I like doing test races before big ones and was looking around Asia for one. The Bintan Triathlon caught my eye and fit in as a good tune-up before Ironman 70.3 Japan on June 1st, so I hopped on a plane to Singapore and a ferry ride to Bintan Island, Indonesia for the race.
I was originally only supposed to do the Olympic distance, which was on the Saturday afternoon. But since I was there anyway I decided to take on the Sprint distance in the morning as well. Both combined were a nice hard hot hit-out and I’ve got to give it to the young guys who didn’t take it easy on me. They are the future of the sport and I just love being part of events like this.
This is community triathlon, where we all started. This race has been here for 10 years and I think it’s got 10 more big ones to come. I hope to come back next year.
The organizer MetaSport also holds a half and full distance in August. Having done both the sprint and Olympic, I think the Half would be tough here, but I wouldn’t rule out coming back to do that.
The monsoon rains are rolling in here in Thailand but it’s still quite humid and warm. But after living in the tropics, racing elsewhere will definitely feel cooler. Let’s see how fast I can go now.