Hi All,
Have settled at the Miyakojima Tokyu Resort here now with a great sleep in (so nice to not be up at 5am) and an amazing spread at the breaky buffet. Sleep was disturbed by what at first sounded like firecrackers but was in fact horizontal rain hitting the glass balcony doors! This is a typhoon area and winds have been known to get to 100km/hr on race day. That will make sunday interesting if this rain and wind continues.
Had another swim on the course. A strongish current flows one direction but this is of no help as the return leg is directly into it for a greater distance. Should help me and the strong swimmers though which is nice. Water is clear and reminds me of the hawaiian islands crystal clear waters.
Visited the Fukimine Junior High School today with Tim Hola from the Timex Triathlon team and his wife Nicole. Justin who is an American english teacher living on the island and racing also helped us out. Lovely school of 28 students with 10 teachers. Bit different to the 30+ students 1 teacher deals we have in Australia. The school is immaculate and the gardens are stunning with centuries old architecture. Pretty nice place to study. The kids sang us the island song accompanied by the traditional guitar/banjo and dance. This was followed by a powerpoint presentation of the island, school, students, and some race information. The kids man an aid station on the marathon course and have signs made up for us! Sure to help when the pain kicks in. After question time and some speeches we played 'jung-ko'. It is a type of paper/scissors/rock whereby most arguments/draws/decisions are made here in Japan. A tied baseball grandfinal was determined by the two teams lining up agaisnt each other and playing it - no kidding! We than took the students in smaller groups for talks and games (darts, bowling, volleyball) and I got free throws. I ended up dunking using some of the kids. Good fun. At the end we were presented with brown rock sugar in bags (japanese sweet) with the schoolkids photos on it. A lovely present for home. The school is on the southern end of the island with is literally stunning. It is where a lot of the postcard photo's of the island are taken. We both bike and run through here race day.
Arvo ride on the course showed it to be a fast paced smooth ride with many rollers. With no wind this could be a fast course, but that rarely happens. Bike is all ok after the travels (Greg, your bike is all good).
The evening we had a dinner with all international athletes hosted by the Rotary Club of Miyakojima. Banners were exchange and we received a t-shirt banner and icecream toy from them. A great dinner and presentation of local culture (songs, traditional band, tradition martial arts dance). This was followed by a famous singer and a movie star, who compete in the race, who have designed a dance and song for the race. Of course, everyone was up and learning the dance and song words for the carbo/awards parties to follow. More games followed of paper/scissors/rock and a musical chair like game but with bodies! The japanese love games. Then it was home and to bed.
We made the front page of the newspaper today with photo's of us and the Mayor of Miyakojima.
Friday is the elite athletes press conference followed by the carbo dinner. The race favourties are to go to the press conference and Clemens, Gernot, and myself are to participate. Should be fun. Nick, the Platypus Asset Management gear will get a run at this ;) .
All is looking good for the race. Cheers,
Bevan.
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