I hope this thread can provide information of triathlons in Taiwan that are held every year. I’ll start this off by telling of my experience at the Yilan Meihua Lake triathlon that I participated in this last weekend (9/5 and 9/6 2015).
This triathlon offered two distances held on different days. The Olympic distance tri was held on Saturday (I participated in the relay, doing the swimming portion of that) and the sprint distance on Sunday (I did this solo).
The Olympic distance tri was held in the afternoon. It was hot as hell and I’m really surprised I didn’t see anyone suffering from heat exhaustion. The sprint distance was held in the morning. It was still hot but much better that the temperatures faced by athletes the day before.
The biggest disappointment of the races on both days was the way they organized the swimming portion. They separated everybody in small groups and staggered the start by separating each group by 2 minutes. If you are a decent swimmer, this results in absolutely a horrendous experience. You have to fight to get past people that swim at a pace of, say, 1500m in 40 minutes. By the time you get out of the water, you’re completely exhausted. When I did the sprint solo, I was breathing way harder than I would have liked, and my breathing never slowed until I got to the running portion of the race.
The cycling course was very, very fast. This is how I explained it to a friend:
It was a very fast course and I knew what to expect from our cyclist the day before. Based on what he told me- slight downhill and wind at your back on the way out, and the opposite for the return on the loop- I hit things hard going out and didn’t fight the slight uphill and headwind on the way back.
The running course also was good. It was a loop around the lake (2x for the sprint and 4x for the Olympic distance), and it was shaded for probably about 70% of the course. They had plenty of water stations to get drinks (water only) and sponges dipped in ice cold water. They also had a pool filled with cold water at the finish line.
Thanks for the write up Marasan. A great insight as to what to expect.
Tell me, where was the swim? Swimming pool or in the lake? I have visions of groups just swimming over each other in the pool, then in the lake with all the herons laughing at us! I have not experienced a pool swim and have no idea how it would work for a large number of swimmers.
Is the running course marked out or designated? Or did you find yourself running around locals?
Either way, your write up has got me excited about what to expect.
[quote=“Sutmaemush”]Thanks for the write up Marasan. A great insight as to what to expect.
Tell me, where was the swim? Swimming pool or in the lake? I have visions of groups just swimming over each other in the pool, then in the lake with all the herons laughing at us! I have not experienced a pool swim and have no idea how it would work for a large number of swimmers.
Is the running course marked out or designated? Or did you find yourself running around locals?
Either way, your write up has got me excited about what to expect.
Thanks![/quote]
The swim was in the Meihua Lake. Not too big so it was two loops for 1500m (including getting out and diving back in!), and of course one loop for the sprint tri. This was really the only bad part about the race.
Both the running and cycling courses were designated and I didn’t see other people on the courses. They also did a good job of making sure cars didn’t drive on the cycling course.
I would say that the Yilan Meihua Lake triathlon is worth doing if swimming is your slowest event and you typically take it a bit easy during the swim. For me, this is where I try to put some distance on others because I know they’ll catch me during the run if I don’t. I don’t think I’ll be doing this triathlon next year for this reason.
I look forward to hearing how the triathlon in January goes for you!
I did the J Chip Cup Triathlon in Wugu a few weeks ago on May 8th. This triathlon is held every year from what I understand. It was in March last year and I guess the cold water for the swim really turned a lot of people off so they changed things around this year.
An Olympic distance tri, sprint distance tri, and a duathlon (3.3k run, 40k cycling, 3.3k run) were on offer. I did the sprint distance triathlon. The race venue is accessible from the Luzhou MRT station so there were a lot of competitors.
Swim: The swim is a difficult one. You go out about 200m then make a sharp left and then head straight to your buoy, after which you turn around and head back to the starting point. I swam the distance about 3 minutes slower than what I do in a pool but still managed to come in first in my age category. This tells me that the swim kicked everyone’s ass.
Cycling: I found the course fast but it was a bit dangerous because of the crowds. I heard one crash (metal on metal so probably more than one bike involved). I’m surprised I didn’t see/hear more. It was two loops for 20k so you can imagine how the many turns would slow you down. But other than that, it was flat, flat and no wind that day. I’m sure that someone with some experience could get an excellent time on the course.
Run: The course for 5k was two times around the water area where the swim was held. It was a flat course. But…on that particular day, it was 34 degrees during the run. No shade. No wind. Lots of sun. Many people just couldn’t handle it. I was one of those people. I ended up walking half of the 5k distance.
All in all, I would say this triathlon is one worth doing. Easy to get to with your bike and easy to get home. Big crowds though. It was a good course and the organization of the event was decent. No complaints really.
Feel free to PM me if you’re interested in trying out a triathlon. I just started last year and so I can give lots of tips on how to get going on your first triathlon. Or PM me if you want to train together sometime. My running sucks but my swimming is decent and my cycling is getting there. I do longer distances in these two disciplines often, but I tend to stick to around 5k for my runs.
I entered the “Feicui Bay National Triathlon Challenge” back in early June. Fei Cui Bay is a bit norh of Keelung. They seem to have one in the area every year (it was in Jinshan last year).
There was only the Olympic distance on offer (1.5k swim + 40k cycling + 10k run). This was a painful triathlon in every way. Not really knowing this, I entered with my wife. I swam and cycled, and she ran.
Swim: A very painful swim in the ocean. I have since heard that we actually swam 1.9k. It’s common for them to get the distance wrong in ocean swims. But that was a huge difference! I swam it in 36 minutes. I told my time to a swimming instructor I know who also entered the race. I was a bit embarrassed until he told me his time was 32 minutes. He also complained by how tough the conditions were. Also, the rope disappeared and so we had to kind of just aim toward the platform in the middle of the ocean. It was two laps to the platform and back. Just painful!
Cycling: A serious slope to tackle in the middle of the course. For most of us who almost never cycle in the mountains, this was some serious pain. And because of the crowds, nobody really went back down the mountain road that fast. I cycled that in 1 hour and 29 minutes. Nothing to be too proud of but I really don’t think I could have done it faster.
Running: I was both relieved and worried when I passed the chip to my wife. I knew it would be a tough 10k run. But luckily, it started to rain about 20 minutes into the run. I mean it started to pour. My wife was never so happy to see rain because the big hill starts almost right where the run begins and everyone was in pain. But she did great and ran the 10k course at her 5k practice pace. Awesome!
All in all, this was a good triathlon, but I think this is best done in a relay team of three people. I think with the right team (good ocean swimmer, good mountain cyclist, good runner with frequent mountain practice), you could definitely win the relay.
(My friend and I are organizing duathlons/brick sessions- cycling + running- in the Dadaocheng Wharf area. We had one this last Saturday and plan to do this every month. We welcome beginners. There’s a place you can rent bikes right there if you don’t have a bike. The distance last Saturday was 20k cycling + 5k running. There were also some experienced people there. Feel free to PM me if you want to join this great practice. We can all do triathlons. Check out the practice and see for yourself.)
Thanks for the summary and the continued update. I wanted to attempt my first triathlon, but a shortened distance one. I was aiming for the one in Taidong in March.
I usually do 4-5 marathons a year so I think the running should be ok. The cycling part I’m working on now with weekly rides up Yangmingshan. The swimming part is what I’m antsy about. The race is 1.5k swim and I’ve never swam that far before. Any advice besides just getting work done at the pool?
It’s great what you guys are doing to get newbies into tri’s. I hope you guys continue this in the near months, still waiting on my running shoes to get brought back from the states. Been thinking about doing another half marathon or full marathon since my knee issue is subsiding.
May I make a suggestion on another location for your event? The Dajia Riverside Park, closer to the Dazhi Bridge has multiple entrances and bike rentals too. I only suggest this because the Da Dao Cheng Wharf bike path is very snug and has high foot traffic. The Dajia Riverside Park area has a street section that doesn’t see too many cars in the morning. Only issue is it’s not as easily accessible via MRT like Da Dao Cheng is.
A few months ago, I saw a group practicing at the Dajia Riverside Park, near the entrance next to the Nangang Exhibition Center. It was a group of about 8-10 doing a mix of sprinting and cyling, looked hella intense. That place was ideal since there was no foot traffic at all.
I would definitely recommend doing a sprint triathlon to begin with. No matter how bad your swimming is, you can somehow make it through 750m. There’s one in Luzhou on October 30:
The registration deadline is August 30th. The one in Taidong, assuming it’s in Flowing Water Lake (do I have the name right?), will really be like swimming in a pool.
Depending on how much work you need on the swim, you might either just focus on swimming (March of next year gives you some months) with some sighting practice, or continue to stick to the sprint distance until you feel better on the swim.
If your strength is running and you’re used to long distance sporting events, you definitely want to move up to the Olympic distance as soon as you’re able so that your strength can come through and shine!
Check here for a post about our next duathlon in September. And be sure to let me know if you register for that triathlon in October.
Finally, there’s an open water pool (a river with a low dam) at the bottom of Xiwan Road. I’ll let you know when my friend and I plan to do a swim and a ride up Xiwan. That will probably also be in September.
Thanks ranlee. We’re definitely open to making changes. Dajia Riverside Park was considered, but then we thought maybe it would be best to use a place with good MRT access and the beginners could use U-bikes. We changed that at the last minute to having the beginners without bikes renting.
We gave them a 10-minute head start, by the way. It worked out really well, with a strong runner from the beginner group coming in first that day!
Really sounds like something I would be interested in, whether I’d actually compete in an actual tri or not, this is just motivation to train and be competitive.
I hope you’re teaching the newbies on proper bike etiquette!
There’s mention of drafting in the rules for every race I’ve entered (not too many races, though, I have to admit), and sometimes even an announcement to avoid it or risk getting disqualified. And then every race I see at least one group of guys drafting.
I stopped updating this thread, but thought I would provide a little write-up of my most recent triathlon just this last weekend.
I entered the race with @newdealer. I met him on this forum after a discussion in a thread about open-water swimming in Taiwan. He revealed in that thread that he had a fear of water- especially deep water.
Well, after some discussion, pm’s, etc., we decided to enter the Beautiful Taitung Triathlon. We both did the sprint distance. It was well organized and the venue in Taitung starting at Flowing Lake is always a good one.
The real story this time, though, was newdealer’s courage in facing his fear. It turns out that he is determined to overcome this fear and it is for this reason that he entered this tri race and will be entering more in the future.
After arriving in Taitung the day before the race and getting settled at our B&B, we walked over to the race venue to have a little practice swim. newdealer’s fear was real, as he hesitated to venture too far from the shore (actually “sides” since it’s a man-made lake). But his confidence increased and he was looking much better after about 30 minutes of swimming.
To make a long story short, newdealer made it the next day at the race! He finished the swim and the triathlon race. Bravo to him and his willingness to face his fear head-on.
I’m sure with his marathon and ultra-marathon experience, he will only get better with triathlons.
Dear Marasan
Thanks again for the great help, both for the logistics and moreover the moral support!
Without your help I am sure I would never have done it…!!!
Did you guys hear about the allegations towards the guy who hopped in a car while on his bike leg of the race? That’s all my cycling LINE groups have been chatting about for the past 3 days.
No, I haven’t! There was very little oversight during the cycling portion of that so I’m surprised he got caught. It was probably others that spoke up, rather than officials. The officials were missing during the cycling- just people at the intersections to help with traffic. Drafting all over the place. I didn’t draft but in some ways, I wish I had! But jumping into a car?! What’s the point?
It was a hot SOB that day. And the sun seems to be stronger and the humidity higher in Taitung. I imagine it was a half Ironman participant. Those guys looked to be in serious pain during the run. Saw lots of people walking during their 21km “run.” Jumping into a car would be very tempting for them I would imagine.
Yes, agreed, jumping into the car and just calling it a day would probably be ok. However, he got out and finished the race. I don’t know the full story, but I do know him and his team are under fire. The organization even came out with a release about the “incident”.
