RACE REPORT: MIDDLE EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS…
Bahrain, a small archipelago close to Qatar, hosted the Ironman 70.3 Middle East Championships. Covering an area of just 760 square kilometers, or slightly more than Bangalore, we flew Oman Air and had a layover in Muscat. Bicycle bags arrived approximately 45 minutes after our regular bags, and they were charged extra. Our event was scheduled for Friday, December 5, but we arrived on Tuesday night. We had two days to complete our recce and registration.
The country was a bit relaxed compared to the UAE and we were allowed to ride our bikes, obviously at our own risk. The atmosphere was relatively calm and lacked the usual hustle and bustle found in typical Ironman race locations. The swim and expo were at Reef Island, previously a bustling port area. The hotel we booked was associated with Ironman and they provided airport and race venue transfers. We had some initial struggles as we landed, as the cars sent to pick us up were sedans and couldn’t fit our bike bags. The hotel reps arranged an additional van for our bikes, but it was already 11pm Bahrain time(1:30am IST). At the hotel, there was an Indian chef offering basic Indian items like chicken curries, roti’s and steamed rice.
ROUTE RECCE
Commencing our initial day in Bahrain, we intended to ride for 90 minutes on the race course and follow it with a brief 30-minute brick run. This turned out to be intensely challenging and I’d say dangerous. The race route was a major highway with cars speeding at 120+kmph. We stuck to the yellow line but it had a lot of vehicles joining in. We had to stop every 5 minutes. We decided to turn back but there was no u-turn until another 10kms. I let my training friends take the navigation lead and simply savored the ride. Surrounded by endless stretches of sand, the landscape required drip irrigation support for any existing greenery. The buildings displayed a curious uniformity, predominantly in mild colors or white hues. The road quality was exceptionally smooth. Winds were blowing in various directions, but fortunately, the temperature was relatively mild, hovering around 23–25 degrees. In essence, the conditions made it challenging to conduct a thorough reconnaissance, leaving us with uncertainty about the entire course. We were unable even to survey the run course, which appeared intricate like noodles on the map. Yet, in hindsight, this limitation proved to be a hidden blessing.
