A few weeks before Tri United 1 race day in Laiya, Batangas, a change of venue has been announced by Raul Cuevas, the race organizer and owner of Bike King. Some were relieved not to be swimming Laiya’s wavy waters, others have been dismayed especially those who booked hotels earlier and have not refunded the payment until the moment I am writing this post. But, other than the hassles during the preliminary stages, everything has been well organized from the day of race packet pick ups.
Sprint (750m swim – 20k bike – 5k run) and Standard (1.5k swim – 40k bike – 10k run) distances were participated by over 600 participants this year. Thus, the transition area had been such a long sceneryof a bike festival! Since this is my first full triathlon race for the 2013, I joined the sprint category to awaken my body and soul’s post off season jitters. Yes, though I have raced so many times, the jitters, were back for Tri United 1 especially swimming the dark abyss of Dungaree Beach(now Sands of Triboa)!
Since I have swam the previous week for Xterra the fear was quickly diminished once I did about 300 meters of warm up. I positioned myself almost behind the pack during gun start, at the left side farthest from the buoy together with some PLDT Team girls to avoid colliding with the fast swimmers. However, this time, there seemed to be more (wow, naks!) inexperienced swimmer than me who started ahead! I have been kicked on the goggles, hit, crushed, scratched, hit, crushed, scratched once more and at the turn around got sandwiched by two HUGE male swimmers. I really felt like a hotdog that time! It was a struggle to overtake and get overpowered at the same time! It was my worse swim experience ever! Infact, I did not notice the dark part of the water cause I was concentrating on how to maneuver with my not so strong swim skills! Other than the outrageous swim experience, oh and at T1 having realized my Garmin’s multisport status was not properly programmed and had to do everything again (that took some minutes darn!), my race went okay.
Oh my daughter was first place for the Tri United Teens 17 to 18 age category!
Though the venue has been changed, the triathlon spirit remained high! It was amazing to witness the increase in the number of local and foreign participants who have trusted utmost race festivities in Unilab Health Philippine’s Tri United 1 Triathlon Race!
Majority of us have who crossed the finish line have been elated by another achievement; another finishers medal earned at the end of this race. But as we thank our Creator for another experience, let us include in our prayers, Reymond Cruz, our triathlon brother who have gone ahead to another Transition during Tri United 1’s race day. Enjoy the race Mon!