July - November 2012
We’ve done number of small and big races over the last few months – finally it is the off-season and time to celebrate our achievements (or take this time to think about what could be improved for year 2013!).
Goal-setting
Many of our age-groupers will spend time with friends and family but if you’re really itching and aiming for improvement, you could set up some goals for next year to work on.
- Look at the race calendar in 2013 and ask yourself following the questions:
- What races would you like to do? List them in priority order (A to C) – from a major "A race" right down to a training "C race".
- List three to five training objectives you’d like to achieve – such as finishing an open-water swim of 1.5k in 30 minutes or a 21k run at 5-minute pace.
- Keep your goals realistic and achievable, share your goals with coach Kenneth and share them with us - we’d like to hear from you and help plan to achieve your aims.
- Review your goals mid-season to see if you’re on track.
What we have done in last few months?
Round two of the Sonic Time Trial (Shek O Aquathon) was held on 22 July in choppy conditions. A good number of brave souls turned up to conquer the four-loop swim in the washing-machine-like water of Shek O before completing a 4k run. Coach Alan led all the way and was the first man cross the finish line, with Andrew Patrick and junior Eugene Wong coming in after him.
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| Sonic Time Trial 2 on the start line |
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| Sonic Time Trial 2: The team start the work! |
In early August some of the Sonic team flew to Cebu Island for the Ironman 70.3 Philippines, see the race recap.
Sonic Time Trial round 3 conflicted with the newly organised Sports Soho Airwave Triathlon on 23 September. As a number of Sonic members had enrolled this race and there was no other available date to hold the time trial during the busy season, it was cancelled.
The Airwave Triathlon inspired excitement for local triathletes as their first taste of a long-distance triathlon in Hong Kong. It featured a 1.8k swim, 60k bike and 15k run in Plover Cove. It attracted good number of Ironman triathletes who, like the other competitors, had to draw on mental toughness to complete the course in difficult conditions. Poor course layout, insufficient water on the run course plus the heat and humidity turned the race into a game of survival. Those who finished, predict they swam 2.2k, biked 60k and ran 19k.
The now well-known open-water swim event Clean Half 15k swim was the week after the Airwave Triathlon. Another endurance event and our party girl Janice Lee teamed up with friends to paddle and swim from Stanley to Repulse Bay! See her story:
Hong Kong ITU Triathlon on 14 October was the annual gathering of the triathlon community and it is fantastic to see a growing number of participants and teams in Hong Kong! See this race recap.
Aquawiz
Aquawiz is a new local organizer of open-water swims and aquathon races with a pontoon setup in the sea – the 2k swim course involves climbing onto the pontoon and diving back in again. See this video if you're on Facebook (Charles Hui suggests they also invite a live band and photographer on the pontoon!)
The Aquawiz races are friendly and low-key and last until December, see http://www.aquawiz2000.com/
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| Taiwan 70.3 finishers |
The third Ironman 70.3 Taiwan was successfully held in Kenting on 4th November. This year the course was adjusted to avoid a hill climb in the heat, so one segment of the hill climb was removed and T1 and T2 was moved to a shadier location. Although these changes were welcome, one problem was that the organisers forgot to equip the aid stations with sports drinks and Coca-Cola.
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| Gigi: where is my coke...? |
5:04:47 Christopher Tong
5:26:48 Delgado‐Moreira Juan
5:41:53 Lee Ying Ho
5:51:37 Chan Wai Kee Eric
5:53:34 Relay No More 3 (9th)
5:55:12 Niiro Mari
5:55:12 Wong Kent
5:55:58 Lee Kin Lun Brian
6:04:50 Lau Gabriel
6:11:48 George Lee
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| Gigi 9th in AG |
6:13:12 Wong Gigi Gi Wai (9th)
6:16:22 Koo Dreyfus
6:17:15 Mak Teresa
Where is Coach Alan Tam?
Do you miss the hardcore coach Alan’s sports beeper during 20 sets of fartlek runs or 20 sets of 50m swim sprints? Or perhaps you are feeling relief?
Where is he now?!
Coach Alan injured his knee during training and is scheduled for knee surgery in late November. He will take a few months off for rehabilitation so let’s wish him a quick recovery and that he can come back even stronger.
Sunday Shek O Training suspended
Since we are stepping into the off-season, Shek O BRICK training will be suspended until April 2013. We look forward to re-forming our coaching resources for the season of 2013.
Sonic End of Season Time Trial 40k Cycling
We follow our tradition to end the season by 40k individual time trial at Tung Chung, the game set on 24 November, weather was wet and cold, not so motivating, our machine Sacha Cheong won the title, Simon Jones, Charles Hui and Eugene Wong after.
Sonic 9th End of Season Party
As everyone knows our coach Kenneth is expecting his first baby (not his belly) in early December, so our End of Season Party will be scheduled in 6th January 2013! Stay tuned!
New payment scheme for the Sonic Training in 2013
We have reviewed the current payment scheme and heard some feedback from the members. By the help of Anson we are able to maintain an accurate attendance and payment record and we are also able to develop the system.
To encourage our members to keep training with Sonic and to cater for busy travelling and shift schedules, we will enhance our payment scheme to make it more flexible while not raising the training fee for our long-term supportive members (same fees since 2008).
See below:
ALL sessions 6 calendar month: $3500 1st January to 30th June or 1st July to 31st December
ALL sessions: $1300 per two calendar month
ALL sessions: $750 per calendar month
**Swim Only: $500 per calendar month
**Run Only: $500 per calendar month
*10 Days: $1000 valid for two months from the time of your first session
*1 Days: $200
*One Day cover 2 to 3 hours continues session on the same day.
**Swim Only session apply for 1 hour or 2 hours swim training subject to club arrangement
**Run Only session apply for 1 hour or 2 hours run training subject to club arrangement
All Sonic sessions cover coaching, entry fee and dedicated swim lane.
All payment are non-refundable.
How’s Yvan?
The bone marrow campaign is huge success and a match bone marrow donor was identified and located in Germany. After a lot of detailed compatibility tests, Yvan received the bone marrow transplant in October, he has gone though six weeks of isolation and now he can go home although he is taking almost 100 pills for anti-rejection therapy. His body is coping well and his mind is strong - he hopes to resume his Sonic membership in 2014. I believe his triathlete spirit makes him a role model for other cancer-fighters.
On 17 October, quote from http://bonemarrowhk.blogspot.hk/
"Dear All,
After yet another little planning twist, the bone marrow has arrived in HK a bit earlier than expected and the transplant is now scheduled for this evening. I am not sure whether this is going to be the end, the beginning of the end of another stage in a longer recovery but I do know however that this is where I want to be. I am happy to proceed and confident in the outcome.
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| Yvan: Looking Forward! |
I look forward to see you all very soon.
Love,
Y"
Thank you for reading, enjoy the off-season and have good health.