King of the Hill - Tai Po

Trail Running, 14.75k 'Half' Mountain Marathon where 1250 meters cumulative elevation gain race course, how would you expect to finish running this?

Three of the Sonic joint this mountain marathon event for half-marathon distance in the unusual warm December. You know how tough is the course if the first batch of finishers took about 2hrs to complete the course, it is quite a good workout for our triathletes during off season!

Sacha Cheong 2hrs50
Andy Patrick 3hrs08
Gigi Wong 3hrs34

Well done!

What happen if the reservoir leak and you still have to spend 3 hrs in the mountain?

2013 January age-grouper training

If the end of the world is not happening, our training will carry on! We will move to Sun Yat Sen pool due to the annual maintenance of Wan Chai Pool in January 2nd - 30th, 2013.

Monday and Wednesday
8pm-9pm, Run training at Sun Yat Sen Park
9pm-10pm, Swim traning at Sun Yat Sen Pool, 2 lanes

Farewell to Shaun and Louise Mullen

We farewell to this couple Shaun and Louise, they have been training with Sonic in recent two years, Shaun has also been featured in some race leaflet cover with our bling Sonic Trisuit.

Sadly, they are moving back to London for better career opportunities and we will certainly miss them, and will soon catch up with them in any race in London or Asia.

Shaun at MetaSpots Vietnam Triathlon cover

All the best to our superman!

Welcome new coach! Baby Yip!

Welcome new member! BIG Congratulation to our coach Kenneth and his wife Yoji's first baby arrived on 5th December! This small baby is loud and clear if he cry! Prove he has a good lung!!
Very soon he will become a good iron-kids, triathlete and then our coach Yip Sir!!! Congratulation!!!

July - November 2012

All the races are over and now we can enjoy Christmas and a happy new year!

We’ve done number of small and big races over the last few months – finally it is the off-season and time to celebrate our achievements (or take this time to think about what could be improved for year 2013!).

Goal-setting
Many of our age-groupers will spend time with friends and family but if you’re really itching and aiming for improvement, you could set up some goals for next year to work on.

• Look at the race calendar in 2013 and ask yourself following the questions:
• What races would you like to do? List them in priority order (A to C) – from a major "A race" right down to a training "C race". 
• List three to five training objectives you’d like to achieve – such as finishing an open-water swim of 1.5k in 30 minutes or a 21k run at 5-minute pace.
• Keep your goals realistic and achievable, share your goals with coach Kenneth and share them with us - we’d like to hear from you and help plan to achieve your aims.
• Review your goals mid-season to see if you’re on track.

Who knows, this method of goal-setting could apply to other parts of your life, too.

What we have done in last few months?
Round two of the Sonic Time Trial (Shek O Aquathon) was held on 22 July in choppy conditions. A good number of brave souls turned up to conquer the four-loop swim in the washing-machine-like water of Shek O before completing a 4k run. Coach Alan led all the way and was the first man cross the finish line, with Andrew Patrick and junior Eugene Wong coming in after him.

Sonic Time Trial 2 on the start line

Sonic Time Trial 2: The team start the work!

In early August some of the Sonic team flew to Cebu Island for the Ironman 70.3 Philippines, see the race recap.

Sonic Time Trial round 3 conflicted with the newly organised Sports Soho Airwave Triathlon on 23 September. As a number of Sonic members had enrolled this race and there was no other available date to hold the time trial during the busy season, it was cancelled.

The Airwave Triathlon inspired excitement for local triathletes as their first taste of a long-distance triathlon in Hong Kong. It featured a 1.8k swim, 60k bike and 15k run in Plover Cove. It attracted good number of Ironman triathletes who, like the other competitors, had to draw on mental toughness to complete the course in difficult conditions. Poor course layout, insufficient water on the run course plus the heat and humidity turned the race into a game of survival. Those who finished, predict they swam 2.2k, biked 60k and ran 19k.

The now well-known open-water swim event Clean Half 15k swim was the week after the Airwave Triathlon. Another endurance event and our party girl Janice Lee teamed up with friends to paddle and swim from Stanley to Repulse Bay! See her story:

Hong Kong ITU Triathlon on 14 October was the annual gathering of the triathlon community and it is fantastic to see a growing number of participants and teams in Hong Kong! See this race recap.

Aquawiz
Aquawiz is a new local organizer of open-water swims and aquathon races with a pontoon setup in the sea – the 2k swim course involves climbing onto the pontoon and diving back in again. See this video if you're on Facebook (Charles Hui suggests they also invite a live band and photographer on the pontoon!)
The Aquawiz races are friendly and low-key and last until December, see http://www.aquawiz2000.com/

Taiwan 70.3 finishers

Ironman 70.3 Taiwan
The third Ironman 70.3 Taiwan was successfully held in Kenting on 4th November. This year the course was adjusted to avoid a hill climb in the heat, so one segment of the hill climb was removed and T1 and T2 was moved to a shadier location. Although these changes were welcome, one problem was that the organisers forgot to equip the aid stations with sports drinks and Coca-Cola.

Gigi: where is my coke...?

Some say the Ironman Taiwan is the Kona equivalent for Sonic members and Hong Kong triathletes. Congratulation for all finishers especially those who have improved from last year and achieved a good result
5:04:47 Christopher Tong
5:26:48 Delgado‐Moreira Juan
5:41:53 Lee Ying Ho
5:51:37 Chan Wai Kee Eric
5:53:34 Relay No More 3 (9th)
5:55:12 Niiro Mari
5:55:12 Wong Kent
5:55:58 Lee Kin Lun Brian
6:04:50 Lau Gabriel
6:11:48 George Lee

Gigi 9th in AG

6:13:08 Wang Julius
6:13:12 Wong Gigi Gi Wai (9th)
6:16:22 Koo Dreyfus
6:17:15 Mak Teresa

Where is Coach Alan Tam?
Do you miss the hardcore coach Alan’s sports beeper during 20 sets of fartlek runs or 20 sets of 50m swim sprints? Or perhaps you are feeling relief?
Where is he now?!
Coach Alan injured his knee during training and is scheduled for knee surgery in late November. He will take a few months off for rehabilitation so let’s wish him a quick recovery and that he can come back even stronger.

Sunday Shek O Training suspended
Since we are stepping into the off-season, Shek O BRICK training will be suspended until April 2013. We look forward to re-forming our coaching resources for the season of 2013.

Sonic End of Season Time Trial 40k Cycling
We follow our tradition to end the season by 40k individual time trial at Tung Chung, the game set on 24 November, weather was wet and cold, not so motivating, our machine Sacha Cheong won the title, Simon Jones, Charles Hui and Eugene Wong after.

Sonic 9th End of Season Party
As everyone knows our coach Kenneth is expecting his first baby (not his belly) in early December, so our End of Season Party will be scheduled in 6th January 2013! Stay tuned!

New payment scheme for the Sonic Training in 2013
We have reviewed the current payment scheme and heard some feedback from the members. By the help of Anson we are able to maintain an accurate attendance and payment record and we are also able to develop the system.
To encourage our members to keep training with Sonic and to cater for busy travelling and shift schedules, we will enhance our payment scheme to make it more flexible while not raising the training fee for our long-term supportive members (same fees since 2008).

See below:
ALL sessions 6 calendar month: $3500 1st January to 30th June or 1st July to 31st December
ALL sessions: $1300 per two calendar month
ALL sessions: $750 per calendar month
**Swim Only: $500 per calendar month
**Run Only: $500 per calendar month
*10 Days: $1000 valid for two months from the time of your first session
*1 Days: $200
*One Day cover 2 to 3 hours continues session on the same day.
**Swim Only session apply for 1 hour or 2 hours swim training subject to club arrangement
**Run Only session apply for 1 hour or 2 hours run training subject to club arrangement
All Sonic sessions cover coaching, entry fee and dedicated swim lane.
All payment are non-refundable.

How’s Yvan?
The bone marrow campaign is huge success and a match bone marrow donor was identified and located in Germany. After a lot of detailed compatibility tests, Yvan received the bone marrow transplant in October, he has gone though six weeks of isolation and now he can go home although he is taking almost 100 pills for anti-rejection therapy. His body is coping well and his mind is strong - he hopes to resume his Sonic membership in 2014. I believe his triathlete spirit makes him a role model for other cancer-fighters.
On 17 October, quote from http://bonemarrowhk.blogspot.hk/
"Dear All,
After yet another little planning twist, the bone marrow has arrived in HK a bit earlier than expected and the transplant is now scheduled for this evening. I am not sure whether this is going to be the end, the beginning of the end of another stage in a longer recovery but I do know however that this is where I want to be. I am happy to proceed and confident in the outcome.

Yvan: Looking Forward!

During this process, I will have a deep thought for all of you who have supported me during these long months. I feel privileged and immensely grateful.
I look forward to see you all very soon.
Love,
Y"



Thank you for reading, enjoy the off-season and have good health.

2012 Sanshui ITU Triathlon

We are back from SanShui ITU Triathlon, bring back the trophies, price money, PB and great result, Congratulating Michal crowned AG champion, Janice AG 3rd, Gigi AG 5th, big thanks to TriHK close coordination and great hospitality of SanShui volunteers!

It was a beautiful weather on race morning, sunny, 15C air temperature and 21C in the water, around 60% humidity, and blue sky, perfect racing condition! Very big difference from the previous rainy and cold race day for elite. Pre-race announcement confirm it’s NOT allow for wetsuit that help for those on/off decision to put on the wetsuit.

· Stay optimistic for all weather conditions, we prepared for the cold day but who know it turned sunny?

GuangDong style is going global!

Course Map

The race setup is exactly aligning with high ITU standard, blue carpet, big LED screen live coverage, 5 buoys swim course with floating pontoon to dive-in, very wide bike course you only need to slow down on 1 turning point, well defined marking you just feel like racing in any of the World Champion series. This race is the event of the whole SanShui City, they mobilized large number of volunteers from the schools and university to station in race registration, greeting and sending off triathletes, cheerleading at every 10m on bike/run course, handing out full bottle of waters, you got the same level of experience compare to fully commercialized Ironman races, given that only RMB80 for registration, you eventually forgave some of the chaos during registration.

Last minutes withdrawal
From the start list we are one of the big continental team of 17 athletes however we only have 9 standing on the start line because of difference reasons I received. We are lucky for no penalty charge for hotel and race entry just for this time.
We will go again next year, and we will need strong commitment from everyone to protect our reputation as age-grouper team of Sonic from Hong Kong China.

Photos from local forum:
http://www.fsbike.net/viewthread.php?tid=22396&extra=page%3D1
http://www.fsbike.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=73&page=1

Here what they said:
By Julius
Couple of vignettes to share about racing in China. It’s a new sport there. As with all other aspects, racing in China will take on China characteristics. Sometimes in very humorous ways.

1) No wet suits since only foreigners and Hong Kongers have them. No one in China has one (though most are probably “made in China”
2) While Philip and I were getting ready in transition area, guy next to me had a swim top on. On it he had pinned his race number on front and back of the shirt. Obviously not aware that you don’t need a number for the swim and that the pins could potentially jab someone’s finger during the wave starts. So Philip kindly gave him a race belt and showed him how to use it.
3) Another guy saw me putting on sunscreen so he comes excitedly over to ask for some. After I squeezed some into the palm of his hand, he proudly announced that this is the first time he has used this stuff. You have to realize this guy is in his 50’s and his sun-baked face with creases showed it.
4) On my bike, there was a guy who passed me on every incline for 2 loops. During the straight-aways and down slopes, I passed him with ease in my TT position. When you first see this guy, he is on an ordinary bike. Ok it does not have a basket, but it has clips and he is wearing sneakers. But on the uphills, he is standing and really putting his back into it. I could hear him huffing and puffing behind me until he passed me.
5) During the start, we were lined up according to our race number. Yes, we stood in order of our number. You can’t even imagine doing this in HK, or for that matter, anywhere else in the world! Guy next me was asking all kinds of questions while we were watching the swim starts. Turns out the only other race he has done—ever—was the Shanshui race last year.

Anyway, we are in the early stages of Tri’s in China. Since it is an Olympic sport, it will undoubtedly grow large over time. With 1.3 billion people, expect some tough competitors to emerge in the future.

By Janice
Supplementing Julius' point 5 below, there were 11 people in Gigi and my age group, and the guy ordered and reordered us 4 times to line up in accordance with our race numbers (no. 631 to, er, 641) even though we had not moved since the first time we were told to stand in place and looked equally perplexed each time when Gi and I told him that no. 641 (a la Louise Wheeler) is not coming. I think he might have thought that he would have to write a report to each superior level on why he did not have a complete set of athletes.

Another anecdote is that when I emerged from the the water, taking off my swim cap to enter into T1, there were lots of "It's a girl!" exclamations from the crowd as if I had just emerged from my mother's womb.

I don't think I have seen so many "voluteers" along the course in a race, each cheered as enthusiastically as they were my own friends. I had put "volunteers" in quotation marks as Gi would probably respond otherwise with her (somewhat ironically true) theory that everything over the weekend (including the blue sky on race day) had been paid, one way or another, by the government.

This girl is one of the helpful volunteers for our group registration.

Janice feels like celebrity

2012 Sonic End of Season Time Trial - 40k Cycling

Sonic End Of Season Time Trial 24 Nov, SATURDAYIt's for someone climbing the top 3 title of Sonic Time Trial series!

It's for someone testing their brand new time trial bike, aero wheels, helmet, ceramic bearings...

It's for someone testing their bike time without tolerances the ocean swim and saving for run...
It's for someone last bike training for Phuket Tri!

This is the real butt-chasing Individual Time Trial for all members of Sonic!

 

DON'T FORGET THIS END OF SEASON TIME TRIAL!!!
This is the final stage of Sonic Time Trial series of 2012!!

 

*Helmet Manatory

*1 Foot down start from the Cheung Tung Rd <> Sunny Bay Rd T-junction

*Start List based on the HK ITU bike time, slowest go first, fastest go last at 1min interval.

*Uphill finish

*Roads are open to traffic

*Extra caution when doing a U-Turn at Cheung Tung Road. Do a long shoulder check for traffic coming from behind.

*no need to sign up, just show up, register Sonic members will be ranked.

This time trial is the last training race for Sonic point.

 
Individual Time Trial
Date: 24 November, Saturday
Arrival Time: 07:30 for warm up
Start Time: 0800

Starting Point: Cheung Tung Road, Sunny Bay Road T-junction

Suggested Car Parking:

You can park at Sunny Bay as long as you have warm up and get to the starting point before 0800.

Most of us will be arriving at 7:30am at Sunny Bay car park.

Format: Individual Time Trial (NO DRAFTING)
Course Map:
Start from Cheung Tung Rd (Sunny Bay junction) > Cheung Tung Rd (Tung Chung end)
http://sites.sonicsports.org.hk/Home/maps

Adult: 40k (2 x loops on Cheung Tung Road A > B > A > B > A)
Junior: 20k (1 x loop on Cheung Tung Road A > B > A)

 

2012 Hong Kong ITU Triathlon

Sonic enjoyed a gold, silver and bronze medal in the 2012 Hong Kong ITU Triathlon Asian Cup held at Disneyland on 14 October.

Because of an accident, all wave start times were postponed for an hour. Thanks go to St. John’s Ambulance, without its emergency support, the race wouldn’t be able to go ahead.

Jeanette Wang won a fantastic gold in the Olympic distance 30-34 age group in a time of 2.33.43 with teammate Stephanie Bina to get a stunning silver, coming home in 2.43.42. Jeanette was Sonic’s fastest women in the competition.

Jeanette 1st, Stephanie 2nd

Andy Patrick made it a full set for the club when he won bronze in the 50-54 age group Olympic distance in 2.30.33, well ahead of the pack as he sprinted from the water.

Michael Lam in action

Michael Lam took part in Junior Open, leading all the way both in the swim and bike legs, although unfortunately missed his landing in T2. However, his quick run meant he sustained the first runner-up title.

A smaller-than-usual Sonic contingent competed but mention should go to the following: Koo Dreyfus came in 6th in the 20-24 age group in a time of 2.42.14.
Christopher Tong (40-44 age) came home in a good time of 2.28.31, Eric Chan – 2.37.47, 13thin 45-49 age group with YingHo Lee, just behind in 2.40.02. Teammates Sacha Cheong and Derek Kut Yip Ming spurred each other on to be separated by less than .30 in the 40-44 age group – and Sacha missed his wave start by five minutes. The category saw the most competitors for the club with Gary Tam, T Wong , George Lee, YingHo, Terry Ma and Hing Chong all racing.

Other Sonic representation came from Julius Wang (50-54), Samuel Ajmal (45-49), Simon Jones, Shaun Mullen, Hang Chan and Man Wong (35-39), Samuel Chan (30-34).

Kim Lai on her first OD race

For the women, Teresa Mak came home in 2.57.34 sneaking under the three hour barrier to come 11th in the 35-39 age. Also in the category was Adelyn Cheong who finished the race despite not training for three months. Louise Wheeler and Elsie Leung also took part, and Kim Lai finished in eighth position in 3.26.02 in for the 25-29 age group as a first attempt in Olympic distance triathlon.

In the Sprint category, the best performance of the day was by Tsang Hon Min who came a incredible 8th in 1.29.30 in the 50-54 age group. Our photographer Ryan Tan (On) came home in 7thin the 45-49 age group in a time of 1.26.01, with teammate John Fung in 11th six minutes behind. Other male competitors were Oscar Yung who came 10th in the 20-24 age group, Leo Fai (30-34) and Chung Lau (35-39). The only female sprinter was Sally Rubery who raced in the 35-39 age group.

Special mention should go to coach Kenneth whose leading junior Hong Kong squad performed exceptionally well at the competition.
Let’s hope the organizers do a better job of positioning our club tents next year – unfortunately many of Sonic found it difficult to find our tents.

2012 Ironman 70.3 Philippines

August 5: Ironman 70.3 Philippines, Cebu

Beautiful Cebu island was the location for this year’s race as the organizers were keen to make it the Asian version of Kona’s 70.3. A great chance to catch up with Sonic members in the region, it was a good turn-out for the club.

Competitors were nervous leading up to the race with choppy seas and windy conditions but as the big day broke, the weather calmed. The one-loop 1.9k swim leg was like swimming through an aquarium as fish and coral lined the course and boats with drums and live bands helped keep rhythm. The bike course around Cebu island was hot and windy, with a sort of cross-country element as riders sped over bridges and tunnels. The run is where the real battle began as competitors began to suffer from the heat.

Philip Penaloza

Gabriel just on 6 hrs

But Sonic’s Gabriel managed to finish the race in his targeted six hours. Gigi recovered from an attack of shingles only to sadly drop out after the 1.9k swim and 90k bike. Ren Ho finished strong in 5:49:32. Other finishers included Sonic Singapore SuMei Teh and her boyfriend David Sandgren after three months of hard training. Kent Wong, our Tri-HK President Philip Penaloza and Joni Lai also finished.

Su Mei and David

Su Mei and Gigi

Gabriel race report: http://freeyasoul.blogspot.hk/2012/08/ironman-703-philippines-2012.html was also highlighted by official website

Jenson Button

The race featured local celebrities and British top Formula One racer Jenson Button and his super model girlfriend Jessica Michibata who turned themselves into triatheletes for the day.

Jessica Michibata

More photos on Sonic Facebook!

2013 Ironman 70.3 Philippines registration opens on 1st December, 9am.

2012 Sonic Time Trial 2 - Shek O Aquathon

Summer is here! In the 2nd round of Time Trial we will spend more time on the water which those land animals may not going to be happy!

This is the training races for Sonic members only, all participants will gain points for this series, Time Trial Series Awards will given to overall top 3 men and top 3 ladies at the Sonic End of Season party!

Time: 07:30am for body-marking, 8:00am start
Aquathon Format: 1000m swim + 4k run

Swim: 1000m approx.
Start from Lifeguard Tower 3.
FOUR laps swim clockwise round the left most buoy,
swim back to the beach for 100m sand run and head for 2nd, 3rd and 4th lap.

4 laps swim

Run: 4k
Shek O carpark to Big Wave Bay car park and return
note: run around the entire BWB carpark
Finish at Shek O carpark 

Run turning point at Big Wave Bay

 

May - June 2012

Summer is here!

How's Yvan?

'Committee YC' was form in May for collecting idea and organizing campaign for searching right right marrow for Yvan and at the same time promoting awareness of bone marrow donation. With the power of social networking, the messages was quickly spread in sports and expat community in Hong Kong and even Asia. In June, we joint committee YC campaign at some sports events in the weekend, reaching out to different people, distributing flyer and answering questions. By the time most of the expat go for summer holiday, the campaign successfully bump up 1500 bone marrow donate registry! It's a very encouraging progress and for some of us who knows Yvan, play the part in the event, really feel the triathlon community is indeed tightly connected and helpful. Our heartfelt thank you go to staff at Hong Kong Triathlon Association, Revolution Asia, Aquawiz, and Triton Triathlon Club.

So now, Yvan is stable and fine, he was allowed to go home for a weekend at the first week of July, his wife Kate hold a big surprise party to Yvan to see all the friends on the typhoon 8 evening, we didn't talk about how horrible of this disease but we shared lot of jokes, lot of laughs, wine and cheeses with Yvan, his family and his close friends. It was a very happy evening for Yvan that he couldn't sleep! That Sunday, he even visited us in Shek O under the very beautiful weather.

Yvan is now staying at Sanatorium Hospital, battling leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant from a compatible Caucasian donor. He is also watching us during our run training on every Monday.

Visit BLOG by Committee YC for the update of bone marrow search.

Cumulative number of registered donors since Friday June 1, 2012

At one of the party room at Yvan surprise party with some Sonic volunteers, he thought his wife is bringing him out for a drink.

ITU Sydney,15 April

Has Sonic member Lyn found the world’s most scenic triathlon race? She swam in SydneyHarbour next to the city’s Opera House before running through The Domain parkwith views of the Harbour Bridge and a scenic if challenging bike course. “Therewere a few interesting things for me this race, including my first bike crashand first wetsuit swim in a race,” wrote Lyn in her blog about the event. Shewas thrilled to have finished to race under three hours. Now she grows the gills and wings.

Tribal Splash ‘n’ Dash Aquathon Series

The stunning southside setting was onceagain popular for the three-race swim and run series with a respectable turnoutfrom Sonic triathletes. The first event on 13 May saw rain stopped play when amighty downpour during the run meant the second swim was cancelled. MichaelBucek came second in the overall male category. Other members taking part includedJanice Lee and her father, Edward, new member Aoife McGillion, Gigi Wong, Shuan Mullen and Lizzie Galvin.

Gigi, Lizzie, Janice and Aoife

Janice and Shaun in SnD!

Ironman 70.3 Busselton

Our Adelyn and Evangeline flied down to western Australia for the Ironman 70.3 race in Busselton in May, see her report below! 
"Got round to writing my Busselton race report in the MTR this morning.. So
surreal that I'm back in the office and the race already seems so long ago! Here
it is if you're interested :)
http://awhitebubble.tumblr.com/post/22837653975/5-59-31-i-was-laughing-and-cryin\
g-at-the-same

Special thanks to coach Kenneth and Alan as always,and not forgetting all the mental and emotional support from the awesome Sonics! This race is highly recommended for strong swimmers (clearly I missed the memo somewhere).. Superbly well organized and very picturesque! :) I had the toughest swim of my short tri career but am super glad I'm alive and not eaten by sharks!"
 

Busy Race week in June!

Sahaviriya Bangkok Triathlon, 3^rd June

Charles Hui, Gigi Wong, Joni Lai and Frederic Beaujean travelled toBangkok for a scenic triathlon, which involved a 1.8km swim in the Chao PhrayaRiver, a 55k bike and 10k run. Despite not being able to see their hands duringthe swim, the trio says it was a fun and unique experience. Gigi wasparticularly pleased with the prize money she won as champion at the Asian Categories. Read their race report from Charles Hui and Gigi Wong!

Frederic finishing BKK Tri!

Charles in transition

Gigi trophy and price money

Open Water Swim, Repulse Bay 2^nd June

The friendly and enthusiastic OpenWater Swimmers of Hong Kong 
held its largest-ever 2km team challenge on 2^ndJune. Several Sonic members took part including new member Craig Norjte as well as Andy Patrick and Lizzie Galvin. Teams of three were required to stay togetherover the 2km course and much fun we had by all during this sociable and informal race.

Hong Kong LifeTriathlon, 3 June
It was a double victory for the Sonic team at the Science Park in Shatin when Andy Patrick won his age group with a speedy swim time of 14.07 for the 750m course. And Pui Kong won Best Female Junior with Michael Lam second in the Male Youth Open category. Other Sonic competitors included Hang Wong (11^th inthe Male Open), Marco Lai and Martin Ely in the 30-34 age group, a large numberof men competed in the next age up including Kent Wong, Gabriel Lau, Eric Lai, Hok Hang Chan, Christopher Tong and Sacha Cheong. Walter Yiu, Eric Chan, Yingho Lee and Julius Wang also raced in 45-49 age group.
The race also the first time include a Best Costume Relay category for a fun distance triathlon, two teams from Sonic featuring Bruce Lee and Tsing Tao Beer Man competed the race however champion went to the other team Tri-Recycling where the theme featured more social responsible than our beer drinking and ku-fung frighting....all in all it was a lot of fun and hopefully that element could influence to the local Triathlon community.

Tsing Tao Beer Men

Bruce Lee

8th Shek O Challenge, 14 July
Some of us swim the Shek O Challenge from Big Wave Bay to Shek O Back Beach, that 2.2k swim course remains challenging. As the organizer posted, "The day brought some interesting new features, including a huge school of minnows that many of us had following us through the shark net, even hitching rides in ears and mouths. At least our water is alive and well! The tide was incoming on this race, and with a bit of headwind, the course continued to be a challenge, as the name suggests. "

Our new Sonic speedboat Craig Nortje won 2nd overall swimmer in 32:46mins, just 10 seconds behind the overall champion Kevin Chow.



The organizer loves our ocean and the environment, it's also the first sports event do not provide plastic bottle water but reusable bamboo cup, meaning swimmers will get cold, fresh water without leaving waste plastic behind. Check this out: http://dailynews.openwaterswimming.com/2012/07/bamboo-is-used-at-8th-anniversary-sheko.html 


Their next event: Clean Half 15k swim (relay / solo)

Swimmers at Big Wave Bay ready for the challenge

Sonic Time Trial 2

The first round of Sonic Time Trial set in the nice weather, the time trial was in sprint triathlon format to do 2 laps swim on the beach, 3 times hill repeat on the Shek O Road and then 1 lap run to Big Wave Bay and back. YingHo Lee took over Sacha Cheong in the last run sprint, first man cross the finish line, YingHo second, Eric Chan third. Ladies side, Janice Lee first, Gigi Wong second.

Upcoming Sonic Time Trial is Shek O Aquathon on 22 July! Hope to see many of you come to do the time trial!!

July 22: Shek O Aquathon

September 23: Shek O Triathlon

October 28: Tung Chung 40k Bike

Ready to start the Sonic Time Trial 1

Regional Squad joining Sonic Time Trial

Exiting the swim at Sonic Time Trial - Kent, JC and Gigi

Sonic Training Monday and Wednesday

Still, The Wan Chai running track is closured for annualmaintenance until the end of September. Our regular training schedule on Monday: 8pm-10pm run training at HappyValley, Wednesday: 8pm-10pm Swim training at Wan Chai Training Pool with two hours' swim.

Summer morning swim in July and August

We already kick start the morning swim training at Wan ChaiTraining Pool every Tuesday and Thursday from 7am-8am. Training fee for themorning swim is $400 per month, sent to Heng Sang Bank 289-537789-001. Email sonicsports@gmail.com if you're in!

Sign up now for upcoming Tri-HK Races

Hong Kong ITU Triathlon is now back to Disneyland of HK! We should thanks the effort bring to us by Tri-HK committees!

It will be on 13-14 October, event website is up and running where you could link from http://www.triathlon.com.hk The countdown counter means we all need to train and prepare seriously for that!!!

As usual, there are multiple categories from fun distance, sprint distance to standard Olympic distance triathlon, so no matter what you're good at, as we all train and be part of Sonic you should sign up this race.

HK ITU Triathlon is the annual major triathlon event in Hong Kong, as we all doing this sports we should all support this event and hope the organization of this event be like in the festival like those oversea races.

Sign up now! (For those who signed up, you have to reply the email to accept the additional condition! Otherwise your enrollment will be rejected!!!)


Attendance/Training fee Record
Member coming to our regular training in these few months is getting familiar with the girl who help to record the attendance and training fee payment. Anson is our new helper who also helps recording attendance for Tri-HK regional squad swim training. She is now helping the club for more accurate attendance record and rationalize the training fee revenue. Please remember to email the payment receipt to sonicsports@gmail.com we will sync up Anson.

Our training fee is still beating the inflation! No change for the past 3 years!

	Bi-monthly	Monthly	Session
Sonic Members	HKD1300	HKD750	HKD200
Non-Sonic members	HKD1500	HKD850	HKD200

Bi-monthly: Training for every Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday for two months, pay bi-monthly (Jan-Feb, Mar-Apr and so on...)
Monthly:  Training for every Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday for each months, pay in the beginning of each month)
Session: Training for each two hours session.

So now, 3 months to go for the ITU race season, training is getting serious, also Tour De France and Summer Olympic Game on TV!

Upcoming races

July 22: Sonic Trime Trial 2
August 5: Ironman 70.3 Philippines
August 12: Aquawiz Aquathon Series 1
August 26: Tri-HK Aquathon 3 - Golden Beach
September 9: Tri-HK Aquathon 4 - Discovery Bay
September 23: Aquawiz Aquathon Series 2
September 23: Sonic Time Trial 3
October 6: CleanHalf 15k swim

October 14: Tri-HK Hong Kong ITU Triathlon
October 21: Aquawize Aquathon Series 3
October 28: Sonic Time Trial 4
November 3: Ironman 70.3 Taiwan
November 18: Sanshui ITU
November 25: Laguna Phuket Triathlon
December 2: Ironman 70.3 Phuket

Sign up now at Tri-HK Aquawiz Ironman 70.3 Splash n Dash/Ocean Swim series

Enjoy having a good health, and make the most out of it.

cheers
Charles Hui, Elisabeth Galvin