Race Review: PTO Asian Open Singapore

The PTO Asian Open took place last weekend for the first time in Singapore and was held at the iconic Marina Bay. For the triathlon event, it was open to experienced amateurs who competed on the exact same course as the male and female professionals.

A triathlon event at Marina Bay

The triathlon featured an unprecedented 2km swim location inside the Marina Bay reservoir, an 80km bike ride in the heart of the city, followed by an 18km run through the Gardens by the Bay and Marina Barrage. It was truly an event like no other. Usually multi sports events in Singapore take place at either East Coast park or at Sentosa.

Duathlon categories

Besides the triathlon, a duathlon was also organised, featuring a run bike run along the exact same course but with varying distances. There was a Standard duathlon of 4.5km run 32km bike and 4.5km run, and the Long duathlon of 9km run 64km bike and 9km run. Yes there were two run legs.

I did the Standard Duathlon

I took part in the shorter Standard duathlon as I wanted to experience and soak up the event without killing myself – or so I had thought. I would end up eating my words.

My category flagged off early on Sunday morning at 6.25am. The race village was open from 4am onwards with the Long Duathlon age-grouper waves flagging off first from 5am onwards. Standard Duathlon categories were from 5.30am.

It was compulsory for all participants to park their bicycles at the transition area by 5.30am the day before. This meant I could get a little bit extra rest in the morning and then take a Grab to Marina Bay.

I didn’t exactly manage to get to bed early the night before as I had been waiting for my Apple Watch to finish charging. I have been using it to track my sleep patterns for some months now.

For the duathlon categories, we were allowed to drop off our transition bag on race morning. This is what I did as I felt I wanted more time to decide what I needed to pack. Triathlon participants had to drop off their bags the day before, along with the bicycles.

Arriving at the race

I arrived at the race site in good time and had a look around before I slowly made my way to the start line for the duathlon. This was located parallel to the reservoir.

The race was not a mass start. We were lined up and flagged off in groups of four.

Run one

The first run went quite well and I was able to maintain a good pace. The run route, a 4.5km loop, is flat and straightforward and impossible to get lost. It is a direct out-and-back. We run down to Marina Barrage and return.

As it was still early too, the sun was not yet out. It was also great seeing friends doing their Sunday runs stopping and cheering us on. This was motivating.

The run route consisted of three hydration stations, two directly facing each other underneath the bridge at The Shoppes at Marina Bay.

The third hydration was at the Marina Barrage. The first two had water and isotonic. The third had water and energy gels.

Transition run to bike

The transition from run to bike was quite easy, smooth and straightforward. There were clear and large signages marking the forks in the path for where to go in order to loop and where to transition.

Bike leg

The bike leg was brutal and challenging. Each loop comprised of 16km of never ending slopes and hills with the worst one definitely being the Benjamin Sheares “Heartbreak” bridge in the second half of the loop, at around 11km. Sheares was extremely steep and you really do feel it tremendously when you are on a bicycle. We had to do this loop twice for the Standard duathlon.

It seemed as though every single bridge, flyover and expressway around the Singapore city area had been included in the bike route to add as much hills as possible to the route. I was cursing and swearing throughout the entire 32km of cycling. I couldn’t imagine doing four or five loops of this as the longer categories would have been required to do.

Due to the nature of the course, I opted to take it easy throughout the ride and soak up the scenery, even stopping to shoot video footage on a few occasions. Knowing I still had to run again, I really didn’t want to push myself. Whoever says that Singapore does not have hills is completely wrong.

There were no aid stations along the bike course – something which had been communicated to athletes numerous times prior to the race. The only aid station was at the very beginning of the loop.

Bike route well marked

The entire route was also clearly marked out with either marshals or cones signalling which way to turn, so I did not get lost. I am directionally challenged and too lazy to study the routes beforehand, so kudos to the organiser on a good job done for this aspect. There was no point during the cycling that I had any doubts on which way to go.

The signage of where to turn in for transition and where to head out for the next loop was clearly marked and very easy to spot. So there were never any problems regarding which way to go.

Transition bike to run

It was a huge relief to finally finish the cycling leg.

Unfortunately the bike leg had killed my quads. My legs already felt like jelly by this point and I still had another 4.5km leg to run.

Run two

The second 4.5km run was much tougher than the first, due to the legs feeling like lead. It is no joke running off a bike. My mind was purely focused on completing the duathlon at this stage. I wondered why I keep signing up to torture myself in such ways.

Some friends were still around to support the event and cheer on athletes, and I really appreciated the extra motivation at this point.

At least my average pace for this run was only slightly slower compared to my first run. As well, it was also significantly hotter this round, which made the run more challenging despite the flat route.

The last kilometre or so of the run route had more spectators and supporters than I usually see at a Singapore sports event, and it was really motivating to see them cheering and calling out my name off my bib as I made my way towards the finish.

Finishing

It felt amazing when I finally saw the finish line.

Coach Ben and Jim, my running coaches from Coached, were present near the finish line and it was super motivating to hear them call out my name as I ran past them. I have been training with Coached since 2016 and their training programmes have helped me tremendously.

Finally it was over. My only goal for this event was to finish it, and I’m happy that I managed this.

Post-race feel and vibe

Post-race, the PTO organisers are extremely generous. Every athlete was entitled to a $14 food voucher which we could claim from the mobile food trucks parked within the race precinct. I opted for a wagyu beef burger for my brunch, and it was delicious.

Besides the burger, there was also an athlete welfare area where we could help ourselves to goodies ranging from ice cream to potato chips, bananas, water, and isotonic drinks.

After the event, I still had to pick up my bicycle from the transition area and cycle home. I think this was the most difficult part of the whole day, because my quads, butt and legs were already aching. But at least I made it home without falling off or crashing the bike.