With a stacked field of elite athletes the 2018 MetaSport Aquathlon promised to be an exciting affair and it certainly delivered as Tim Cosulich produced a scintillating performance to win both the Men’s Elite and the Champion of Champions titles by the narrowest of margins at Sentosa’s Palawan Beach yesterday.

Anna Eberhardt took the Women’s Elite crown and was so close to winning the Equalizer “battle of the sexes”, only being caught by Cosulich with 500m to go.

Race organisers MetaSport must keep a weather genie in their office as year in, year out the sun shines down out of clear blue skies on the Aquathlon, the traditional opening leg of the MetaSprint Series.  Click here to read the full race report.

The off-road cycling series Jungle Cross returned to Singapore’s Turf City yesterday on a newly revamped course at the Centaurs Trail, but the result in the elite Men’s Open mountain bike race was a familiar one as the evergreen Junaidi Hashim (Team Awano) took the victory over his young protégé Riyadh Hakim. The Men's Open cyclocross title went to Bastian Dohling (Specialized Roval Mavericks).

Click on this link to read how those two contests went down, plus all the results from the other seven events on the race card.

Ghazzi Krisna made it two for two at the URA-CFS Share the Road Criterium on Sunday, as the 21-year-old rider from Geylang Cycling Team outsprinted his breakaway partner Konstantin Fast (Nex Cycling Team) to take the elite Men’s Open title. 
 
The local youngster must like the downtown Singapore street circuit as he won the last time he raced on it in October 2017, when he claimed victory in the Inter Educational Institute contest also from a two-man breakaway.

Click on this link to read the full race report. (Photo courtesy of Wai See Chin)

There is no doubt that the URA-CFS Share the Road Criterium series has provided a huge boost to the Singapore road-racing scene in 2017. And fittingly yesterday’s final leg in this year’s series was the best of the bunch, as three races showcasing a diverse range of demographics drew a big crowd that was rewarded with a thrilling morning of action on the CBD circuit.

Andreas Ostern (Specialized Roval Mavericks) gets the top billing for dominating a fast and furious Men’s Open Points Race but Ghazzi Krisna (Geylang Cycling Team) and Janell Ng (West Coast Riders) deservedly share the headlines for winning the Inter-Educational Institute and Women’s Beginners races respectively.

The criterium series started on an experimental basis in January after local cycling events outfit Cycosports and the Singapore Cycling Federation (SCF) managed to get approval from the Singapore Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to stage a race as part of the URA’s Car Free Sunday initiative.

Click on this link to read the full race report.

Rain was the main theme of the day at the 2017 Cycosports Nongsa Challenge in Batam on Sunday, but the downpours didn’t put too much of a damper on the racing, with the scorching Men’s Elite contest only decided on a sprint finish up the hill to the Turi Beach Resort, where Alex Donger (MatadorRacing) pipped Kristjan Snorrason (CyclingTraining.Asia) on the line to take the title.

The win was sweet revenge for Donger who finished second to Snorrason in May’s Tour de Barelang, the other epic race that Cycosports stages annually on the Indonesian island of Batam.

Click on this link to read the rest of the race report. Photos courtesy of Ricky Wihendar/Cycosports.

The 2017 Indofood Ironman 70.3 Bintan saw the eponymous Indonesian island showcase its tropical extremes as blazing blue skies and scorching temperatures in the morning were followed by an intense afternoon storm, but long-distance triathletes are tough nuts and a bit of weather didn’t stop the record 1,200-plus participants from putting on a dazzling show.

Heading the list of athletic excellence were Mike Phillips and Amelia Watkinson who respectively won the Men’s and Women’s Elite crowns in dominating fashion to clinch the US$3,000 top prizes and earn all-important ranking points for the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championships.

Click on this link to read the full race report.

Flat Spoke Media's Alan Grant also took part in the race in what was his return to long-distance triathlon after a six-year absence. We'll publish his personal reflection in the coming days.

“Why on earth am I putting myself through this again?” I found myself thinking three weeks ago when I was 100km into the Road to Taiwan KOM cycling event, a sportive version of the famous Taiwan KOM Challenge.
 
The 5km-to-go sign had just appeared when I’d thought (or perhaps was just helplessly hoping) I was only 2km from the finish line at Wuling Pass atop the mighty Mount Hehuan. I’d been there before in November 2015 and the painful memory of that occasion came pouring back into my consciousness from the dark place where it had been safely hidden.
 
However, in most tough cycling rides or races, pain is only temporary, and sure enough, when 35 minutes later – yes, it took me over half an hour to complete those final 5km, which includes 1km of downhill! – I climbed off my bike at the end of our sport’s longest “hill” climb, the all-over ache was gone, replaced by endorphins flooding my brain as I basked in the glory of accomplishment, my eyes feasting in one of the wonders of the cycling world.

Click on this link to find out why Flat Spoke Media's Alan Grant believes the Taiwan KOM Challenge or its sister sportive events should be on every cyclist's bucket list.

Junaidi Hashim (Team Awano Treknology3) survived a late charge from Anthony Brown (Cannasia) to retain his OCBC Cycle Singapore National Mountain Bike Cross Country Championships in a thrilling race at the Chesnut Nature Park yesterday. Tsalina Phang (Attitudebikes) was crowned the women’s champion after a dominating performance.

Perfect conditions greeted Singapore’s mountain bikers as they flocked to the new Chesnut North venue to race and/or spectate on a cracker of a course carved out by the team at race organisers DirTraction. A rare week of no rain meant the trails were bone dry and the racers took advantage by tearing round the roughly 3km course. The circuit was heavy on single track, some parts fast and flowing, others bits more technical, and the inclusion of a section of the gravity downhill course just after the start/finish line provided thrills and spills throughout the morning.

It was a very good day out for Team Awano with rising stars Riyadh Hakim (third, Men's Elite) and Arfan Faisal (first, Juniors) adding to their mentor's glory.

Click on this link or go to www.secondwindmagazine.com to read the full report, including a post-race interview with Junaidi.

Sitting here at Singapore's Changi Airport en route to Taiwan, the excitement is building as I contemplate my return to the Taroko Gorge, Mt Hehuan and the Wuling pass. I've been lucky enough to be invited by the Taiwan Tourism Board and the Taiwan Cyclist Federation to join a group of journalists on a week-long cycling tour that takes in not just the Road to Taiwan KOM, but also a visit to the famous Sun Moon Lake and a trip to Matsu Island, which lies just off the coast of mainland China.

First up is this Saturday's Road to Taiwan KOM, a sportif version of the annual Taiwan KOM Challenge, which sees some of the world's best cyclists tackle the world's biggest "hill climb" race – think 3,275 metres in a single climb! I took part in the 2015 Taiwan KOM Challenge and to whet my appetite I just re-read my account of that day. Here it is below and look out for lots of posts from what promises to be a fantastic week of cycling.

Click on this link to read "Taiwan KOM Challenge – epic as advertised"