The finishers area was the best, that I have ever seen. They had cold towels, ice packs, water, gatorade, open air tents, chairs and lots of volunteers to help. I walked around for a while and then sat down to hydrate and ice my quads. When I felt better, I wandered over to the finish line just in time to see Claire run across the line. I yelled over but all she could say was "one hundred and ninety three". The guy beside me asked if I thought that she was talking about her HR and I said that was probably the case. Claire likes to go hard.

Cookie surprised us both by turning up 15 minutes before schedule at 4:30 race time. He was one hot customer and melted a dozen ziplock bags of ice before we managed to cool him down enough to stop sweating. No one holds heat like this man.

After riding back to the hotel from the finish area, I had a big feed and rested for about two hours. I wasn't able to sleep but the downtime was much appreciated.

A recovery swim with my roommate (finished 3rd with a personal PR for the course) was followed by a "recovery ride". I use the quotes because it was a game of gear escalation and before I knew it we were in our big rings rolling along. Oh well, live and learn.

Back to the hotel, another swim with Claire and Cookie and then a shower before the awards dinner.

The awards dinner was great, trophies, prizes, a cheque for me and a live band with dancing guys/girls. I made the comment that the girls looked quite cute and the boys looked a lot like heavy hitters. Cookie made an astute observation that while the ladies were certainly attractive this could be a situation where one would want to "meet their mothers" before doing anything rash.

In summary, first rate race organisation, very safe and high quality throughout. As a bonus, we all received a singlet, cap and polo finisher's jersey. Lots of thanks to Bill, the Japanese Tri Association and all the volunteers from Saipan Next big race - 1/2 Vineman on July 9th.

- gordo

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