Ironman Malaysia 2014

It's already been 1 week since Ironman Malaysia and 1,5 years since my last post!!! Not that I'd had nothing to say, just it's been hard to find time to really sit down and write about my experience.

Shortly, I had such a great time in Australia that I wanted to come back and experience it all over again :) So here I am, currently in Cairns and making plans for next few months ;)

But let's get back to Ironman Malaysia....

I left Estonia on 21st of September, taking 4 flights Tallinn-Helsinki-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur-Langkawi to get to my final destination. After approx 14h of flights, 20h at airports, I managed to sleep roughly 6 hours! Planes are not meant for tall people!

I was greeted at the airport by Ironman Malaysia team and taken down to the venue area. Langkawi was hot with 35+ degrees, humid and that time rainy. I knew that as I'd been talking to CG (IM Malaysia Operations Manager) before coming over. "It's been raining cats and dogs", he said :) As I arrived on a midday, I had time to go around and walk through the important areas, meet the local team and enjoy the day :)

Langkawi famous eagle

Langkawi famous eagle in the dark

Langkawi island map carved on a stone

I got to know the IM Malaysia team already in April when I had left Australia and was heading back to Europe for summer. That time I made a stop-over at Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya, just next to Kuala Lumpur, at the government administrative area. I stayed for the event and took a role of TD. It was the local team's first time to organise Ironman and they pulled it off :) I actually stayed in Malaysia longer, helping the local team with some of their other events and just enjoyed traveling, swimming, diving, cuisine and sightseeing in various places around Malaysia.

Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya in April - TO's picture at finish line

For IM Malaysia, I was assigned to work in Transition together with Therese and her local leaders. Before the event, I had to make sure everything was set up as needed, assist and give guidelines to Therese if needed. On race day, each leader was given a specific section of that area to manage the volunteers - I was given mount/dismount area and also looked over the Technical Officials working in transition while Shanelle, TD/RR was not available.

Transition ready to bring in the athletes!

I like working in transition as you usually see the most of the race there - athletes racking their bikes the day before, coming in early on the race morning to do final tuning and get ready for the start, come out of the swim and jump on their bikes, get off the bike and head to the run and finally pick up their bikes after the race. During that time you experience all different emotions - confusion, excitement, joy, challenge, friendship, tiredness, will to continue, not to surrender, just push yourself over the limits on this tough, hot and humid Ironman course!

For Ironman race, there is always a welcome dinner and race briefing 2 days before the race. This one was held in a big airplane hangar, 30min drive from main event area, just next to the Langkawi airport. It just has to be big enough to make room for ca. 1200 athletes who came down to the beautiful island. Starting with the opening words from the organisers and major partners, athletes were let loose to grab their plates full of local delights - mostly pasta, rice, chicken, salads and fruits. This is common for all the big events to fuel up and load carbohydrates for the upcoming race. The Welcome dinner allows all the athletes to become friends and loosen up a bit by socializing with other competitors and even with event organisers. Meanwhile the Ironman team shows some inspiring videos and introduces the race briefing. All of that is being written down in the athlete booklet, but often nobody really pays attention to it so repeating the main rules and giving the course description by the Race Director and Race Referee is done. Whoever has questions, can clarify these with RR after the briefing - as usually, there are a lot of questions!

Thursday evening Welcome Dinner in massive airplane hangar

Welcome Dinner with some of the crew

To make it easier and not to really overload all the team, it's required to rack the bikes and bring all the bags 1 day before the race. At the entrance, the TO's are checking helmets (straps must be closed and tight enough), bike and helmet numbers, brakes and handlebar ends to be plugged. The flow is usually one way to avoid anyone walking out with stuff that's supposed to be left there - for security reasons. It's fair treatment for all athletes. After athletes rack their bikes, they move on to place their run and bike bags on designated hooks. Even if there are certain rules, people just don't pay attention.

Transition on Friday evening - all bikes racked!

Examples:

• with no bike covers allowed, they still bring their own covers that are not secured and can easily, with slight wind, fly off the bikes, creating trash all around the transition.
• chain covering - "because otherwise rain will make my chain rusty"
• seat covering - "otherwise it will be wet in the morning"
• handlebar covering - "I've got delicate equipment that doesn't like water on it".

The list is long! I'll gladly take time to explain the rules and why something is like it is, but explaining these things to each person separately is time consuming and doesn't allow me to focus on other tasks. Luckily there's always transition tour that guides athletes through the venue, specifying each step on the way. Best is to join that and ask there in front of the group where everyone will hear.

On the race day, our team starts early - at 3am, to make sure everything is set for the athletes at 5am. They are allowed to enter only to their bikes to adjust and do final tuning - adding biddons, energygels, check tyre pressure, rack the bike from seat post (for overnight it has to be racked from brakes).

Transition before the start at 6am

Lineup before the swim rolling start

 This time we had the start at 7:15am for PRO men and 7:16am for PRO female. Age-group was allowed into the water at 7:20am as a rolling start. That means each athlete will choose their own location to start from based on their swimming estimated end time. That allows a much smoother swim as each athlete is competing against their own personal best! Once they get out of the water, they run to the transition, grab their blue bike bag and change clothes inside the changing tent. Once ready, they proceed to their bikes, helmets strapped, to pick their bikes from the racks. Moving on to the mount line, they need to cross it before sitting on the bike. Usually, there are some people who wander around and don't follow any of the rules. That's why we have TO's checking the flow - if any of the rules are being broken, then they use a whistle and stop the athlete, asking them to correct their behavior.

After swim, they take blue bike gear bag

Change clothes in designated area

Mountline at the exit of transition

Making back to the transition, at Ironman distance, athletes bikes will be caught right after the dismount line. My job there was to explain and teach volunteers how to do that. Each person comes in at a different speed, gets off from different sides of the bike and most likely being exhausted. Volunteers will then rack their bikes and athletes will just have to run down to the change tent, get their red run bags and proceed to the run course.

After bike, they take their red run bags

All that sounds simple... it actually is if you've done that several times. We all try to be there for the athletes to provide them support, great venue and experience of a lifetime. I enjoy doing it. To be honest, our working hours are much longer compared to the athletes. Before race day I slept 3 hours, woke up at 3am, stayed up until 2:30am next morning, slept 4,5 hours and started at 7am on Sunday. I don't mind doing it - I like to give it back to the sport I enjoy :) My benefit is to see some of the athletes crossing the famous finish line where they hear "I AM IRONMAN".

Finish line

Cameron Brown on right - 12x Ironman winner!

Or the next day when they join for the awards night and are being called out to receive deserved prizes! Some of the race times are just so fast and some places are being separated by thousands of seconds only! Even in Malaysia, the oldest guy was 76 years old and it was his 16th Ironman! What a motivation to everyone!

The oldest triathlete receiving the awards!

What makes these Ironman events spectacular, are all the competitors, spectators, volunteers and organisers who invest their endless effort to make things happen :) As this event was Ironman Malaysia team's first Ironman, they did an excellent job :) I was proud to be there with them :)

Team group photo at the Ironman finish

Mix of athletes and organisers :)

Even when the event was over, a lot of athletes stayed on the island to be entertained :) So did I! After everything got packed on Monday, I had a few days to rest, went diving and saw some parts of Langkawi. Ironman is never just an event - it's a festival and should be enjoyed to the fullest :)

Ready for diving :)

On Wednesday, 1st of October, I started my 2nd part long flights - 4 flights in 24 hours - Langkawi-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore-Brisbane-Cairns.

Now I'm here, having fun and seeing what Far-North Queensland has to offer for a while :)