Melaka A Famosa International Triathlon 2008

The night of Friday 9th May was a difficult night to fall asleep. That’s because the next day will be another milestone for me. I’m venturing into triathlon after many persuasions, encouragements and invitations from triathletes and Ironman. I must thank them all!

Saturday 10th May. The day has come for me to swim, ride and run. Oh boy, it’s gonna be fun, fun fun!

After picking up Yit Thing,Yip and loaded our bikes in the car, we zoomed off to meet the rest at Iron River (Sg. Besi) toll.

Okie dokie....bikes are in!

Question…do Ironman drink from Iron River? Hahahaha!

Yit Thing, Dr Rum, Barry & Yip having breakfast at Iron River toll

Before we knew it, traffic jam came into play. Just after passing Nilai exit, cars, trucks, buses were on a choca block crawl. We thought, as usual when meeting such jams that it must be due to an accident or some road blocks by police or JPJ. Yeah, we were right but the accident was just before Seremban exit toll, meaning we had to crawl for quite a distance. Riding with our bikes was a thought but with fumes blowing into your face every second is a definite no no. Therefore, it was a 2 hour crawl. Kanasai !!
jam...jam...jam....

Crawl until I wanna zzzzz oredi lah…

We finally reached A Famosa before 2.30pm ...

and after a quick registration, we headed to the restaurant for a much needed late lunch where some of us had to wait a bloody long time…again!

There were only 3 tables occupied but looking at who’s working and you’ll know they really know how to do their ‘relak-ing’ as what they always say…relak ah…

…sigh….

Anyway, we hurried with our check in and the bungalow accommodating us all was splendid! Wish that is my house…hehe!

First time tomato use a yellow duckie cap so kinda look sakai with it huh…hahaha!
Dr Rum in his new stylo the very mylo tri attire.

Sprint distance 500m swim, bike 18km, run 3km…here comes the crazytomatoman!
4pm…bang!

We’re off splashing in the so called chicken, duck & monkey toilet lake. Fortunately there was no chicken smell, no duck smell, no monkey smell and their terrible kanasai taste…phew!

In the run, I roll instead of run and in the lake, instead of swimming, tomato was floating …took 17 minutes to float 500m…that’s why I was top10…from the bottom lah! Hahaha! Yup, I was the last few splashing out and when I’m on my bike, I went a rollin’….yeah!
Very the syok “sayur-ing” riders and runners…hehe!

Yup...i was one of the last to get on my bike...


Finished with a time of 1hr 8min, position 14th in the category I’m in, although the time recorded by officials was 1hr 12min. Guess they started timing as soon as the kids were flagged off.

Oh what a overwhelming feeling to finally crossing the finish line in my first triathlon…a sprint distance only lah…but it was fun! Super syok afternoon!

Dr Rum was way in front, finishing 12th in 1hr 3min.

Mich was also doing her debut and she did it with style….finishing 3rd…a podium finish!

Emma was unfortunate to be mislead away from the bike route and she ended up doing 4km more than all of us. Even so, she still got 2nd!!! Finish sprint triathlon together with Emma....it was an honour to cross the line with an Ironman Yahoo!!! I got a triathlete medal together with Ironman Dr Rum and Michelle


Carbo loading dinner at Cowboy Town

After carbo loading, it's time to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

6am.....breakfast time....

It's time for Triathlon Olympic Distance....1.5km swim 40km bike 10km run

Guess whose legs are those…as you can see, no bulu so those belong to hot chics lah.

Relay team members



Yip, Siok Bee, Michelle, Emma, Yit Thing & John

The main event for the weekend was flag off at 8am. This time the swim was something to look forward to as it's no more a 'just for fun' sprint. It's the real deal triathlon.

After the leading pack emerged from the lake and ran up to the transition area, together with relay riders, we walked up to transition area to put on our helmets and cleat shoes, waiting for our relay partners.

Yip who’s swimming will also do the run for Team Tomato-Ultraman in the Mens Relay. For an ultra runner like him, 10km is sap sap water lah.

After he handed over the blue wristband, I zoomed off pedalling like being chased by crazy dogs! That was after Dr Rum handed the relay to Yit Thing. She took off at least 5 min ahead. Go Stingray!


Sayur-ing is fun especially those who are riding their very expensive bikes…hehehe! So there we go…Merida riders.

After much huffing and puffing, i did the 38km ride in 1hr 12min. Yip was fresh and he came back in 40min in the run.
Yes!!! and team Tomato-Ultraman finished 3rd!!
Wow…what a debut relay it was. Fantastico!


In the Mixed Relay, team Stingray of Dr Rum, Yit Thing and John also came in 3rd!!!

Team Tomato-Ultraman
For newbies, the number 3 is very significant. We all finished 3rd in our debut!
Michelle, Dr Rum (his first mixed relay) Yit Thing, John, Yip and tomatoman…6 of us.

And….my car’s number plate is 3..3..6…..hahaha!
Tomatoman's 336
What a coincidence…..or is sit?

Unbelievable? Believe it……