2015 Bintan 70.3

I seem to have a bad habit with race reports of being negative on races where I didn’t have a good experience. So with that in mind I am going to try and remain objective in regard to the Bintan 70.3. I personally did not have a good day but I will try and keep that from tarnishing my view of the event. Having said that, this year the race has undergone some significant changes, and if I am honest those changes are not all for the better. So be warned this report is going to include a bit of negativity.

Now before you read too much further, if you want to learn about Bintan, where it is etc, have a quick skim of the race report I did for the 2013 version of the event, which can be found here:

Metaman Half 2013 Race Report

Don’t read too much into it though because as I said above, the event changed quite a bit this year.

So quickly, Bintan is part of Indonesia, but it is located very close to Singapore. So close in fact that the easiest way to get there is to fly to Singapore and catch a ferry (about 50 minutes). Doing so is a very straight forward process. Both times I have done the race the organisers have done a great job of explaining just what you need to do to get there. I have done it once organising everything myself and once with everything being organised by a travel agent. Both were straight forward.

Being part of Indonesia the currency is Rupiah (it didn’t use to be) and if you are coming from Australia you can get a Visa upon arrival at the Ferry Terminal (US$15 if you are staying less than 7 days). All very simple.

Once you get to Bintan, you are largely at the mercy of the resort you are staying at. I can’t emphasise enough when I say this, Bintan is not Bali or Phuket. The tourist side of Bintan is mostly made up of isolated resorts plonked in amongst areas of untouched jungle. Nothing in between. There is no local shopping centre, market etc. This is changing slowly but probably still needs a couple more years. Getting off resort really requires the hiring of a taxi, or going on a tour on one of the resort buses. But then the question remains, where would you go, there aren’t many destinations, other than another resort or one of the tourist sights. There are local villages and towns, but these really are local and not really set up to cater to tourists. The resorts are mostly set up to be fairly self-contained, the sort of place that you go for a holiday and don’t leave until the end of the holiday. Once again, that is changing, with the development of more standard type hotels. It isn’t there yet though.

I emphasis the above point because I know the lack of infrastructure caught a few people out this year. Not a problem if you are aware of it though.

The other thing to know about Bintan is that it is hot and humid. It is a tropical island after all, so what do you expect. The forecast is usually for around low 30 degrees with very high humidity. I haven’t been rained on during this race before, but both times I have been to Bintan it has rained at least once. So rain during the race could happen. All this must be taken into account because the weather really can ruin your day here. In planning for this race you have to expect to run slower, drink more, take on more salts etc. The weather is probably one of the biggest influencing factors on whether or not you have a good day out.

Okay, so that is what Bintan is like, what is the race like.

So, change number 1. This year was the first that the race was an official Ironman 70.3, prior to that it was called the Metaman and included both a half and a full Ironman length event. This change is actually a fairly minor one because the race is still organised by the talented folks from Metasport. The change did bring with it the usual Ironman badging and the sense of atmosphere (ie thumping music) that Ironman brings.

More significantly the change also brought with it a new naming rights sponsor and a new race location. The race used to be based in and around a resort called Nirwana Gardens. The race is now based further along the coast at a spot called Plaza Lagoi. Rather than being a resort, Plaza Lagoi is being set up as more of an accommodation hub, with a number of hotels being built around a small shopping centre (note I have said BEING built). So what!! I hear you say. Well it is important because this move has had a major impact on the feel of the race, but more on that later.

All the race is based at Plaza Lagoi. The start line, transition and finish line are there. The race briefing and expo were held in the little shopping centre. The pasta night, presentations and after party were all held in a big marquee nearby. You get the idea.

So what does this race look like. Well like most triathlons there is a swimming bit, followed by a riding bit, followed by a running/walking/crawling/crying bit.

The swimming bit looks like this:

It looks straight forward on paper and it is. The course was very well marked and so sighting was easy. The times I saw the course, the water was nearly always flat. Water temperature is about 29 degrees, but it feels pleasant rather than hot (non wetsuit obviously). The bottom is nearly all sand/sea grass and fairly harmless. The biggest thing about the swim is that it is very shallow. I think it must come down to the shape of the beach which has a gentle slope. It is so shallow that the start line was actually about 60m or so from shore and even then it only got us to about thigh deep water. It also meant that at the end of the swim you have one hell of a long porpoise/run to get back to the beach. Bit of a lung buster.

The ride looks like this:

And this

The ride is largely unchanged from previous versions of this race. There is about 20km or so of new stuff, but the rest is the same. And all good. It is funny, you would think that when racing on a tropical island the best legs would be those either in or near the beautiful coast and ocean. For me though, the ride is the highlight of this race. It is just so much fun. Yes, certainly the ride contains 700m of elevation gain/loss which is a bit tough. But so much of this ride is just a hoot. Flying down hills, bombing through villages, the waving kids. All awesome. Lots of other good stuff about the ride too. The roads mostly have good surfaces. The roads aren’t closed, but traffic is light and considerate. Just one of those rides where you find yourself wearing a grin most of the time.

Going back to those hills for a second though, they look a lot worse than they are. They are fairly continuous rollers, with a bit of a flat section between around 35km and 60km ish. However, none of the hills are mountains. As long as you pace yourself and don’t redline on too many hills then they aren’t that bad.

Ride leg this year had four aid stations, with the usual water, electrolytes etc. Hydration was handed out in 700ml bottles and all the volunteers really knew their stuff. One great thing about this race is that they know it is in an extreme climate and they make allowances for it. The slickness of the aid stations on the bike and run are example of that.

Onto the run and that looks like this:

I only did one lap of the run and so I can’t comment on it too much. However, the impression I got is that the run is the opposite of the ride, in that it is a lot worse than it looks. On paper is looks really quite lovely. A flat run through a park around a lake. To be honest that is exactly what it is, the only problem is this park is a new one and so it has about zero shading trees. You spend the whole time running on fully exposed concrete, passing through the middle of Plaza Lagoi once a lap (which seems extra hot). On my one lap I remember thinking it wasn’t as hot as I was expecting, however, I suspect that if I had been out for another two laps then I may have changed my mind. Seeing the run, I felt it was a little bit uninspiring. It really is dead flat though. Five aid stations per lap too, they have the usual range of things you find in a tropical race, including lovely, lovely ice sponges. I told you they know what they are doing up here.

Hmmm, anything else? Well this is one of those races that starts early, with the race kicking off at 6:00am. It is a good thing too, given how hot Bintan gets. Last time I did this race we started at 8:00am and the improvement that came with starting two hours earlier was really noticeable. It does mean a very early start to your day, but the cooler weather makes it worth it.

Overall the course is a tough one. It looks like it shouldn’t be, the run and swim are quite straight forward and the ride is tough, but not terrible. However, the weather makes any sort of race here a hard day out. The ride shouldn’t be underestimated either. I know I have said that it is as much fun as a sack full of frogs, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. Most people I spoke to said they were surprised at just how hard the ride was.

So that is what the course is like. How was my particular outing over 87.5% of it? Well given that I had a DNF, it sort of doesn’t really matter, as I don’t feature in the results. So I will keep this brief. Well okay, briefish, I mean common have you read one of my race reports before, brief doesn’t feature often.

My night before and morning of had all gone quite smoothly. I slept pretty well, got up with plenty of time and had a relaxed preparation. I was staying at Nirwana Gardens which meant I had to catch a shuttle to Plaza Lagoi. I caught the 4:30 shuttle and so got there in plenty of time. All the prep stuff went fine, although I did nearly leave my nutrition bottle on the shuttle, only realising at the last minute and jumping back on the bus before it drove off.

After all the prep stuff was done I wandered down to the beach, got in a quick warm up and lined up for the introductions etc. I don’t often bask in my pro license, but introductions at the start of the race are one of those moments I really do like. After that it was time for the long wade out to the start line.

Once we got to the start line it wasn’t a long wait until the gun went and we were away. Three or four dolphin dives later it was time to swim. In the past I have been burnt when swimming against really strong swimmers (looking at Brad Kahlefeldt here). Chasing too hard too early, only to really pop later in the swim. Knowing there were a number of good swimmers in this field I made sure I went hard from the start, but kept it reasonable. I quickly settled into the second group of three (Freddi Croneborg and Timo Bracht I think) and felt I was comfortable. Things continues this way for about half the swim, but then at the second turn it felt like the two guys I was with just disappeared. I am not entirely sure what happened, it is like I blinked and they were gone. With not a lot of choice I continued on my way feeling like I was losing a lot of time, but also feeling like I had no real urge in my arms. After the third turn and on the homeward leg I had the first of what would be many little heart palpitations which eventually would lead me to pull out of the race. These palpitations are brief, causing a bit of pain and tightness in the chest and leaving me a bit short of breath. I have had them on and off for a little while, but in the last couple of months I had been becoming more aware of them as they seemed to be happening more often. At the time of this first one though it was nothing new and so I regained my breath and kept going. After what felt like an eternity I ran out of water, did about 10 dolphin dives and finally hit the beach. A slow time of 26min 16, 8^th out of the water.

Transition went smoothly and I was quickly out on the bike, all alone. I hadn’t gone far when I realised that for some reason my power meter had decided not to work, despite having worked an hour earlier when I had set it up. Putting that out of my head I fell back on racing on heart rate and feel and got on with it.

The bike quickly felt good, despite the fact that I kept having little heart palpitations over the first 20km. After about the third of these episodes I was coming back past Lagoi Bay and was giving some consideration to the wisdom or racing with chest pain and whether or not I should be calling it a day. However, around this point my heart started to calm down and didn’t give me any more trouble for the rest of the ride.

Not long after this point Matt Burton came screaming past on his bike, which is always a joy to watch, putting me into 9th. A bit after that I came past Fraser Cartmell and I was back into 8^th and really that was the last eventful occurrence for quite some time. By around the 35km mark I was through the worst of the hills, was settling into my groove and really starting to enjoy myself. Knowing that I had more hills in the last 10kms, I kept the intensity under control, spinning up hills and making sure I wasn’t dipping to far past the redline too often.  By around 50km I was thinking to myself that I didn’t remember the course being this much fun. I was having a ball.

At around 70kms I was starting to feel ready to be off the bike, but still feeling okay. By around 85km I had just come successfully spun through the last section of hills still feeling good. I had also just come past Paul Amey and moved into 7^th. All that was left was to get through T2 and run 21km. Bike done in 2:17:46, 7^th fastest bike of the day.

Rolling into transition I was in a good frame of mind. Running had been going well in training and so I was confident that I would be able hold on to my 7^th place. I was also well placed to get my target time of 4 hours 20, coming into T2 a couple of minutes ahead of schedule. Everything was on target.

Straight away the run didn’t feel good. The first km is sometimes slow as you faf around getting out of transition etc, so I wasn’t that worried by that. The second km was better, but during that I had my first heart palpitation for the run, leaving me short of breath and with no power in my legs. Once again, it was nothing new so I regained my breath and pushed on. At the start of the third kilometre another particularly big one hit, bringing me to a stumbling stop. After that one I took a deep breath and started again. Then again at the end of the third kilometre another one, which caused a massive spike in my heart rate. At this point I knew something wasn’t going right. I had lost all speed, despite my heart rate sitting at race levels. I had absolutely no go in my legs. I pushed on and at 4km fell back on running for 4 minutes and then walking until my heart rate was back down to 150bpm, then running for another 4 minutes. By my third cycle of doing this I was starting to feel a bit better, running for 5 minutes and with the running phases feeling were bit more coherent. I was starting to think I would be able to make it around the course doing this and at least be able to make it to the finish line. Just as I came to the end of the first lap though another heart palpitation hit me and I was really forced to acknowledge that running with this going on was probably not the best idea. I quickly took myself off course and straight to the medical tent where I was kept under observation for the next hour by Dr Low and the rest of the really awesome medical staff. That was it, day done.

So that was my race day. Disappointing in the end, but not without bright points. The swim was definitely disappointing, but the ride was an absolute blast and a good highlight. The less said about the run the better. Some concerning moments there which I am currently undergoing testing to try and get to the bottom of. Some lessons too, particularly around the swim, which I am looking forward to tackling, once the heart issues are cleared away.

So beyond my own personal battles, what did I think of the race. Well before I promised some negativity and so this is that bit. As I mentioned the change in location has resulted in a big change to how the race feels and really in my opinion that change isn’t for the better. I don’t want this next bit to be a whinge about how I like the old stuff better than the new stuff, but when it comes to the new Bintan 70.3 course, I am afraid that is the case. As it currently stands I don’t think the new course is as good as the old one, not yet anyway, and a lot of the people I spoke to who have done both agree. That isn’t to say that the new race course won’t become good. The general consensus was that by around 2017, the new course should be great, but it just isn’t there yet.

There are a number of issues associated with Lagoi Bay as it currently stands. The swim just doesn’t make sense, with that super shallow start and finish. That was never an issue at the old location, so it is hardly a Bintan wide problem. Yes the water is clear and calm, but that can be said for a lot of locations on the island. The ride is equally good in both locations. The run though in the new location is nowhere near as much fun. Yes it is flat compared to the old one, but the old one had so much more charm, not to mention shade. Running through Nirwana Gardens resort meant that the crowds were good, you had mixed surfaces, hills etc. In short the run was interesting, compared to the current one which is just a little dull.

The issues with the course are just minor quirks though really. The bigger issue I think is that Lagoi Bay just isn’t ready to host the race yet. By 2017 it is meant to be the location of a number of hotels, but as it currently stands there is half a hotel there. Yes I said half a hotel, even the Swiss Belhotel is still undergoing construction. In fact most of Lagoi Plaza was a construction site, or vacant land. That meant that most of the field had to stay elsewhere and catch shuttles to the race location. It is a real credit to the organisers just how well the shuttles worked, but it still wasn’t ideal. The extra transit time meant a very early start on race day. It meant that getting to and from events like the pasta night just became too hard etc. The lack of accommodation and shade also meant that the crowds were fairly light on.

I have no issue with moving a race. But when that move is clearly done for commercial considerations, rather than to improve the race, that just plain annoys me. Moving the race this year just made no sense. In a couple of years when Lagoi Bay is a real bustling hub it should be great, but not yet. From the talk I heard, Metasport didn’t really have a choice, so that is unfortunate, but it doesn’t make the race any better.

Unfortunately on top of all that, Bintan has become really quite expensive since I was last there. Yes the low Australian dollar isn’t helping that, but apparently the prices have gone up around 60% in the last two years, with average meal prices starting at around $16 Australian and going up from there. I paid $6.50 for a coffee at Nirwana Gardens, which is something I wouldn’t even do in Australia normally. When you are a captive to a resort, it does make for an expensive and frustrating trip and you can’t help but feel that you are perhaps being taken advantage of a little bit. Not a nice feeling.

So that is my big whinge over. I really don’t like being so negative about this race, since I think the guys at Metasport do a really good job of putting on a truly unique and well run event. Riding around the island is an amazing experience. Even though the race didn’t go to plan for me this year I always have a soft spot for this event and I don’t like that I came out feeling so down on it. The unfortunate truth of the matter is though that in its current format I simply wouldn’t go back. Not for a couple of years and until the Lagoi Bay area is more developed anyway.

So that is my race report done. In the end a disappointing day for me and one that raised some health questions which I am still getting to the bottom of. Despite the fact that my day didn’t go to plan, I still need to say some big thankyous. In fact I probably need to say them even more because my day didn’t go to plan. It is easy to be supportive when things go well, it is the people who standby you when things go wrong that really deserve the hugs. So with that in mind, a big thanks to my sponsors Mizuno, Swim Smooth, Hammer Nutrition and Sportreat. Getting me ready and getting me through, or as through as much as my body would tolerate anyway. A massive thanks to Coach Daryl Stanley for preparing me for this race and getting me into really good form, I am sorry it didn’t go to plan. It was such a nice plan too. A big thanks to the club, Break Your Limits, for asking how the tests have been going. And finally the biggest thanks to my wife and my family. The people who let me do this, even though common sense might warn against it and who, despite all the cost, and hassle and time away, simply asked if I was okay once I was finally able to get in contact.

Finally a very big thanks to the folks in the Medical Tent at the race. Cool, calm, competent and confident. My day could have been a lot worse without their expertise.

Thanks everyone.