Like I said in my previous post, I'm going to share my not-so-beautiful insight that I got from an athlete, Razani Hussin. Well, I met Razani at his shop in Kelantan while I was there. The shop was plain simple. Even most of the bikes in there I think are for servicing rather than for sale. Well, what do you expect by opening a pro bike shop in Kelantan rite? The shop was motionless. Only the tv blaring. Then I saw him sitting mending a tube of a Trek 2000.
"Assalamualaikum, bang".
"Ye cari apa", he asked. And so it starts. I started the conversation by asking his preparation for the next race, ba bla bla... I even asked him how he trains. Coach? He doesnt have one. Well, being an athlete eversince long time ago (cycling I guess) means that he have all the principles inside his head. Thats what he said. When asked about racing, he said that when you race year round, you race hard everytime. Otherwise, it wouldnt be called a race, aint it? The thing to remember is to have some time for your body to recover. Otherwise the performance of your next race will be compromised.
Then I asked, will he enter any Ironman races next year? He answered, in Kelantan dialect:
"Tok se (tak nak) doh masuk triathlon. Nok masuk marathon pulok".
"Bakpo? (kenapa)", I asked. He said that the events in Malaysia, especially those organized by Trisportz Events are not fair to pro athletes.
First he said that its odd that individual athletes can also be a part of a relay team. He said that the draft-legal rule benefited most those who are competing in both category, individual and relay. Usually, the first relay team member (who is also competing individually) will start the swim leg. Then at the bike leg, both he and the team member for the bike leg will go out the transition together. This means that the relay team member for bike leg can 'pull' the 1st team member, who is also competing individually. So, advantage for him. Hmm..sounds unfair enough. But I dont really know whether there are more resentments from other athletes.
After what has been a 30-minute chat, I thanked him for spending some time entertaining an unlikely fan like me. As for Razani, he is going to focus on breaking his marathon PR of 2:38.
12 years ago
2 comments:
yes, what bang razani said was true. I find it rahter stupid to let the triathelete to compete in BOTH relay and INDIVIDUAL events...i knowof one that does that...wanna take a guess who?
I've noticed this too in the TriSportz triathlons, that some people are registered into more than one category, even though of course the only race a single race. I wonder if they win prizes in both categories from Daddy too? So while Razani says it is unfair to the elite athletes, it is also not nice (I don't say unfair, as those are the rules set, take it or leave it) to us non-elite athletes. Now we can come in behind Eugene Chan in every category and win nothing at all. Next he'll be winning in the women's categories too!
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