RACING » SRI LANKA
aving heard many positive
stories about Sri Lanka, and
with my fitness levels in check
in preparation for the IRONMAN African
Championship, the stars seemed to
be aligned when the opportunity arose
to race on the island early in the year.
I took the leap.
No matter who you are, there is always
a fair amount of logistics (and a bit of
stress) involved in travelling with your
bike. I had to fit in a lastminute bike
service and phone a friend to borrow a
bike bag and some other essential bits
and pieces. Thankfully the Thule bag
with its built-in bike stand was great for
quick and easy set-up and break-down.
My flights from Cape Town to
Colombo via Qatar were seamless, with
short layovers. I landed early on Friday
morning, two days before the Sunday
race. After getting myself connected
with a local SIM card, I was picked up
by a driver for the one-hour trip to the
Colombo beachfront.
COSMOPOLITAN
COLOMBO
As part of my media trip, I was to spend
three days in Colombo, before heading
out on a six-day circular tour around the
island, which sits just off the southeast
coast of India.
Only three days in Colombo may
seem short when you’ve got to fit in the
usual pre-race activities (registration,
expo, briefing) and an IRONMAN 70.3
race – but exploring the city during race
prep and on a ‘legs up city tour’ proved
perfect for seeing the main sights.
I’ve always enjoyed exploring any
city I travel to with a run, so when
Gaël Courterier (one of my French
travel buddies) suggested a run after
registration, I was amped. In hindsight
we may have run too far, given that it
was a race weekend but hey, that always
happens when you’re run-sploring.
From beautiful park spaces to the local
Pumpkin Festival, we wanted to see what
was around every corner.
We strolled down to the swim start
from The Kingsbury Hotel for the warm-
up swim on Saturday morning, which
for the first time made me feel “wow,
I’m racing abroad”. It’s a rad feeling
sharing the start line with such a diverse
international field. Different languages,
nationalities, ages… it was certainly
much more diverse than any SA race
I’ve done, and apparently something
that IRONMAN Asia races are known for
because of their location on the world
map. I was one of 14 African and nine
South African participants.
In a completely unfamiliar city,
doing the warm-up swim is essential.
The Indian Ocean was very salty with
temperatures around 26°C. I stopped at
various swim buoys to select ‘sighting
skyscrapers’ in the rapidly developing
city. This was very handy on race day.
After checking my bike into transition,
I joined my new French friends and their
compatriots for Tea & Snacks at the
French Embassy. Then we took off on a
shuttle for our Colombo sightseeing tour
to end off a very eventful pre-race day.
PHOTOGRAPHS: KEVIN
H