A change of venue was the order of the day for the start of Race 3 for the Dragon’s club. The ongoing traffic, congestion and lack of parking at Shek O finally forced us to consider a change of location. So we moved 2kms down the road to Big Wave Bay. The Gods must have approved the decision as they sent us great conditions for our first race at this location.

A nice flat ocean provided for a quick swim with Greg James out of the water first in a time of 13:56. Dane Cantwell & Luke Wimbush were both close on his heals at 4 and 6 seconds behind. Tash McCarroll & Claire Chapman were the first women out of the water in 10^th overall place (16:04).

A change to the bike course improved competitor safety considerably. Mitigating the fast down hill turn around at Cape D’ Aguilar and completely avoiding Shek O beach car park were a definite plus, though the requirement of a dismount and path run from the Big Wave Bay car park to transition had some competitors caught behind ambling beachgoers steaming a little. Overall the new base for the course allowed competitors to concentrate on the race at hand. A strong bike leg from John Douma climbed him up by 11 places into 4 place, just behind the ever competitive Steve Bemet. Unfortunately a puncture was the end to Greg James lead over the field.

For those who the swim leg is the weaker leg the 750m swim meant they really needed to push themselves on the bike and relatively short run to gain back some time over the swimmers in the field.

Claire Chapman really showed that she’s enjoying her new found interest in triathlons with a quick run gaining her 2min 34secs on rival Tash McCarroll but narrowly missing out on first place by 3 seconds. For the men it was a close finish between Dane & Luke again fighting for the line finishing in 1:06:45 & 1:06:50 respectively.

A fantastic effort by newcomer Jon Valentine earned him the Quiet Achiever award.

Big Wave Bay provided for a relaxed finish where everyone could gather, chat and compare race stories, not to mention stay for the many prize draws that were made available by our generous sponsors. Breakfast at the beachside café allowed for everyone including the kids to enjoy the morning at the beach with sun, sand and surf – well okay there was no surf that morning at BIG WAVE BAY!

Due to the other triathlons in Hong Kong and abroad during September and October, we now do not have another training race till November but stay tuned for news about some twilight events.