bedal.com - Putrajaya International Junior Triathlon

Nasib baik la cuti sekolah. Or else I’ll be dragging myself to the ironing room & dok gosok baju sekolah in zombie mode. And I thought supervising my kids for an event was a chill thing, but somehow it almost bonked me until today.

From Saturday’s ride into Langat, I was still exhausted. Lama dah tak masuk Langat, and I was excited to repeat the intervals up Genting Peres like before. Ended up me cranking my remaining legs back to BTHO like a piece of melting jelly. Sempat for a VERY short nap before dragging myself to the race briefing for Putrajaya International Junior Triathlon. Yes, eventually BTHO managed to send representatives after KakLong long break from tri event for the last 2 years. Amir & Umar willingly decided to give it a shot. Actually Umar was the bedal.com type while Amir who is a bit on the follower side did most of the thinking. Sign!

Race briefing. Uncle Chan doing the chicken dance

Despite their not so good swimming skills, aku hentam aje register & I knew Uncle Chan won’t be bothered swimming with floating devices…selagi diorang ni tak naik podium. Hahaha. Yang paling penting, diorang ni confident & nak masuk. So, the first week of school break was not actually a break for us. With Kaklong busy attending extra classes during the day & Amir attending summer camp, our evenings were spent mostly doing mini bricks, cycling & running around the neighborhood & swimming at night. As expected, cycling was second to nature for both these guys but running require a bit more umph! Tapi aku tak nak paksa, kalau nak jalan pun takpe. Don’t need to dampen their spirit.

A very last minute preparation with the equipments. I meant last minute, 12 hours before race! Hahaha. Apa punya manager la kan? Macam biasa, multi discipline sports require many equipments. Dah lama tak buat checklist, so ayah pakai ikut sempat aje.

1. Tayar belakang basikal KakLong yang dah lama pecah, baru nak replace. Reason, tak boleh replace awal sebab nanti cepat worn out kids lanyak tiap-tiap petang. Tyre price sama macam tayar Kancil!
2.  Amir’s swimsuit, about time to replace. Signing up for an event is a very good excuse pun. Hahaha. If not pakai sampai kecut.
3. Alamak helmet ada satu je! Dah tentu Umar dah booking sebab itu lah helmet dia pakai every evening. Gali punya gali, nasib baik helmet ayah yang lama ada. So, Amir got the privilege to wear a Giro Atmos. Fuiyo! 
4.  Apa barang pin number kat baju? Ni triathlon la. Gali punya gali…lagi sekali. Amir pakai race belt while Umar pakai Spi Belt, ibu tolong pin kasik kecikkan pinggang sikit. Kelas gitu.

Phew! Nasib baik equipment preparation tidak menelan belanja yang banyak And malam tu sebelum tido sempat simulation for transition atas carpet living room. Hehe.

Another thing I like about Uncle Chan’s organizing, on top of the top notch safety, he still casuals on timing. Since Amir & Umar’s Cat will only start at 10.45am, we don’t need to come early to grab the window for the bike parking. Hence, that morning we took our time having breakfast & drive to Putrajaya. Kelam kabut, especially with the whole family tagging along is normal & we don’t need extra pressure for the race.

Langsung takde gaya nervous

The venue was festive. We met friends all around & the kids made new friends as well. We cheered at all the kids on their races. Free flow Milo was a thumbs-up and some more, we don’t need to queue! Weather was perfect on top of the picturesque Pusat Akuatik Presint 6, Putrajaya. The kids were racing competitively especially the bigger ones (16-19 yo). I can only dream of having their stamina & strength. They completed the course in just 37 minutes!

Umar being guided to his No. 43 starting pontoon

The highlight of the event was the last category (9 yo & below). And that’s where Amir & Umar will be in, for their first tri experience. Swim for 150m + bike 2km + run 800m. Their first open water in the Putrajaya Lake was convincingly prepared & secured with kayakers, jet ski, swimmers and even standby divers. Thumbs up la Uncle Chan. And they were helpful as well especially with these young triathletes.

It was a water start. Hence Umar had to jump into the water & swim to his dedicated pontoon. Thanks to abang kayak’s help to haul & guide him to the starting pontoon no. 43. Amir at no. 9. It took almost 15 minutes for them to wait in the water while the rest of took place. Alhamdullillah Amir & Umar didn’t show any sign of panic. Siap boleh lambai ayah, ibu & kaklong lagi from afar. Steady lah bedal.com!

Amir with kickboard dah macam bot pukat tunda daaa...

The horn went off & on top of the hectic water, the lake shores was also chaotic with parents running and cheering. Hahaha. Memang huru hara lah & I was also one of them la. Thanks to Uncel Det & Naufal who was part of the cheering team. Amir finished the swim ahead of Umar, sebab…Umar dok sibuk sukarela teman kawan baru dia yang a bit slow. Aiyak! Ada pulak sifat belas kasihan masa race?! He was swimming along this other bigger boy who was struggling with his front crawl. Umar rilek je paddling with his float around the waist escorting him.

Done swimming! Huu Huu!

While I was running along Amir towards T1, I had to leave ibu to attend Umar. Amir was fast at T1. Alhamdullillah. Tak sempat nak amik gambar when he mounted the bike. Awhile later Umar came out of T1 and cranking away towards his first open road cycling. Itu lah sebenarnya matlamat dia join race ni. Sebab nak kayuh kat open road. Hahaha. Terkejut aku bila tengok dia stand pedaling right after he left T1, macam pro-cyclist launch for TT tu beb! Hahaha. Det told me moments later Umar was having dilemma throwing his cup of drink after the swim sebab tak jumpa tong sampah! Bagus anak aku ni. Environment conscious betul. Det took away the cup from his hand & get him to run towards T1.

They arrived minutes later still looking strong. Amir dismounted towards T2 like a pro. Mana dia belajar ni? I presumed he watched the bigger kids did it in the previous categories. Memang cekap & smooth aje. T2 was fast. Maybe sebab tak payah fikir pasal makan gel, pakai shades, pakai topi…macam ayah dia. Lol.

Junior TT launching

However Amir was almost drained when started running. He almost reverted to walk but I ran beside him for motivation. And of course the crowd along the way cheered him. It was fun! And then, I remembered Umar who was supposed to finish his bike leg anytime. Amir will do fine I hope. So I dashed over to T2. By this time, I had no idea where was ibu & KakLong. The waiting at T2 was filled with suspense, hence I walked along the towards the pool junction when I saw ibu running in, which means bedal.com arriving! Huhu. He was still strong noticing from his high cadence (looks like lepas ni kena ada bike with gears lah).

Just like Amir, his T2 was smooth as well. As he exited T2 towards the the water station, he can’t say no to the cup of drink handed to him. The same thing happened, he repeated running with the cup half drank in his hand. Aiyak! The official told him to just throw it, but he was confused. I had to give him a chase & get him to throw the cup. Umar ran steadily. Thanks to Naufal, who paced him all the way. Surprisingly, Umar ran all the way without walking. Halfway through, Amir came back and headed towards the finishing line. Alhamdullillah I was so proud of him, despite him being speechless & breathless upon finishing. Hugs & kisses buddy!

We waited for Umar. I can’t wait for the moment. Again I ran towards him & escorted him all the way to the finishing line with more crowds cheering & Mr. Emcee shouted out his name upon crossing the line. Ada pulak two photographers asked him to post biting his medal. Dahsyat! Entah majalah apa la tu? Hahaha.

Bonk defined

Amir was still exhausted from the race while Umar still looks cool. We chilled around for more Milo (later during the day we frequent the restroom as after effect. Lol) & lunched over free KFC by the lake. Moments later, while I was chit chatting, these boys were back to their normal energetic tempo. Kids!

We are the Champions

Alhamdullillah things went well for Amir & Umar & also with the event. It was a great experience for all the kids & parents. If only we have more tri events like this kan?