From Bimonthly Club NEWS to Quater Club NEWS! It's still a CLUB NEWSletter to tell you what's happening around everyone in Sonic!

http://teamsonictri.blogspot.com/2012/04/janurary-april-2012.html

Sonic newsletter: October

Faster than a speeding bullet, here is a roundup of what Sonic athletes have been getting up to over the past month.

Sonic athletes were found competing across the world on 11 September, starting with the Las Vegas Ironman 70.3 World Championship

For the first time, the event was held in Las Vegas near Sunset Strip and more than 1800 athletes competed including Sonic’s Andrew Patrick and Michal Bucek.

Congratulations to Michal who finished in 4.39.14, with an impressive 29.40 for the swim, 2.33.57 for the bike and 1.30.50 for the run. He was ranked 137 overall with a division position of 23. 

Incredibly disappointingly after all his hard training, Andrew was forced to drop out of the event after a 35.17 swim because of illness. Here below he describes the experience:

“I started suffering from flu symptoms on the flight over. I tried to shrug them off, as I often feel like that on long-haul flights, probably due to the low humidity and lack of quality sleep. Unfortunately, upon arrival in Las Vegas, despite feeling exhausted I could not fall asleep. Jetlag would haunt me for the next few days, which was not a recipe for recovery. Over the next couple of days, I dosed up on various medications and forced myself to start the race. I would never have done so in that condition in Hong Kong but I had travelled a long way and spent a lot of money on the trip, so had to give it a go. I took the swim easily and did not feel too bad until I exited the water, when my non-stop hacking cough got going. I forced myself through T1 and on to the bike, but the cough did not abate. Moreover, I was going so slowly up the long hill out of transition that everyone was passing me, including one of the physically challenged athletes with just one leg. I kid you not! After 10 minutes I reached the turn to head off into the desert. I had a choice to make and it was not a difficult one. I plugged the plug, headed back to my hotel, crawled into bed - and still could not sleep. It has since taken me four weeks to recover. On top of the viral respiratory infection, I got a stomach bug and followed that up with bacterial bronchitis. Clearly, I had run my immunity pretty low. So I have had to learn some lessons again.

1. Don't push yourself too hard, training or partying, before a big race.

2. Try, try, try to get plenty of sleep.

3. Take precautions to avoid getting sick or injured.

 

“Fortunately, I back to training again and am looking forward to racing in Taiwan 70.3. Stay healthy!”

 

Andy took part in the Clean Half 15km swim on 8^th October and finished in four hours, 35 minutes. Congratulations.      

Beijing ITU World Championship Final

Inspired by watching the world’s top 50 elite men and women, seven Sonic athletes competed under Kent Wong’s leadership including Edwin Wong, Gabriel Lau, Ren Ho, Philip Penaloza, Sacha Cheong and Ian Brownlee.

Vietnam Triathlon
 

Congratulations to newly engaged couple Shaun Mullen and Louise Wheeler who competed in Hoi An and both won their age groups. Special mention must go to Louise who was racing in only her second triathlon. Shaun gives his account of the race: “Louise and I had a fantastic time in our second olympic distance triathlon together. The conditions were great apart form the sea, which was a little on the rough side. The bike and run were both fairly flat, so it was a great course. We both won our respective age categories with Louise smashing through the finishing line with a time of 3:04:09 and my time of 2:28:15 was enough to get me second place overall (that will give you an insight as to how relaxed the competition was!). All in all a fantastic day, well-organised given the locale and circumstances and definitely worth a Sonic trip next year.”

Back in Hong Kong… 18 September: Sonic Time Trial 3

A strong monsoon wind in Shek O meant the swim leg of the trial was cancelled and times were recorded instead for a 4k run followed by a 27k bike finishing with a 4k run. Ten good souls completed it and Dr Jones was the man of the day, kicking off the run with a big lead and coming in home first overall with 13 points and a time of 1.31.19. Brian Lee caught up to complete the course 50 seconds later and Janice Lee was the first girl back in 1.39.31. Thanks again coach Kenneth for keeping note of the times.

Watch out for the waves! Here’s why the swim leg of the time trial didn’t go ahead.

8 October: The big one: Ironman World Championship Kona

Michal Bucek competed for the second time, coming in placed 109^th overall in a time of 10.23.26. He completed the swim in 1.03.40, the bike in 5.20.16 and the final marathon run leg in 3.52.13. Singapore’s Joey-lynn Musselman qualified for the first time this year and came 44^th in the women’s 45-49 age group. Her swim time was 1.14.06, the bike was 6.41.42 and her marathon 4.48.09. Many, many congratulations to these two inspiring athletes for racing in the world’s most prestigious Ironman event.

9 October: Hong Kong’s biggest triathlon: TriHK HK Triathlon Championship.

Thirty-seven Sonic members competed in the national triathlon, which this year moved from Sunny Bay and Disneyland to Plover Cove in Sai Kung.

Sonic women were frequently found on the podium with the best result amongst the girls from Janice Lee who won came home ahead in each of the three disciplines in the olympic distance 25-29 years category to finish clear leader overall in 2.43.20. Her team-mate Evangeline Quek took bronze place on the podium: both girls are pictured below.

Congratulations to Kim Lai who finished in second place in the sprint distance for women aged 25-29 in a time of 1.43.00. Stephanie Yeung who took bronze in the olympic distance 30-34 age group, coming home in 2.42.24. In the fun distance veteran category, Winnie Chi came second.

Highlights for Sonic’s male team included young Michael Lam who cruised home to win the male youth open category in a time of 32.22. On the other end of the scale, Ivan Lo won bronze in the olympic distance Male Elite Open category, finishing in 2.01.33. In the sprint distance, Simon Jones took bronze in the 30-34 age group in 1.23.55.

Ivan Yeung came seventh in the 70-strong male 30-34 year olympic distance category, in a time of 2.25.23. Christopher Tong was also seventh in the 40-44 years olympic distance race, coming home in 2.28.36. Several team-mates were chasing each other behind him: less than a minute separated team-mates Yam Ho Yeung and Billy Chow who came in at 2.35.05 and 2.35.52 respectively. Close behind were cat-and-mouse pair Yvan Corno and Sacha Cheong who finished in 2.36.18 and 2.36.27 respectively.

23 October: China ShanShui ITU Asian Cup

Julius kicked off this interesting triathlon trip by opening a few bottles of wine – which had to be drunk before clearing Hong Kong customs authorities…

Ten Sonic members entered this race and brought home good results – as well as good prize money.

Michal Bucek came second, Andy Patrick was third and Kent Wong came tenth - with the Sonic relay team taking first place on the podium. Andy took the first leg and led the pace to finish in the top three, in the second leg Gigi Wong held on to maintain the position and close the gap on the leaders with Kent and Michal making up the third and final leg to cross the line ahead as champions. “The new team relay is really good to boost the team sprit, helped of course by the 3000 RMB in their pockets after the race,” says Charles Hui. “The team won so much local respect, it was like they were stars,” says Charles – who unfortunately had to leave the event early because his China visa expired.

Credit must go to the organisers for the excellent venue, accommodation and logistics support. But bad luck to Gabriel Lau and Edwin Wong who didn’t board the bus to China due to injury and illness.

Goodbye coach Rockson

Coach Rockson will take a break from training the Sonic team to focus on his career and his own training. The club has been impressed by his knowledge on stretching and circuit training and Rockson also helped the team a great deal during the training camps of this year and in 2010.  The team is sad to see him leave as coach: we will miss him and we wish him the very best for his career development and sports training. We look forward to seeing him at future races.

Training will be maintained by coach Kenneth and coach Alan Tam.

Updated training arrangements:
Regular session on Monday and Wednesday
Monday and Wednesday: program handled by coach Kenneth.
8pm-9pm: Run training at Wan Chai Sport Ground (main set to cover 5k-8k)
9pm-10pm: Swim training at Wan Chai Training Pool (main set to cover 2k-2.5k)

70.3 session on Monday and Wednesday (until after Taiwan 70.3)
Monday: no coach will attend this session but Janice will coordinate.
8pm-10pm: Run training at Happy Valley running track (main set to cover 14k-16k)
Wednesday: program handled by coach Alan Tam/Kenneth
8pm-10pm: Swim training at Wan Chai Training Pool (main set to cover 5k)

Morning swim on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7am
The new sessions will continue until 27 October and resume from January 2012 (unfortunately it wasn’t possible for the club to secure a lane during November and December). Coach Alan Tam will lead the morning sessions for the next two weeks.

Upcoming races
The team is training hard for a busy season.

5 November: Ironman 70.3 Taiwan. 2 weeks to go! A key race for Sonic this year, the club is sending a large team: check out the start list at http://www.ironmantaiwan.com/
6 November: The pleasant TriHK Aquathon 5 in South Bay – a relaxing race in cooler conditions than the earlier aquathons of the season.
20 November: Put a date in your diary for the Sonic Time Trial 4 including a 40k bike. Please come along to the time trial – it’s important for training and for coaches to see how you’re progressing.
27 November: Laguna Phuket Triathlon. One of Sonic’s favourite races – the paradise location (almost) makes up for the humid conditions…
4 December: Back to Thailand for the Ironman Phuket 70.3 AsiaPacific Championship: representing Sonic are Shaun Mullen, Andrew Patrick, Sacha Cheong, Joey-lynn Musselman and Jeanette Wang

 

Hi everyone,

It has been a while!
Summer is here! I'm sure everyone get tone up, slim up, since we are all in the 2 hours run and 2 hours swim on Monday and Wednesday! This training arrangement will remain across the summer, until the Wan Chai Sports Ground re-open in September. So, how to survive the 2hrs non-stop training?
- fuel your body before training e.g. after work snack
- re-fuel with sports drink or supplement during the training
- recovery snack/meals after training e.g. banana
- more water/ nutrition / stretching during your easy day

I am not a nutrition professional but here are the good read, also consult our coaches.
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/nutrit.htm
http://www.highfive.co.uk/

And remind that Sonic member enjoys 30% off in ordering High5 products.
http://sites.sonicsports.org.hk/Home/sonic-file  

Enjoy your summer, stay fit and very fit!

9 July: Shek O Challenge
It's a challenge, also a beach party with beach volleyball, Firsbee, BBQ and DJ-ing!
It's a 2.2k open water swim from Big Wave Bay to Shek O Back Beach!
Check this out: http://www.shekochallenge.com/

Ironman 70.3 Taiwan
The race early bird entry is open until 30 June!
It will be helpful to let me know if you have signed up, Team Sonic will join TriSports package like last year, we have one Sonic bus to travel from airport to Kenting!
So far, I have these name on my list:
Kenneth, Gigi, Janice, Adelyn, Evangeline, Stephanie, Teresa, George, Frederic, JC, TeamSonicMaMa (Rita/Elsie/Charles)....

18 June: 2XU Middle Island Swim Challenge
It's a 3.2k swim event around the Middle Island (outside Deep Water Bay).
Congratulations to Shaun, Greg James, Pearl, T Wong, Billy, Philip Penaloza for their achievement in long distance swimming.

19 June: Sprint Triathlon
The only sprint triathlon before the HK ITU at Shatin Science Park.

It has been postponed for 1 week due to the rain storm on 12 June, the race finally ON under the perfect sunny weather, the race also became a showcase for some of us put on the new Sonic outfit! Even though we recorded a higher number of DNS (no show) in the recent years, still we have some good result and medal bring home!

Sprint Triathlon:
Ivan Yeung, 6th in M30-34
Yeung Yam Ho, 2nd in M40-44
Christopher Tong, 4th in M40-44
Andy Patrick, 2nd in M50-54

Junior:
Kelly Law, Champion in Girls 2000
Kong Yan Pui, 3rd in Girls 1996
Michael Lam, Champion in Youth Open

Super Sprint:
Alan Tam, Champion in M Veteran

Sorry for Sebastien, Greg and those who prepared for this race but missed it due to the re-schedule.

Tri-HK Aquathon 3
Once again, multi-sports events fill up very quickly this year,  next race is Aquathon 3, 10 July, at Repulse Bay, in 500m swim/5k run/500m swim format. Hope to see many of us doing this! Sign up now at http://onlineregistration.triathlon.com.hk/ before 30 June deadline.

Ironman Korea 70.3
Since the Ironman China cancelled, Our coach Kenneth will be doing this race with Andy Patrick while Jeanette Wang will be doing a full Ironman during the weekend of 4th July, it seems to be a tough course, but they all tough as steel! Let's wish them have a great race ahead!

Sonic Time Trial 2 rescheduled
We had a very intense Sonic Time Trial on the last Labour day holiday hope you still remember, As the date on 1st July, Kenneth will fly to Korea for racing, the Sonic Time Trial will be re-scheduled to 24 July, Sunday, in Aquathon format. 1.5k swim + 4k run, bike training afterwards.

Farewell to Su Mei
She will join the Shek O brick session on 4th July before moving back to Singapore.

Sonic members profile
In the coming few weeks, I will setup a corner on our website featuring our members' profile, no matter no faces or familiar faces, watch this space!

Double Triathlon 2XTRI
A new format of racing in HK! Thanks Revolution-Asia for the innovative, it will be a 300m swim/12k bike/3k run for two times at Science Park.
Check this out: http://www.revolution-asia.com/Events/2XTRI_-_Double_Triathlon.htm
.....but why don't we do a few set of bricks at beautiful Shek O beach instead?!

HK ITU Triathlon
Hong Kong ITU Triathlon in 2011 will go back to Plover Cove, in 2nd weekend of October.
6am start time in such a remote place is part of the game!

Volunteer recruitment!!
For new club kits ordering!
I need one help to receive all order form and $$ from the members, consolidate all items and help to place order to Champ-Sys and 2XU.
Just for July order.
Any helping hands, email me.

Upcoming Races
Be selective! Avoid getting tired of racing before end of the season, stay injury free and motivation is the key!

03 Jul: Deep Water Bay Ocean Swim
09 Jul: Shek O Challenge
10 Jul: TriHK Aquathon 3 (Repulse Bay)
24 Jul: Sonic Time Trial 2 (Shek O Aquathon)
21 Aug: TriHK Aquathon 4 (Discovery Bay)
14 Aug: Ironman 70.3 Philippines
14 Aug: Bay 2 Bay Summer Ocean Swim
28 Aug: Double Triathlon (Shatin)
04 Sep: Sonic Time Trial 3 (sprint)
11 Sep: Splash n Dash Aquathon 1
09 Oct: Splash n Dash Aquathon 2
09 Oct: TriHK HK ITU Triathlon
05 Nov: Ironman 70.3 Taiwan
06 Nov: TriHK Aquathon 5 (South Bay)
13 Nov: Splash n Dash Aquathon 3
20 Nov: Sonic Time Trial 4 (40k bike)
27 Nov: Laguna Phuket Triathlon
04 Dec: Ironman Phuket 70.3

--
Sonic Sports Association | Team Sonic Triathletes
www.sonicsports.org.hk | http://www.facebook.com/sonicsports

Hi Everyone,

Weather gradually getting warm, you should start feeling strong if you've been training consistently along these few months , or you should feel like it's a time a go back to Sonic training as it's not too far to the summer. Race season is also beginning!

Aquathon 1
Tri-HK race season kicked off by the Kowloon Tsai Aquathon where the good swimmer can show off their flip turn while everybody cheer up from the pool desk! Great super sunny day and lot of medalist from Sonic!! Frederic won his first medal in his life time given by strong fields of friends support, Italian sausages and good wine...!

Well done to all podium finishers!!!
Stephenie (AG 30-39 2nd runners up) and Ivan (AG 30-34 5th)
Sebastien (AG 30-34 4th and 1st runners up on short course)
Frederic (AG 35-39 6th)
Yeung Yam Ho (AG 40-44 1st runners up)
Eric Chan (AG 45-49 5th)
Lee YingHo (AG 45-49 6th)
Ivan Lo (Male Elite Open Champion)
Michal Bucek (Double Champion on long and short course)
Tam Sze Lun (AG 45-49 1st runners up)
Michael Lam (Male Youth Open Champion)


Tribal Enduranro Aquathon
Run swim run swim and do it all over again....what a new format bring in to local races series by Tribal! We have good number of Sonic tried it and love it! Congratulating medal finishers Ian Brownlee, Andy Patrick and our first time medalist Christina Lee!!!

TriMag Asia launch
The first local published Triathlon Magazine 'TriMag Asia' will be launched in April, the magazine is published by a group of local triathletes and the articles will cover all triathlon surrounding in Asia! We will share with everyone during the training once we got the first release!

Trisports.HK expansion
Trisports.HK is now relocated to Wan Chai and expended to 3000sq feet shop that we are looking forwards for more possibility happen in their space! Check out their Facebook page news feed and the attached flyer.

Sonic Training Camp
Our training camp is on the main menu in April, we are all training up and condition ourselves for this 4D3N triathlon camp in Nan Ao during the Easter holiday!
Let's see what will be in the goodies bag of Mama Rita?

May Bank of China Age Group Triathlon
Sign up now at triathlon.com.hk for the Bank of China age group triathlon! Multi sports events are so overwhelming in HK, even duathlon and aquathon filled up very quickly!
This race is Sonic mid year target race, make sure your Sonic trisuit is ready!
OD: 1.5k/40k/10k
Sprint: 750/20/5

Tri-HK Aquathon 2 and Sprint Triathlon
Two races in June by Tri-HK also start accepting entry on triathlon.com.hk!
20 May: Aquathon 2 at Golden Beach Tuen Mun
12 Jun: Sprint Triathlon at Shatin Science Park

Ironman Chjna
Our coach Kenneth, Andy, Sebastien, Tim, Billy, Jeanette are all training hard for the Ironman China full/70.3! No surprise to see them in Cheung Tung road!

Ironman 70.3 Taiwan
The race early bird entry is open now!
Sonic will be returning to Kenting for this race, we are all gonna have another fruitful summer to train for that Shek O alike swim, sunny and windy bike and run course!

Laguna Phuket Triathlon
Laguna Phuket Triathlon Unconditional Entry Slots Have Sold Out, But Entry Slots With Accommodation Are Available: means you can still sign up the race with the accommodation booked in Laguna resorts! So far I hear some Sonic already signed up e.g. Tim, Susana, Evangeline, Adelyn, SuMei, Michal, Gabriel, Andy, Ren, Gigi and Charles....it's the end of the season and we all gonna train hard for the post race party and international Sonic re-union!

Check out http://www.lagunaphukettriathlon.com/ or TriSports.HK

New Club discount by AquaDiva Hong Kong
New swimsuit brand from Australia 'AquaDiva' (mostly for ladies) landed in HK and members of Sonic are now entitled for group discounted at 20% off. Visit the Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/aquadivahk
Contact: HK Distributor at aquadivahk@gmail.com

Keep in touch Stoffel family...
Up to this line, we heard from Sebastien that he and his family will leave HK and relocate to New York for good.
Sebastien is a Sonic-grown triathlete and he is one of the very keen member of Team Sonic!
We all will miss Sebastien, Pascale, their two lovely daughters Innes & Claire and the little boy Antoine.

We will host a farewell party at 5th June, after training in Shek O for Stoffel family.
 
Upcoming Races
Be selective! Avoid getting tired of racing before end of the season, stay injury free and motivation is the key!
 
22 Apr: Sonic Training Camp
02 May: Sonic Time Trial 1 (sprint)
08 May: TriHK Age Group Triathlon (Plover Cove)
15 May: Tribal Enduro Aquathon 2 (Repulse Bay)
22 May: Bintan Triathlon
22 May: TriHK Aquathon 2 (Discovery Bay)
29 May: Ironman 70.3 China
05 Jun: South Bay Summer Ocean Swim
12 Jun: TriHK Age Group Triathlon (Chong San Road, Shatin)
01 Jul: Sonic Time Trial 2 (Shek O Aquathon)
03 Jul: Deep Water Bay Ocean Swim
10 Jul: TriHK Aquathon 3 (Repulse Bay)
07 Aug: TriHK Aquathon 4 (Plover Cove)
14 Aug: Ironman 70.3 Philippines
14 Aug: Bay 2 Bay Summer Ocean Swim
28 Aug: Double Triathlon (TBC)
04 Sep: Sonic Time Trial 3 (sprint)
11 Sep: Splash n Dash Aquathon 1
09 Oct: Splash n Dash Aquathon 2
05 Nov: Ironman 70.3 Taiwan
06 Nov: TriHK Aquathon 5 (South Bay)
13 Nov: Splash n Dash Aquathon 3
20 Nov: Sonic Time Trial 4 (40k bike)
27 Nov: Laguna Phuket Triathlon
04 Dec: Ironman Phuket 70.3
TBC: TriHK HK ITU Triathlon

Hi everyone,
 
Say goodbye to off season and start to shave off some pounds!
 
Duathlon 2
Looking back in Feburary we had a Duathlon Race 2 at Science Park unforeunately the weather made the race much more a brutal battlefield! Lot of flat tyres and some crashes...
But the rain and the cold didn't stop us! Men's fields: our super fit Michal promoted to 30 and remains on the podium right after two very strong triathlete former Olympic runner Clinton Mackevicius and AJ Anderson, Sebastien ranked 5th despite the flat tyre at the end of the bike leg, no news from 35-39, while Billy, Chris Tong and Bernard stayed close and ranked 5th, 7th and 8th in 40-45 field; Lee Yingho ranked 5th in 45-49; Ladies fields was more tense, Janice and Pearl raced shoulder to shoulder, until Pearl got crashed.
Janice crowned champion in 20-29 and Pearl won 1st runners up in 30-39, Gigi back to business and ranked 8th.
On Junior side, our future star Michael Lam suffered from the trapped by the group, having hard time staying in the pack, finished the race in 3rd in Youth Open.
 
Membership Renewal & Registration
The early bird discounted renewal for TriHK membership is over. TriHK office had already proceed all membership form submitted by Sonic. Full members list of Sonic is posted on our website.
In case you missed the renewal, you can still do it online at http://onlineregistration.triathlon.com.hk/ and let me know when you completed the renewal.
 
Once you became a TriHK & Sonic member, you can enroll the races organized by TriHK and your race participation will able to gain points to Sonic and strengthen the position of Sonic among all the HK affiliated club in TriHK systems.
 
Duathlon 3
TriHK Duathlon 3 will take place at Bride Pool Road and Luk Keng this Sunday! It's the challenging course, rest well and and hope everyone have a good race!
 
Training Camp Kenting
Sonic Training Camp is accepting entry, so far we got 10 members confirmed (include 3 coaches). 8 slots still available!!
Please response to Charles and Kenneth to confirm.
Once we gathered the exact name list we can proceed to secure flight ticket and accommodation arrangement.
 
21-25 April at Kenting, Taiwan
Hotel: To be confirmed
Charges: HKD7000 per person approx.
Coverage: Flight, Hotel, transport from airport to Kenting, Coaching fee for 3 coaches covering swim/bike/run/scretching
Target 15-20 persons.
 
Club Kits 2011
Refer to my previous email regarding Sonic Club Kits 2011 with the great help from T Wong, please send me the form and payment by 13 March.
If you don't see us, you can email the form and payment receipt.
We will place order next week.
 
Expected Delivery - mid April.
 
Sonic Time Trial Series
Our 2 times Sonic Champion Sebastien is waiting for the schedule and invitng more strong & fits Team Sonic Triathletes to challenge his title.
Boys & Girls, we set this!
02 May: Sonic Time Trial 1 (Shek O 500m/26k/4k)
01 Jul: Sonic Time Trial 2 (Shek O 1000m/4k Aquathon)
04 Sep: Sonic Time Trial 3 (Shek O 500m/26k/4k)
20 Nov: Sonic Time Trial 4 (Tung Chung 40k bike)
 
This is the training races for Sonic members only, all participlants will gain points for this series, prices will given to overall top 3 men and top 3 ladies at the Sonic End of Season party!
 
The future of Wan Chai Training venue
The development project for Shatin-Central Link of MTR has been confirmed.
The new railway will able to strengthen the linkage between the New Territories and Hong Kong Island, serve areas in East Kowloon that currently do not have any MTR service.
 
In short terms, the training venue will still be remained in coming 1-2 years based on the current project timeline.
In longer terms, the pool will be moved more towards Harbour Road.
Potentially, all water-sports club will face serious scarcity of resources during that time as we do not foresee any new swimming pool build before the construction.
 
Read this if you're interested in the plan.
http://www.mtr-shatincentrallink.hk
http://www.mtr-shatincentrallink.hk/pdf/public-consultation/consultation-meeting/district-council/wan-chai/18012011_ppt_c.pdf
 
Flying with your bike on CX/DragonAir
Sporting Equipment handling charge in CX/DragonAir flight Reminding everyone for the new policy from Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air applies since 1 December 2010.
A special handling charge of USD75 (per trip) is levied per item for sporting equipment (bicycle); irrespective of whether the item is included in your free baggage allowance or standard excess baggage charges have already been paid.
Ref: http://www.dragonair.com/da/en_HK/helpingyoutravel/baggageallowance
 
Suggest to check with your travel agent prior any ticket booking.
 
Upcoming Races
There are TOO MUCH races coming up in this race season, a race a day NOT keeping a doctor away, you can't do all, plan ahead! Avoid getting tired of racing before end of the season, stay injury free and motivation is the key!
 
13 Mar: TriHK Duathlon 3 (Bride Pool Road)
03 Apr: Tribal Enduro Aquathon 1 (South Bay) 10 Apr: TriHK Aquathon 1 (Kowloon Tsai)
21 Apr: Sonic Training Camp
02 May: Sonic Time Trial 1 (sprint)
08 May: TriHK Age Group Triathlon (Plover Cove)
15 May: Tribal Enduro Aquathon 2 (Repulse Bay)
22 May: Bintan Triathlon
22 May: TriHK Aquathon 2 (Discovery Bay)
29 May: Ironman 70.3 China
05 Jun: South Bay Summer Ocean Swim
12 Jun: TriHK Agr Group Triathlon (Chong San Road, Shatin)
01 Jul: Sonic Time Trial 2 (Shek O Aquathon)
03 Jul: Deep Water Bay Ocean Swim
10 Jul: TriHK Aquathon 3 (Repulse Bay)
07 Aug: TriHK Aquathon 4 (Plover Cove)
14 Aug: Ironman 70.3 Philippines
14 Aug: Bay 2 Bay Summer Ocean Swim
28 Aug: Double Triathlon
04 Sep: Sonic Time Trial 3 (sprint)
11 Sep: Splash n Dash Aquathon 1
09 Oct: Splash n Dash Aquathon 2
05 Nov: Ironman 70.3 Taiwan
06 Nov: TriHK Aquathon 5 (South Bay)
13 Nov: Splash n Dash Aquathon 3
20 Nov: Sonic Time Trial 4 (40k bike)
27 Nov: Laguna Phuket Triathlon
04 Dec: Ironman Phuket 70.3
TBC: TriHK HK ITU Triathlon
 
Sonic Time Trial you cannot miss!
 
Thank you for reading.
 

Kong Kei Fat Choi!

Apology for skipping the newsletter last month since the one man editorial office had not been able to clear up the mind for some write up last in January, many people down with flu last month since the continuous low temperature in HK  (well not those -20...), I hope the flu crowd is not much from Sonic Triathletes as some of us are still actively doing some long session for the coming HK marathon! Or for the coming season!

Duathlon race 1 recap
The first race of the season kick off in 30 Jan. Some of the new stars to watch this year!
Men 30-34
Michal, Tim and Sebastien in a row for 2-4th; Michal promoted to the new AG for more challenge, ranked 1st runner up after AJ Anderson of Tritons; Tim's strong run leg secure the 3rd position and Sebastien right after!
Sonic girls power to be regenerated in such early season, only two representing in AG30-39, Pearl Tie ranked 4th while Stephanie Yeung (Bina) ranked 6th! Junior Michael Lam ranked 3rd in Youth Open after being selected to join HkG regional squad, and Kong Yan Pui won champion in her age group.
More good result in coming races!

Duathlon race 2
TriA duathlon race 2 will be this Sunday, same place, same course, start list already posted on TriA website. No training in Shek O.

Farewell but not a goodbye: Susanna, Ren, and Timothy
We have three very keen Sonic Triathletes move on this year; Susanna Campunzo have job relocation to Dallas, she joint us since 2008 as a very beginner triathlete and start developing her fitness and strength, and race with everyone in many Sonic trip, Ironman China 2009 was her eyes open trip, she was quickly inspired and addicted into the Ironman triathlon, year 2010 was her dance floor, finishing the first 70.3 in Singapore, 6 months later she became podium finisher at Hk triathlon and Taiwan 70.3! A good athletes takes 3-5 years to develop, she is one of the example, 3 years of life in Sonic with 2 times Triathlete of the year, we all miss you Su!

Ren Ho is another cheerful young man who love the sports of triathlon and help a lot in the recent year of Phuket LPT for Sonic accommodation, he joint us since 2007, he relocated to Shanghai last month.

While Timothy Cosulich is a semi built Triathlete before he joint us in last October, he is already an Ironman finisher after one 70.3 attempt but he always humbly claims himself a beginner, he joint us in last October and he has been raced Phuket LPT with us and just experienced his first podium finish in Duathlon, he will move to Singapore this month but we will probably see him back in the Aquathlon season!

Club Kit/trisuit order
I am collecting order form until 20/2, still the current version, expected delivery end of March.

Membership renewal
Please also send me the membership from for renewal by 20/2, we will submit the last batch of discounted renewal by end of Feb.
The $150 discounted renewal deadline on 28/2; after this will costs $250.

Stay tuned for Sonic time trial series and training camp 2011!

I wish you a happy Chinese new year, and a healthier year of rabbit!

Thank you for reading.

Dear all Sonic!

Recovery your mind, refine your technique, rethink for 2011, we are at off season!
But keep the training!!

Laguna Phuket Triathlon
The race recap for November is on Laguna Phuket Triathlon!
This is one of the world famous race attracting many good triathletes around the world to do this end of season race every year, of course including Sonic! Here are some highlight:

• It was raining in race day, chill weather for running but very dangerous on the steep rolling bike courses.
• We saw a few big jelly fishes in the swim course but nobody got sting, thanks for the solution from Sebastien!
• Very slippy road, lot of fall, including the men PRO 1st runner up, and also Sonic Frederic, and Gigi....
• The happiest Sonic Triathletes should be Sebastien for the PB, Gabriel, Su-Mei, Gigi and our new member Tim for the first time LPT finisher.
• The unlucky Sonic Triathlete is Gigi - well trained, but crashed twice on the danger yellow flag zone, however still managed to finish, another unlucky boy is Frederic - crashed and DNF....hope your wound in speedy recovery.
• The most craziest Sonic Triathlete: Michal and Charles who became podium topless dancers in the post race party, I will also put Andy Patrick name here if he register with Sonic next year.
  

At last, thanks Ren, Frederic for the logistics support for Team Sonic in LPT 2010, and Sebastien for booking a good table for our post race party.

Let's wait and see who will be the first Sonic to register LPT in 2011??

Membership Renewal
Reminding everyone here to send me the renewal form and payment for Sonic, Tri-HK and HKAAA for 2011, please see my previous email for detail.

Tri-HK Award
18 Dec, 3pm at Olympic House, HK Stadium.
Tri-HK (HKTriA) will run AGM for annual Tri-A awards for TriA races series (Duathlon, Aquathon, Triathlon) and also the overall club ranking.
Thank you very much for all members participation and racing for the club.
Sonic Sports remain the 3rd overall Triathlon club in Tri-HK ranking after Energetic and Titan.
In the afternoon, individual awards from Tri-HK will also present to some of our top Sonic Triathletes such as Michal, Eric, YingHo, Stephanie, Michael and Susana.

Let's share the joy and see everyone there!

Tri-HK AGM and commitee election
Part of the AGM of Tri-HK will run the election for committee.
The list of nominatees for Executive Commitee will be announced before the AGM, please go to www.triathlon.com.hk for information.

Sonic End of Season Party!!
Okay reading this line you must be keen Team Sonic Triathletes!
At last! Reminding everyone 18 of December, coming Saturday evening for the Sonic End of Season party!

And don't forget your SUPERHERO outfit means RED SPEEDO, blue T-shirt, blue legging and red boots!!

Price: HK$200 (includes food, unlimited soft drinks, unlimited wine and beer), HK$250 at the door

What to do next?!
Send $200 payment to Charles or Kenneth, so we got the count.
And Gigi and Kenneth is working hard for lot of GOODIES for lucky draw!!

We gonna have some fun in that evening! (no Sunday training on 19 Dec)

Sonic is 7th years old.

Dear all Sonic!

October was all about tapering and racing! A big recap on what we've done last month!

Clean Half 15k solo/relay swim
Every year we have a few brave souls do this swim, it's a 15k swim from Stanley to Deep Water Bay, mostly in relay (10mins rotation), some hardcore will do it in solo! And they will do it again and again!

Many Congratulation to the team effort by Philip Penaloza, Gabriel Lau, Ivan Wong, Arther Liew, it was 5 hours of boat trip, music, foods, dance and swim to the Deep Water Bay;
Solo swimmers this time we have Andy Patrick and our leading Sonic fish Mary Kwoh (2nd time), 15k of swim takes Andy to series of acupuncture and sports massage treatment, and the response from Mary is, "I wouldn't do it again..." let's wait and see!

HK ITU Triathlon
It was a bit of puzzle about the weather in the race week, the super typhoon Megi was approaching HK, it brought a lot difficulties for the race organizer to do setup however, the typhoon was changing direction and eventually we all had a great weather and great triathlon race in Disney HK! Many congratulations to all Sonic to bring the triumph over 2 days of HK Triathlon event, from Elite to Junior, Olympic to Sprint distance!

In the elite men, HK super star Daniel Lee dropped off after swim for Asian Game preparation, Tribal Andrew Wright finished at 1:56:33 ranked 18/36, Sonic Ivan Lo finished at 1:59:56 ranked 25/36 while champion by Gavin Noble from Ireland at 1:53:59.

In junior, Lam family crowned Champion, brother Michael won his 1997 age-group, and sister Elisabeth won 16-19 age-group, Eugene Wong won 2nd runners-up in 1998 age-group;

It was a show time in day 2 for all of us the age-groupers!
In OD wave, girls age-group 25-29 podium almost sweep ed by Sonic, we have Stephaine Champion Bina, and former Aquathon Queen Janice Lee for 2nd runner up; Christina Lee improved a lot this year and ranked 5th in her AG in OD;
men 25-29 Champion went to our Kona super star Michal Bucek; Sebastien Stoffel ranked top 10 in his 30-34 AG; Eric Chan ranked 8th in 45-49; Albert Chan ranked 10th!

For Taiwan Ironman tapering, some of us switch to sprint triathlon category and surprisingly rock the podium!
In girls sprint, Evangeline Quek won 2nd runners up in 25-29; Gigi Wong won 2nd runners up in 30-34; Susuana Campuzano won 1st runners up in 35-39;
In men's sprint, only coach Kenneth won 2nd runners up on the podium!
Sonic Girls Power again!

At last, we all had a great time hang out at the Sonic tent, big thanks to our coach Kenneth for the setup, and the new volunteer team by Billy, Janice and George bring us all the icey cold drinks and beer after the race!

Ironman Taiwan 70.3
As you know we have more than twenty members race the Ironman Taiwan 70.3 on 30 Oct after 4 months of hard training and long mileage we've earned in Tung Chung, rain and shine. The race took place in beautiful Kenting, the most southern part of the Taiwan Island, setting the swim at South Bay crystal clear water, 475m out and back for 2 loops of swim, very mild swell made the swim fun, and the line-up by lot of Kenting surfers to ensure the water safety, 24C temperature in the morning made it wetsuit legal so 90% of us put the suit on for the buoyancy advantage, the bike course is on the west part of Kenting with rolling/flat terrain, 90k of riding in nice temperature, sunny, and very windy! The wind is the topic among the triathletes but they don't call it Ironman for nothing. The 21k run is relatively straight forward, just a plain run along the bike course all the way from transition run back to the official hotel.

Everybody is very happy with the race organization and the setting, some of us also have good result and made it to podium! Andy Patrick won 1st runner up in AG, Susana Campuzano won 5th, Eric won 10th in AG! Their hard training paid off!!!

Especially happy to our coach Kenneth making strong come back in the 30-34 fields, finished at 11th.

First time Ironman 70.3 finishers also go to George and Teresa after a few Ironman relay; Ren Ho finished strong for the first time; Julius Wang overcame his injury and like the distance very much; "R"elay-No-More team by Ivan Wong, Raymond and Frederic also taste the Ironman race for the first time and finished in style; "First time is the best time but not sure if it's last time" goes to Charles Hui :)

The most unlucky in this race is Gigi, she had flat tyre in the race morning and got another flat after 25k ride to end the race, but she was still very strong to cheer up everybody in the race course but not hiding herself.

This race is highly recommended! Kenting is also becoming a potential training venue next year.

Season Closing

Finally the triathlon season is coming to the end, hope everyone happy with their archievement no matter you're the taking your first step in this sports, stepping up for longer distance or you've made the personal best in your races.

Your archievement could also be how much you know yourself alone the process from signing up the race, preparation and working towards the finish line, while you're dealing with your daily life. (we all age-groupers), think about that, you will be smiling, no matter you had a good race or bad race.

All in all, it's time to have some more fun! And it's time for the beer!

14 November Some of us will go to 10k road running race as their annual time trial!
21 November Sonic Time Trial, final stage, 40k of Individual Time Trial, 2 laps on Cheung Tung Rd, at Tung Chung, format same as last year, 1mins interval; More information to come!
28 November Some will do Phuket Triathlon for 1.8k swim/55k bike and 12k run

All in all, it's time to have some more fun! And it's time for the beer!
Sonic End of Season Party
Sonic End of Season Party will change to 18 December, after the Tri-HK AGM and award presentation. Since I need more time to prepare Sonic ranking sheet, Time Trial Award lucky draw and who will be the Best Sonic man and Sonic girl of year 2010!! Please mark your calendar for 18 December!!!

To all Sonic Photographers!!
If you don't mind to share your photos on the Sonic photos album:
http://www.fotop.net/sonicsports for any social events, HK ITU or Ironman Taiwa, please feel free to give me a disc or Ryan Tan (ar On) who manage the Sonic photos album.

Don't forget to check out Sonic Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sonic-Sports-Association/48717326633

Sonic on media!
Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air in-flight magazine SilkRoad published a pictures of some of our members from last year Phuket Triathlon, thanks Elize to share this copy with us. (attached)

Sports Soho Magazine is the local sports magazine, (also the co-organizer of HK ITU) in the current issue you can see some Sonic members and coach inside! From the cover man Julius Wang in HK ITU, our wheel chair triathelete AJ Smauel, Kent and Michal on the Kona Ironman feature, interviewing coach Kenji and coach Rockson as a model fitting the winter jacket!!!
Buy this magazine from Circle-K or 7-11 for a good read!

Volunteers ALWAYS WANTED!!
Anyone want to jump into the behind the scene works for Sonic, please come to me or Kenneth, we need you to bring in more creative idea and your specialities to the club, from social event, organizing time trial, oversea race, result analysis, newsletter, club kits design and ordering, training fee collection, your help will bring benefit to the grow of the club!

Lastly, friendly reminding everyone to transfer or pay training fee for November and December to coach Kenneth or Rockson during training.

Upcoming Races
14 November: Asics 10k Run
21 November: Sonic Time Trial 5 (40k cycling)
28 November: Laguna Phuket Triathlon
18 December: Sonic End Of Season Party

Thanks for reading.

Charles Hui

Dear all,

It's October! Our race month!!!

"Train Like Animal, Eat like a Monk!"

Ironman Kona
This is an Ironman month, especially for this year, two very tough soul from Sonic just finished the Ironman World Championship at Kona Hawaii today!
Kent Wong finished at 12:24:51!
Michal Bueck finished at 9:42:35!

Many congratulations!! Now they can enjoy the post-race party, holiday at Hawaii and see you in HK!

You are inspiring the Team Sonic!

17 October: HK ITU Course familization
Sunday training on 17 Oct will be at Tung Chung for ITU race course preview.
Thanks Andy Patrick, he will lead the race preview for Sonic.

Time: 7:30am
Place: Disneyland Pier (swim start location)
Please only bring bike and run gear, all members welcome to join.

On the day, many local triathletes and clubs will do training on the race course, please try to put on the club jersey, suggested car parking at Sunny Bay car park at 7am.

24 October: HK ITU
It's always a event of the year in HK, this time, most of us will be racing full distance or Sprint distance.
Due to the higher registration costs, Sonic will not send relay team to fight for the podium, that's the down side, but the up side always with us are the super good training atmosphere in the club! Thanks everybody and I am sure you guys will be unbeatable.

I am still confirming with the organizer for the finish line setting, expecting to have our own tent like last year!

30 October: Ironman Taiwan 70.3
Some of us will be racing Ironman Taiwan 70.3, some are first attempt, some are going for PB, while it's the first time for Taiwan hosts Ironman 70.3 race.
It will be at Kenting, check this out www.ironmantaiwan.com

Here are some of the start list from Sonic (some of them forget to register in 2010...)

Campuzano            Susano           

Lau            Gum Bong Gabriel           

Koo            Lawrence Chuen Tak            

Patrick            Andrew           

Chan            Wai Kee Eric           

Yip            Chun Kit Kenneth           

Lee            Kin Lun Brian           

Au            Yau Kit Simon           

Su Mei                        Teh

CHUN HONG            DENIS            KWOK

Jacky                        Mak

SEBASTIEN            STOFFEL

Ren Hua                        Ho

Jeffrey            Chi Wang            Yue

Gi Wai Gigi            Wong

Edwin                        Chiam

Chun Yu                        Hui

Albert                        Chan

Arthur                        Liew

Wut Sun                        Lai

Derek                        Wong

James                        Chen

Julius                        Wang

Alan                        Cheung

Joey-Lynn                        Musselman

Tak Ling George            Lee

Teresa                        Mak

Ying Ho                        Lee

James                        Shum

 

 Okay, so no Oktoberfest this year but mark this date to your calendar!

"21 November: Sonic End of The Season party!"

Upcoming Races
17 October: HK Triathlon course preview
26 October: HK Triathlon
30 October: Taiwan 70.3 Ironman
31 October: Bay 2 Bay swim (2k)
7 November: HK Tri Aquathon 5
14 November: Sonic Time Trial 5 (40k cycling)
28 November: Laguna Phuket Triathlon