Endurance sports are incredibly popular in Japan, many being sold out months in advance, with interest level seeming to rise with the increasing length of the race. This is never truer than with triathlons, and the local community had awaited the revival of Ironman brand after the last of their races in Japan had fizzled out in a blaze of inglorious fuck-uppery, which sometimes seems unique to this country. Many didn’t mourn its passing as it was an ugly race and logistical nightmare, starting with the fact it was centred on a manmade island hosting little more than an international airport. With the bike leg which was one long draft line,  basically lapping around an industrial estate with a multitude of switchbacks and u-turns, accidents were way too common and, I believe, the ultimate reason it was cancelled.

So, it was with a sense of excitement and a little trepidation that myself and a large bunch of TnTers headed down to the new Ironman 70.3 in the central Japan prefecture of Aichi. I’d booked the cheap business hotel directly adjacent to Toyahashi station , sent my bike and luggage down by courier and took the Shinkansen for the quick 1.5-hour journey. It was super convenient as everything was collected from my home a couple days before and I picked it all up at the hotel to take my bike to my room to reassemble .

I met one of my Hokkaido pals for dinner that night, it was his first triathlon and he was super excited. I forget that feeling sometimes so was fun to get the buzz back a bit by talking and answering questions about the upcoming race.

Friday morning, we boarded the shuttle to take us to race registration and transition. They took the bikes from us and loaded them into a truck (very securely fixed in place) while we had a nice air conditioned and comfortable bus for the hour drive. On arrival we picked up our bikes and lined up for registration. This was one of the few parts which didn’t run quite so smoothly, but after 30 minutes or so I had my race package and went to rack my bike. This was so much quicker, and stress free compared with previous IM sanctioned races in Japan, and I soon had set up both T1 and T2.

After an incredibly tasty hotdog from a local food truck, I went down to the beach for a quick test swim. The time allowed was strictly set, but there had been heavy rains for a week before and the sea was rough and murky, with debris washed in from the river, so many people decided not to bother. I jumped in, swam around for about 500m where I was buffeted and bounced around by the water until I too decided that I’d done enough testing and hurried out to change. Lots of chatter about how we all hoped that the sea would have calmed down by the start of the race!

That evening we all met at a local restaurant for a pasta dinner. Was really nice to catch up with some old friends and meet new ones too. As race was next day we didn’t stay late and headed back to prepare and get some shuteye

Due to the fact T1 was a good hour drive away it was a very early start (I personally woke at 3am). On arrival we had free access to both T1 and T2, again something that previous IM races in Japan didn’t always allow, so spent an hour or so circling between bike, run bag and toilet! Weather was just about perfect and the sea calm, so I couldn’t wait to get started.

Swim was fine, self-seeded waves, a strange Aussie exit after 500m, then back to do another 1400m. Nice finish on the beach and run up into transition. My time was as expected, there wasn’t too much argybargy and I felt fresh and ready to start the next stage.

There had been some minor changes to the bike course due to landslides caused by the rain, but I nothing you could really noticed. There was a huge number of volunteers on the course, all dressed up in pink T-shirts, which was fantastic. Unfortunately, my bladder decided to play games, meaning I had to stop 4 times for a pee within the first 40k, I was very wary about not getting a time penalty so had to be sneaky to avoid being seen (believe me, when the bladder plays up, there’s no way in hell I’ll hold it in between portapotties. I have been known to pee on the bike but decided to find discreet bushes and hedges to stop behind this time) Funny thing was that I got caught as I reappeared from behind a hedge by an old man on a bike, who I realized was an official race Marshall. He looked at me and enquired “daijobu desuka?” (Are you ok) and I replied patting my tummy “oyaji no mondai desu” (old man’s problems), he paused to think for a second then waved me on with an empathetic smile. Sometimes the human connection is just there 🙂

The bike was fun, some lovely views, a couple of unexpected very sharp climbs, but mostly flat or rolling, with decent roads. My focus on power during training paid off as on the last 25k I managed to keep pushing my watts and started to pass a bunch of people.

T2 was in and out quite quickly for me, and I was able to immediately start running at a pace I maintained for first two thirds of the run. There were plenty of aid stations, with a wide selection of nutrition and drinks, even with fresh melon at places. The volunteers were fantastic, full of energy and encouragement. I must admit it wasn’t the most pleasant of runs in places, going alongside busy highways and factories, but the worst was several full-on foot bridges over the road, that caused my knees to almost buckle. The heat had picked up and I slowed noticeably on the last third, giving me a rather disappointing run time and an overall total 30 minutes slower than I had hoped. What used to be my stronger leg is now my weakest, and I can no longer rely on my run to pull me past my peers.

The finish area was fun, especially as a big bunch of teammates were all waiting. Getting the transition bags was a bit of a lottery as they didn’t seem to have been placed in any order, but the school kids running it tried their best – hopefully they’ll improve this next year. Picked up the bike and gave it to the stewards loading the trucks while I once again had a comfortable seat in the bus to get back to hotel.

So, all in all a great weekend and I highly recommend this race to all. I imagine next year will be more people racing as with only 600 I guess they’d restricted numbers due to it being a first-time event. It’s super easy to get to from Tokyo, the logistics are much better thought out and people just seemed more relaxed.

Oh, and the final piece of news.. I attended the roll down as many of my teammates podiumed and I wanted to see them get their slots. However, it was very quickly obvious that the 70.3 world championship in distant Finland wasn’t too popular with the local Japanese, and lo and behold, when it came to my age group it rolled down so far it fell into the precipice and I managed to snag a spot. It was weird though, this is something I had dreamed and dreamed about for years and years but almost as soon as I received the slot,  I decided I wouldn’t go. It didn’t sit right with me, I hadn’t won it, I’d been donated it (although at €650 a pop it’s a hefty donation!). I wanted to feel I’d gone out there and earned the right to go to World Championship by beating my peers, however this seemed almost second hand .. buuuut, after a good night’s sleep and a good talking to by friends and family alike, I decided that I had followed the rules, done my bit and so deserved to go. I did realise though that the vast majority in Finland would have been much closer to the pointy end of their qualifying race and if I didn’t want to be DFL (dead fxxxcg last), I would have to commit to a much harder training regime … which I will do once I get past the little inconvenience of Ironman Vitoria Gastiez in mid-July..