Regent 5150 Subic Bay – 1st

Having won the Regent 5150 Triathlon in Subic Bay, Philippines in 2015 I went into the race with a little more pressure having the title of ‘defending champion’. The race is one of the hardest Olympic distance triathlons that I have done due to the hilly 40km bike leg and of course when racing in the Philippines the heat and humidity. Having missed my connecting flight in Singapore I arrived in Subic Bay late on Friday night which meant that I was still able to support the Alaska IronKids event early on Saturday morning. This is something that I really enjoy attending as well as doing whatever I can to help to support the next generation of triathletes in the Philippines as part of my partnership with the Alaska Milk. 

Race Day:
Race morning was a little more stressful than usual as I had to deal with a rear wheel puncture repair before setting up in transition. With this little issue under control I managed a short swim warm up before lining up on the beach ready for the start. I had a great start and took up the lead early on. 

The out and back swim course made navigation easy. This allowed me to settle into a good rhythm only needing to lift my head to sight the swim turn buoys every 20 strokes or so. The water temperature was very warm so I was wary of pushing myself too hard. When the water temperature is particularly warm it so easy to cook yourself by swimming too hard and so I focused on keeping my heart rate as low as possible through technique and stroke efficiency. I hit the beach with a very healthy solo lead of around 1 minute and set about maximizing this advantage during the early portion of the bike leg. 

 With the first section of the bike course being on the Subic Bay airport runway it provided a good opportunity for me to get some time checks on the rest of the pro men on each u-turn at the end of the airport runway.

The bike course then headed uphill, into the jungle where the humidity levels rose significantly. Over this very hilly part of the bike course I tried to keep an even tempo before turning and then descending back down towards transition.

I had built up a good lead during the 40km ride and hit the run knowing that I just had to hold a reasonable tempo and keep cool in the heat. At every aid station I took the opportunity to pour water over my head and cool off as much as possible. The entire 10km run was a battle against the heat with temperatures close enough to 40 degrees Celsius and high humidity. I kept focused by just thinking about ticking off one kilometre at a time. 

I was able to relax a little on the final stretch to the finish line and was very happy to cross the line having earned back-to-back wins at the Regent 5150 Subic Bay Triathlon. For me personally it feels extra special being able to win an international race like this as the defending champion for the second year. A big thanks to the team at Alaska Milk & SunRise Events for their support and putting on another amazing event.