girlfriend, who attends all his races “rain or shine”, Wille was a mouthful of praise for the professionalism and spectator-friendly nature of Tribob events.

“Tribob is fun. I always have a lot of friends coming down to support me. I want to put on a good show for them, especially for my girlfriend, to make their trip worthwhile,” Wille said. “Tribob has a very carnival atmosphere. A lot of it has to do with the fact that there is a lot of expatriate participants who bring their whole family down.”

Wille added, “The other triathlon events here are mostly attended by the locals. We come down for the race and we go off. We don’t really hang around and make a big event out of it. If all races can be organised like Tribob events, it will be really good for the sport.”

Trudy Fawcett: “I just ran my heart out”

The women's hat-trick winner, Trudy Fawcett, also had praise for Tribob. "Working in Singapore, there's not much sleep-time,” said the Briton, who is currently managing the health and organic food supply at Cold Storage. “I train once a week with Tribob. The training is perfect, Tribob is great!"

Having moved to Singapore from Lake District in North West England in 2005, this is only Trudy’s second year racing competitively. Trudy said, “I only started taking racing seriously when I came here. I found out about Tribob, started training with them and they have become like a family to me.”

Trudy was unrivaled from the moment she emerged from the waters in the first swim segment. “I just ran my heart out!” she exclaimed. And when asked what her victory recipe was, Trudy said, "Training, and I have a very healthy diet – no fast food!"

“I hope to live in Singapore for a long time,” revealed Trudy, “But my work contract ends in August this year and I have to find a new job in August.” The gregarious Briton was frank about her new home – “I love living in Singapore, its a very safe country. It works!”

Visit the Singapore Sprint Series website for full results of the Sprint Triathlon.

Related post: Sprint Triathlon – A Picture Story

More pictures in the gallery.