The day begins with a two-loop swim in Kuah Bay which starts and finishes alongside a giant eagle statue that dominates the Jetty Point port area.

Taken from varius local media

A walk in the woods for cancer awareness
THEY have organised fun awareness campaigns, modelled on the catwalk, and participated in a dragon boat race. 

It may not seem like much, but these are women who have had to pick up the pieces of their lives after losing one or both breasts to cancer.  

“There is life after cancer,” insists breast cancer survivor Rene'e Aziz Ahmad who discovered she had breast cancer in 2001 and underwent gruelling treatments, including mastectomy, to battle the disease. 
Her statement sounds trite, but no one can understand it better than the survivor herself. 

“There are things you can still do, some of which you never thought you could. I am more active than I ever was before (the cancer),” said the 45-year-old diving and trekking enthusiast after a Climb With Pride hike at Bukit Gasing. It was organised by Pink Ribbon Deeds (Pride) Foundation on Sunday .  
 

The event saw the participation of some 100 breast cancer survivors and their supporters. 

According to Pride Foundation chairman Datin Azrene Abdullah, the climb aims to spread Pride's message of taking on life with pride, as well as sharing what survivors and supporters have learnt when helping those who have undergone the same situation.   
 

“We want to send a message that until there is a cure, the only way to fight breast cancer is through self-examination and mammograms, and that cancer is not the end of living life to the fullest,” said Azrene.  

With all the laughter, it sounded like the participants, who had arrived as early as 7am for registration, had a good hike. “It's like killing two birds with one stone - we enjoy the camaraderie and appreciate nature at the same time,” said Adeline Joseph, 46, a survivor of 11 years.  

“This walk has made us closer; there is a bond due to a common experience.” 

Miss Malaysia-World 2006 Adeline Choo, who is also Pride ambassador, was delighted to do her part in promoting breast cancer awareness and cited it as a “learning experience.” 

“Events like this promote regular exercise, which is important for survivors as it helps with overall well-being and preventing recurrence,” said Rene'e who scaled Mount Kilimanjaro about four years after her traumatic discovery.  

She had spent 12 months training for the climb, and has since also scaled Mount Rinjani, Indonesia, on top of her previous ascents to Mount Kinabalu before and after her treatment for breast cancer.  

Besides being captain of the 12-woman team at the Penang International Dragon Boat Festival 2005, Rene'e was also a model during the Walk with Pride charity gala organised by Pink Ribbon Deeds (Pride) last year.  

Rene'e is ready to add another feather to her cap - she will be leading a team of five for the Climb With Pride - Aconcagua 2007 expedition next January. She is the only breast cancer survivor, while the rest of her team are breast cancer supporters.  

“I hope to impart the message that having breast cancer is not the end. It may close one door, but then new doors could open, and that we should enjoy life as long as it lasts.” 

Five to attempt Aconcagua ascent
IN JANUARY 1995, a group of 17 women scaled the 7,000m Mount Aconcagua, the loftiest peak in the world outside Asia and the Himalayas.  

Expedition Inspiration comprised a team of breast cancer survivors-turned-mountaineers who participated in the fund-raising-cum-awareness campaign under the umbrella of the Breast Cancer Fund based in San Francisco.  

January 2007 will see a team of five Malaysians, led by breast cancer survivor Rene'e Aziz Ahmad, take on the same trail in Climb with Pride - Aconcagua 2007 organised by the Pink Ribbon Deeds (Pride) Foundation, a Malaysian charity organisation dedicated to breast cancer causes.   
 
Through the expedition, Pride aims to impart a message of hope and inspiration to breast cancer sufferers and survivors, as well as enhance community awareness and support for breast cancer causes. 

According to chairman Datin Azrene Abdullah, Pride is challenging itself to take bigger steps and to reach out with a louder voice from a higher plain.  

“The analogy between fighting breast cancer and climbing a mountain is simple and clear - never look too far ahead, take one step at a time, remain focused and positive and most of all, persevere,” said Rene'e at a press conference on Monday . 

Rene’e’s team members are SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd quality assurance manager Khairul Ariffin Ibrahim, Malaysian Airlines pilot Capt. Zabil Ihram Zainol, part-time lecturer Shereen Effendy Lee and award-winning filmmaker Harun Rahman.
  

The 26-day expedition will take place from Jan 14 to Feb 9, beginning and ending in Mendoza, Argentina.  

The climbers will take the Guanacos Valley and Traverse route, a non-technical course which, nevertheless, requires basic mountaineering skills.  

Climbers are expected to face extreme weather conditions, stormy winds and altitude sickness, in addition to physical strain.  

“We chose Aconcagua because it had to be a challenge worth talking about,” said Rene'e. 

“In the final analysis, it's not whether we reach the summit that matters the most, and there is no guarantee that every team member will enjoy equal success on Aconcagua.  

“But, it is better to have tried and in trying to have experienced the journey that we hope will encourage more women to seek early treatment for breast cancer and inspire other breast cancer survivors to live their dreams.” 

The team is currently undergoing a rigorous training schedule including a nine-day stint at Trans Titiwangsa and six days at Mount Kinabalu.  

Climb with Pride - Aconcagua 2007 is sponsored by Eau Claire, PLUS Expressway Bhd, Air Asia, CoreZone and Powerbar with Astro as the official broadcaster. 
 

LAUNCH OF CLIMB WITH PRIDE - ACONCAGUA 2007 
Wednesday, 22/11/06 – PRIDE Foundation Chairman Datin Azrene Abdullah launched the "Climb with PRIDE - Aconcagua 2007" expedition in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Mount Aconcagua (6,962m) is the highest mountain in the Western and Southern Hemispheres. The extreme cold, stormy winds and altitude make this mountain a serious undertaking. The 26-day expedition from 14 January to 9 February 2007 will be led by breast cancer survivor Rene'e Aziz Ahmad.

"This expedition is simply to bring a message of hope to all Malaysian women - that surviving breast cancer does not mean you have to stop living life to the fullest or that you cannot take on new and exciting challenges," said Rene'e.

She will be joined by some very ordinary people who have come together to do an extraordinary thing in support of breast cancer survivors and the need to create greater awareness about this disease.

The other expedition members - Khairul Ariffin Ibrahim, Captain Zabil Ihram bin Zainol, Shereen binti Effendy Lee and Stephanie Chok - will undertake this challenging ascent using the Guanacos Valley and Traverse route.

ASTRO, the official broadcaster of the expedition, has commissioned documentary film-maker Mohamed Harun Abdul Rahman and his company Novista Sdn Bhd to document the expedition to the highest mountain outside of Asia and the Himalayas. Filming has already begun - as team members have started training locally.

"In the final analysis, it's not whether we reach the summit that matters the most," said Rene'e. "There are no guarantees that every team member will enjoy equal success on Aconcagua. But surely it's better to have tried and in trying to have experienced the journey, a journey that we hope will encourage more women to seek early treatment for breast cancer and ultimately inspire other breast cancer survivors to live their dreams."

  Friday 30th June, I waited patiently for my wife to get home from work and packed my bike. As most of you have known... its the brand new Kuota Kalibur. Test ridden it on Thursday to find that my sitting position is not at all comfortable compared to my trustworthy Specialized Allez. I have no time to tweak that as the race is going to be on Sunday. Any alteration will just have to be after the race and for the PD Triathlon.

  We took the last flight into Singapore... Landed, walk out of the plane, ran to the nearest TV screen. There were 6 LARGE TV screens in the middle of the Terminal and looks like the place is packed. "What about our luggage?" the wife asked. "Just leave them there at the courosel." I replied. Managed to catch the second half match between Germany and Argentina. Soon as it was over... we went through the Imigration, collected our bags+bike then took a minivan... costs us Sin35. Mahal gile!

  Being a Berjaya vacation Club member has its privilages. We were lucky that there is one in town. Its by Duxton road and not very far to my usual nightstop Hotel (Amara Hotel) which I stay when on duty.

  Saturday 1st July, woke up early as my wife wanted to tour Singapore. We headed off to the Holiday Inn Atrium to collect my race kitt. 2 fancy pens, a handphone armstrap holder, some facial mist product, 30% OSIM discount voucher, 30% GNC discount voucher, 30% NB shoes discount voucher, GU powergel, Isotonic drink, 2 race number with safety pins, a black body marker, orange swimcap and the official race handbook + map. "So wheres the T-shirt?" I asked. "You'll get em during the race" the girl said.

  Straight to Orchard road... In the taxi, I told myself quitely, maybe a good idea to go back to the hotel and leave the wallet+credit card. Had breakfast... then the madness starts! Bloody SALE EVERYWHERE. 40-70% it was insane! Takashimaya, Tangs, Lucky Plaza, Atrium etc etc... madness. My wife and I managed to control the urge and just bought stuff for our daughter after hours and hours in and out of shopping centers. I guess shes the winner on this trip. Had a lovely dinner by the river later that night.

  Sunday 2nd July, woke up at 0645. By 0800 we were outside waiting for a cab. On the way the the race venue, we passed the BIG SPLASH! Oooh! that tingled my childhood memory. Used to go there everytime I visited Singapore when I was a child. I would go down the slide like a stuntman!

The race venue was at EASTCOAST E2 carpark next to some food restaurants.

According to the handbook:
SAT
0800-0830 Kids 7-9 years Swim start
0830-0900 Kids 10-12 years Swim start
0900-0930 Kids 13-14 years Swim starts
0930-0950 Mini Swim Start
0950-1000 Mini Relay Swim Start
1030-1130 Sprint Swim Start
1130-1200 Sprint Relay Swim Start
Total of 22 Start waves
SUN
0800-0900 Elite Swim Start
0900-1200 Age group Swim Start
1200-1230 OD Relay Swim Start
Total of 13 Start Waves
(my start was at 1130 Age group 30-34 Swim Start)

  Just next to the carpark was an open area, a massive Transition Area. It had to be massive is there were more than 3500 PARTICIPANTS! Checked in, got my T-shirt and went to watch the Elite Racing. Familiar names like Kimberly Yap and Eugene Chan were announced a few times as they passed by. Also there were some other pros from all over the world trying for the US16,100.

  The race seems like "orderly chaos" Every 10 mins there were swim starts. Participants MUST know when they start and the colour of the swim caps tells you when. I preped my bike and head over to the beach. Last minute look at the handbook. The swim is a 2 loop beach start. The bike is a no-drafting 4 loops around the park and the run is a 2 loop pass a lake.

Man, women, big, small, thin and fat... nice bikes, big bikes, mtb bikes, carbon bikes, titanium bikes, just a bike, looks like a bike... orca suit, zoot suit, no suit, bikinis... Nice to see everyone coming together for one purpose... EXERCISE! The course was a stream of ppl racing non-stop from various wave starts.

  At exactly 1130, my race starts. Oh my god! the water was so choppy it was almost impossible to swim freestyle. I had to swim breaststroke to the first bouy. Then freestyle/breast-stroke alternate to the next bouy as we swim parallel to the beach. Then freestyle to the beach. A short run on the beach for the next loop. The water was murky! Cant even see my own hand while swimming. I swam relatively slower compare to my other races. Maybe lack of experience swimming in choppy waters. Took me 31 mins.

  A good 200m run to the transition to collect our bike. The bike course was flat. Flattest course ever! but 4 loops of twisted and plenty hair-raising corners. Lots of crashes. Some even broke his fingers. I felt really good on the bike cause I was still fesh out of the water. Couldnt really "push" during the swim because the wave was choppy. Kuota Kalibur did a blazing 34km/hr average on the course. I was pleasantly happy. However, I did feel a bit of a back-ache after the third loop. I really need to tweak my riding position on this bike.

  The run course was not as challenging as in Kenyir or Bintan but it was awesome. Plenty of shades and FLAT! Water stations on every 1km providing water and isotonic. My legs felt good after the bike. The 10km run took me 53 mins on the dot. The numbers make it fun because there were plenty of runners out there infront of you motivating you to catch them.

  Overall, the race was good. Not as good as Phuket or Bintan though. Maybe my expectations... Singapore mahhhh! Thought those Kiasus will out-organize Phuket and Bintan. Maybe the sheer number of participants made it too hard even for them.

The results

16th out of 169 WOOOOT WOOOOT HAHAHAHAHA! 2nd Malaysian on age group! (Male 30-34 years)

If only I had pushed it a bit during the swim... the 10th postion was not too far.

What can I say....

Theres nothing much to say I guess when it comes to the level of local organisation VS the rest of the world (as in my case Thailand and Indonesia) organizing a triathlon Race. Of course one would argue the amount of money it cost to race in a Malaysian Tri VS others.

So let us compare...
RM60 for local Tri VS SIN95 for Bintan VS US120 for Phuket

You know what you get on a local tri...

For the other 2,

Good quality goodie bag with proper and useful tri items and NO phampletes or maps from Tourism!

1 Pre-race Carbo loading dinner (Lots more food variety and you wont get diarrhea)

A well organized race...
A bike mechanic station.
In bintan, they CLOSED the road during the race. In Phuket, one lane is closed for traffic.
NO DRAFTING.... and marshals on motorbikes all over the race course guiding and enforcing rules.

Water stations: Water, Isotonic drink, sponge and ice on ALL and they never ran out!

Free MASSAGE after the race including drinks, fruits etc...

1 Post race award dinner + Party. In Bintan each table were given a bottle of either red or white wine of your choice! PLENTY of exotic food including obscene amount of sea food (lobsters, prawns, oxtail, roast beef etc)

Prize money!
1st - US6000
5th - US1000
I know I wont smell the money but with those prizes, it attracts international superstar athelete. Racing with them encourages you to do well, train more and motivates you for other races. Its like buying a new gear.... motivates you wanting to improve, wanting to train and becomes a better athelete.

Okay! now on with the race...

The swim was a 2 loop with a mass beach start. The water was cristal clear as you could see the bottom even at the other end of the loop. It was interesting as I could see stuff 20m underneath me.

A short run to T1

The bike course was SUPERB. 1 big loop of rolling hills with smooth surface. It reminds me A'Famosa. It rained for 20 mins during the bike making the road a bit slippery. I think I saw a few crashes.

There was a small 350m loop at T2. You will have to run the extra 350m loop if you were cought drafting. If you were cought twice, you would have to run the penalty loop twice and so on. Otherwise, you could run straight out into the run course wich was in the golf course.

The run course was a two 5km loop around the HILLY golf course. Reminds me of Kenyir. There were 4 water station making a total of 8 water stations for 10km as you run through them twice. The resort staff are all out around the course to chear you on.

Worth the money??? YOU BET!!!