Skinfit athlete Yvonne Van Klerken recently competed at the Ironman 70.3 Singapore race.
Here is her account of the day, courtesy of xtri.com
After Bek and Macca had sent in some news from Ironman 70.3 Singapore I thought that it is a great idea and make it number three now:
We had a great field there and we all were looking forward to the race of the "Iron(wo)men" against the Olympians. It all seemed to look like a great battle with some fun for the spectators, but unfortunately we had a lot of guys, some hanging around in the water, some on the streets of Singapore, that successfully killed our nice party.
Bek obviously was in great shape and I have to admit it was one of the best legs of my career. As I expected a very close race with all the great girls I decided not to pack a spare-tyre and only a "pitstop-spray" which usually works for a normal puncture. I thought it was over anyway here in that field if you flat....
So we lifted off and of course after a few minutes I was battling through the (a little too long) swim-course and was already looking forward to jump on my bike and start the chase. That is what I did and it was going perfectly the way I hoped.
After 50km I was already forth and Tereza Macel was just ahead. Bek was behind me at that point which shows that she was feeling very bad. I felt really sorry for her, she was suffering quite a lot from the sting of that jelly-fish and I was honestly as its just easy to get an allergic reaction especially while you work out under these circumstances.
I moved further and as it looked like it would be possible to catch the girls just about T2. But as the whole day was very unusual my thought was followed by "Bummm!!" while I was riding just about 45km/h. My front tyre immediately went flat and I got my hands full to stay on my tiny wild jumping 48inch Cervelo P3 (she can act like a horse and yes if you ask my P3 is a "she" and her name is "Honu").
Ok, so time for the magic spray which I ripped off my rear-mounted bottle holder and pumped it in. It didn't stay there but came right out of the huge shred in the tyre in front of my face. Yes, my face, my suit, my hair, it was just everywhere but not in that damn tyre. No spare tyre, no CO2...it was over.
So that was it for me, my front wheel was flat and the metal tacks on the street had done their job quite well. Later I heard that it took more than 30 people out of the race, which is a sad number. I stil can't really get what the reason or target was to throw metal tacks on a street while people are riding there knowing that you not only will cause punctures, but maybe a bad crash...? I hope that Singapore's police get them and then Bek and me will put them in a bath tub with jelly-fish and afterwards let them run barefoot over some of the pins that they threw there.
I took off my shoes, started my walk back to the transition-area and on my way I found Bek keat sitting at the side of the streets of Singapore (Yes, she offered me a gas-canister but it didn't help me as I had no tyre with me as I mentioned above, but we had a laugh about it....).
I picked her up and we started to duke it out in who could mourn the hardest about his bad fate :)
Well, the two Olympians Andrea Hewitt and Jodie Swallow did a good job in their first Ironman 70.3 though it would have been great for us all to have a battle on the run. I am sure we'll get another chance.
For me I have learned from that experience as I will never ever leave my tyre at home because of a tough competition. We all saw again that a race is over when it's over. 4 minutes can be an eternity to change a tyre but it can still put you in the position to see the podium or even to win the race.
I am looking forward to the season which is just about to start with some great races ahead back in Europe. Hope to see you out there and don't forget to pack your tyre, Bek will bring the CO2 :) And by the way, Bek, have a great race down under and please fry the big jelly-fish....
Kindly yours in sport
Yvonne Van Klerken xxxx
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