Malaysia Ironman 2008 Langkawi

It covers 3.8km of swim, 180km of cycling and finally a 42.2km run under the hot 43 degrees weather. You are given 17 hours (yes and that means almost an entire day)to complete the race. Definitely one of the world's toughest race and I decided to take part...
As a member of the media.

Live from Dataran Lang, Malaysia Ironman! Arrrrhhhhh!!!
I shall say I wasn't that excited about covering the competition. I mean, in Malaysia who cares about the Ironman race? But now that I've been there, I'm glad that I've went and hope to come back for it one day. Why? You ask?

First of all, I was VERY IMPRESSED by the triathletes. Imagine yourself out almost the whole day just swimming, cycling and running for 17 hours! Can you do that? I think I need maybe 10 years of serious training to get myself fit enough to do that, really! The thing is, there are some elderly contestants with the age group up to...! And there were also three disabled triathletes who actually completed the whole race, some even recorded better time compared to the 'normal' contestants! Feel like giving them a huge applaud man! Well done!

Anywayz, you can't help but to say that the champions are just 'scary'! Faris Al-Sultan from Germany(yes he is REALLY from Germany okay, how many times I need to explain? He is of Iraqi-German parentage) won the men's category with a time of 8 hours plus (Lazy to find out and this is not a story I write for the paper anywayz) while Belinda Granger from Australia took the title in the women's category in 9 hour plus time!

First to arrive, Faris Al-Sultan, a former world champion.
First woman to arrive, Belinda Granger, look, she was actually 'flying'!
Cute or not cute isn't a question, but there is no way I'm gonna miss a chance to take picture with a world champion!
Second reason for me to love the event was there were LOTSA NIHON JIN!!! After leaving my Japanese language all back in Perth, it was a great opportunity for me to talk to them with my broken Japanese. Okay, I know part of it was to show-off (Kakakaka...), but I can't really show-off much because my Japanese is really 'limited'. Anywayz, most of them whom I talked to were the seniors, who seriously don't look like their age! We exchanged e-mail address and watch out for my next Project S guest from Japan! YeeHahhh~!!!

Manabu san, the first Japanese I talked to. Guess how old is he? He's 63! PLEASE IGNORE MY DOUBLE CHIN!!!
Ishimasa san, the one who wanted to take picture with me just because I'm a reporter!
Another veteran, Yoshimori san.
Taro san, a sport commentator and triathlete in Japan!
Well it was also NOT TOO BAD getting to meet the other reporters whom were really helpful and brought me to some interesting places in Langkawi! And not to forget the drinking night a night before we left Langkawi, although I didn't stay for long!
Shirlexia at the Langkawi beach... Too bad no bikini... 'Aunty visit' lar!
CAUTION! The media gang from left: Logan (The Star), Shirlexia (you know where), Liza (Karangkraf) and Shahril (Kosmo).
Love the shopping spree too! Had to buy whiskey and cigarettes for my colleagues which limited some other stuffs that I can buy. But still, bought lots of chocolates which I can't really eat right now because of a something... And damn they are cheap!!!Shopping... Shopping... Shopping...

The down side was, the food was crap. The official caterer that catered all the food was bad. Almost the same thing everyday and they were just crap. Their kitchenware were always dirty as well, I wonder why... I had a few meals outside too but none of them were fantastic. Arrrhhh... Maybe I should have take a 15 min flight to Penang just to eat!

I also visited JE's (love calling her that name since the JE virus started) cafe and had a VERY VERY SHORT re-union with her. I really can't understand how she can survive Langkawi...

JE and Me at her cafe, 6 soul. Remember to drop by if you go to Langkawi! The cafe is just few steps away from the airport!
So there went my second outstation assignment with my current job. Thank god I survived! Touch wood, this time I came back without having to stay in the hospital like my first trip!

And the one thing I really want to do after returning from Langkawi is... Go on a BLOODY SERIOUS DIET! Though the food there was crappy, but since they were free, and came every few hours, I ate quite a lot of them actually. So time to hit back to the gym!