Sebastien Calle pips Clement Chow to win Singapore Sprint Series

Story by Leslie Tan. Photos by Lai Jun Wei.

Start of the men’s race with Sebastien Calle (extreme right) and Clement Chow (middle) competing for the overall series title. (Photo 1 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Changi Beach Park, Sunday, June 14, 2008 – Sebastien Calle rode the 20km bike route with a flat tyre but still managed to come from behind to win the Singapore Sprint Series triathlon yesterday at Changi Beach Park. In so doing, Sebastien, who finished in 1 hour 6 minutes and 51 seconds, also won the overall Series championship with a total of 586 points, outpointing his closest challenger Clement Chow, who finished the triathlon in second place (1:07:18). Clement finished just one point behind with 585.

Competitors who participated in the three races of the Singapore Sprint Series received ranking and time points for each race. Before the start of the triathlon on Sunday, Clement had 387 points overall, leading Sebastien by just one point. So it was done to the triathlon to determine the overall series champion.

Clement, suffering from the onset of flu, emerged from the water before Sebastien in 11:40, while Sebastien trailed behind in 13:58 to give Clement a 2:18 advantage. The bike route saw Sebastien make better time than Clement, a feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that Sebastien had to stop after the first round and return to transition to re-inflate his flat tyre before continuing.

Despite the delay, Sebastien finished the 20km route in 31:38 while Clement managed 33:36. Clement still emerged from transition for the run before Sebastien, but the lead was now negligible. After one round of the two-lap 5km course, Sebastien overhauled Clement and James Whale, who hit the run first. Clement dropped to third during the run. Sebastien kept his lead to finish first while Clement just managed to finish two seconds ahead of James for second place.

When asked about his misadventure with the flat tyre, Sebastien said: “I had changed the tyre only yesterday and noticed this morning that the tyre was flat. So I left the pump in transition just in case. I had to deal with it, no choice.”

In the women’s race, Rachel Gaudry won the triathlon in a time of 1:09:39. Rachel emerged second in the swim in 12:09, behind Christel Fung whose swim time of 10:47 was even faster than that of both Clement and Sebastien. Rachel made up the time on the bike, coming back in 32:42 while Christel managed 36:43.

In the meantime, Kristy Housley, the eventual Women’s Overall Series winner, had done enough on the bike (33:21) to emerge second at the start of the run while Christel followed in third. They finished the run in that same order, with Rachel coming home in 23:00 flat.

“I had a good bike leg,” recounted Rachel who had been sick all week with asthma and bronchitis. “I recently had a knee operation and only started running in the last four to five weeks. Today was my first run where I felt good out there.”

“This was my first triathlon,” said Christel, when we caught up with her after the race. “The swim was good, the bike was good, the run was dying. Probably because I was so tired already!”

Christel Fung, who eventually finished third in the triathlon, contemplates the swim start. (Photo 2 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Joash Chong emerges from the water in 10:44, the fastest individual swim time on the day. He eventually finished third in the M16-19 category. (Photo 3 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Clement Chow emerges from the water with the third fastest individual time of 11:40. (Photo 4 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

James Whale, who eventually finished third in the triathlon, emerges in 13:35. (Photo 5 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Christel pops out of the water in 10:47, the second fastest individual time on the day. (Photo 6 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Rachel Gaudry, who eventually won the triathlon, emerges second in the swim behind Christel Fung in 12:09. (Photo 7 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Celine Ragazzoni about to start the bike route. The bike start proved a little trickier for everyone concerned but auxilliary police were on hand to stop traffic to allow bikers to reach the mount line. (Photo 8 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Clement Chow completing his first lap of the bike route… (Photo 9 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

…with James Whale not far behind. (Photo 10 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Sebastien Calle coming into transition to pump up his flat tyre before continuing the race. (Photo 11 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Gil Kipper waving to his friends as he finishes his first lap on the bike route. Changi Coast Road was closed to traffic for the race. (Photo 12 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)