I had a bad feeling about this right from registration. The organisers had no idea what they were doing. The registration for a sprint distance was $60. Then after paying for the registration, an email was sent that an extra deposit of $20 was required as a security for the championship chip. This will be redeemed at the end of the race. On top of that, an extra $5 was payable as an admin fee.

Why wasn’t the deposit and the admin fee brought to the participants’ notice in the beginning?

The race route was only confirmed at the last minute. Instructions to participants were not clear either. Many participants did not know that there will be a body marking station at the transition area.

Swim leg:
Poor planning. Tide was very low. It was more like running on muck than swimming. Did anyone actually checked the tide tables before deciding on the date of the race?

Biking leg:
It was a city route that brought participants from East Coast Park to the Esplanade and back. Cisco guards were engaged to divert traffic and marshal the participants, however, participants were not informed that the route is not exclusive. It was only at the first stop that everyone realised that stops had to be made for traffic. These stops created a few spectacular crashes.

Of course, timing gets screwed up since all efforts to pull away from the back will be negated by a traffic light. This is a race. Interruptions like this is just ridiculous.

The lanes were not marked. So there were several near misses on head-on collission.

Running leg:
This was just crap. Signages were bad. Marshals arrived late that the turning points resulting in many participants missing the u-turn point and running a couple of kilometers extra.

Even the race finish was not properly demarcated. The ‘finish’ banner was facing away from the participants, for the photographers so it was anybody’s guess where the finishing line was.

Control:
The whole triathlon was a joke. There were so many loop holes in the entire route. Timing was logged only at the transition area. This mean, I could have rode my bike to Old Airport Road for a cup of coffee and then return to the transition area and no one would really know about it. I could also have ran to the nearest drinks stall, have a drink and then return to the transition area without having to run the course. Of course, the lack of marshals meant that I ran extra.

Security:
I really wonder what the wrist tag is for. The entire transition area was opened and nobody really checked the participants entering or leaving the area. I could have brought in a steel Polygon bike and gone home with a Cervelo P3 and nobody would have probably questioned me.

Worst race I’ve taken part in. The only good thing I can say about this race is, I got away injury free without losing anything.