XTERRA Malaysia Recce Report

XTERRA Malaysia Recce Report

As I said in my earlier FB & Instagram posts, before I share my insights with you in terms of the new venue & the Duathlon & Run courses for XTERRA Malaysia, let me explain how I met Azura...

Azura & I @ The Els Club 

Until recently Azura was a civil servant working within a division of the Ministry of Tourism known as Malaysia Major Events. I first met her in 2013 when I had the privilege to be asked by the then licence holder of XTERRA (Sean Chee) to be the Race Director for that year’s race in Putrajaya. Azura was introduced to me as one of Sean’s key contacts.

Since then, I know she’s worked tirelessly on helping us navigate the bureaucracy to get XTERRA supported by Putrajaya Corporation and then its smooth relocation to Langkawi. I also know through my role as the Chief Draft Marshall for Ironman & Powerman events that she was also a key member of the team that brought Ironman back to Malaysia (after a brief absence) and helped Powerman Malaysia move successfully to Putrajaya, where it is now one of Powerman’s biggest events globally. 

Additionally, she and her family have graciously been regular supporters and participants at our Live More Kids Triathlon events as well.

What I hadn’t realised until Friday though was that she is also the person really responsible for convincing Janet Clark (the head honcho for the XTERRA World Tour) to get XTERRA to return to Malaysia after the disappointments of 2010 when the previous licence holder (name of this person not remembered) let a lot of people down (including myself) by cancelling the event without any warning or refund.

As such, just like I was, Azura was mortified to see the shambolic show put on at the 2017 event. (apologies Sean, but whilst there may have been good reasons for this, there’s really no other way to describe what happened last year). I’d stepped down as the Race Director at the end of the previous year for what are best described, and left as, personal reasons but I was there to race. Although sadly due to injury I simply supported friends in the end.

Unlike me though (I focused on other things), it turns out that Azura’s been working hard behind the scenes to help Malaysia hold on to the XTERRA licence. As a result, in the last few weeks, I heard that she’s yet again thankfully convinced Janet Clark and the new owners of XTERRA to keep Malaysia on the map in terms of XTERRA events.

This time she’s done so by stepping in personally and doing the event herself, through her own company called Tough Gorilla (she decided to leave the safety of the civil service a few years ago and follow her dream of organising her own events and has been able to do this thanks to the support of her husband). As well as XTERRA she is also responsible for bringing Oceanman to Malaysia in December of this year at the awesome Tanjong Rhu beach on Langkawi. 

When I say Azura’s been working hard several paragraphs ago, I mean throwing her heart & soul into it and some! As on top of the hours she’s working she’s also selling her car to help fund this XTERRA event which is very much starting from "ground zero" again after the disappointments of 2017! 

As a consequence, although it’s short notice and it's looking like I won’t sadly be able to be at the event myself, given my love for all things XTERRA and my respect for Azura and the passion she clearly has to help keep XTERRA Malaysia alive, I sincerely and genuinely want to do everything I can to help her and her new venue partner The Desaru Coast Adventure Waterpark to put on as good an event as is possible this year. This is why I started my day on Thursday with one of my least favourite things, namely a aeroplane flight, and accepted Azura’s invitation to visit Johor rather than do my normal Thursday morning ride with the TMC Boys!

As mentioned in my Facebook post Azura’s generously offered you, all of my friends, (and all of yours too...) a MYR100 incentive to join the race. So please share this post with your friends too. That way you can give them a little more than just your ❤️ this week too ;-) You can get this by quoting “DAVE100” when you and your friends register which you can do by clicking here 😆 You and they will need to hurry though, as there’s only a week left before registration closes and this offer is strictly  restricted to 100 slots only.

So, after this traditionally long winded scene setting (which I do purely in the interest of absolute transparebncy) and the announcement of this great offer, let’s cut to the chase and spill the beans on what you can expect at XTERRA Malaysia 2018...

The resort...

The Desaru Coast Resort is part of a Khazanah (Malaysia’ strategic investment fund) funded Tourism & Leisure business known as Themed Attractions Resorts & Hotel’s as well as the new project in Desaru it has in it’s stable of businesses Legoland - Malaysia, KidZania - Kuala Lumpur & Singapore, The Datai - Langkawi, Puteri Harbour - Nusajaya and the Ernie Els Golf Resorts - Malaysia. 

The Els Club - Valley Course

The project in Desaru is huge and includes a Westin Hotel, a Hard Rock Hotel and a Anantara Beach Resort & Spa as well as The Els Club (a 45-hole golfing paradise) and an Adventure Waterpark which includes one of the world’s largest wave pools with over 4 million gallons of water covering nearly 3 acres.

The Adventure Waterpark
 

They describe themselves as offering endless ways to enjoy and pamper yourself and it definitely promises to do that. It’s a spectacular development that’s for sure. 

The problem with it is, is it’s a huge project and it is not all finished yet so when you turn up don’t expect everything to be perfect just yet. 

Like many of these mega projects they’ve had quite a few issues with contractors delivering late and certain projects are still work in progress. 

While I was there the 2 of the 3 golf courses were up and running though as was the Adventure Waterpark. However, accommodation is lagging behind a little so don’t be surprised to still see construction site type scenario for the next few months at least.

To put this in perspective as a lover of Disney theme parks I was an early adopter of their theme parks and vividly remember the Paris park opening in 1992 and the Hong Kong one in 2005 and neither of these attractions were the finished product to start with. So, please remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither can projects like The Desaru Coast Resort. Just like my trips to Disney going back in subsequent years allows them to get better and better and that's my hope and prediction for The Desaru Coast Resort. So don't use this as a reason to not go this year and miss out on getting a little cash bonus courtesy of the "DAVE100" code opportunity. 😉

The XTERRA race courses...

I'll be honest and frank with you, the terrain in this area is great for long sandy beaches but in terms of elevation behind the beach it’s flatter than my chest! 

As a result, if you like hills (going up ‘em & coming down ‘em) either as a rider or runner these courses won’t test you too much physically but instead they'll allow you to test other aspects of your riding ability. Namely sustaining and max'ing out your power output. This makes the course a perfect place for triathletes and road cyclists to transition across and give the 'dirt' a try 😛

Flat and non technical is how I'd describe the bulk of this course

As a result, when this race re-establishes itself on the Pro circuit (as I’m sure in can do), even with the tweaks that I’m confident it can be given to make it a stiffer test, it will not challenge the Pro’s and the Elite age groupers with anything other than how fast can it be done in ;-)

This makes it an ideal season opener for these faster and more experienced off-road racers and, more importantly, a really palatable and pleasurable experience for the novices to discover the thrill of an off-road multi-sports race versus the tedium of those done on the tarmac.

That said, at the moment 40-50% of the bike course is on road. As time constraints prevent more off road trails being opened up at the moment. The blessing is that the roads are practically traffic free when I road them and, on race day, I’m expecting them to be completely traffic free. 

You get close to the beach but not on it. Not while you're on the bike anyway 😉

The highlight is a fast and furious blast behind the beaches along a deserted coastal area which is free of any development and which the organiser is hoping that this race can help to get gazetted as a nature reserve so that as well as all of the endless ambience of other aspects of the resort there is also access to an endless bit of natural coastline for nature lovers too.

You can make out part of the trail you run in the right of this image. 

The run course will not offer anything in the way of technical or vertical challenge but for those wanting to push themselves it will be fast and furious like the bike course. 

Much of the trail at the moment is along grass verges as again time constraints and the resorts priority on its infrastructure development have meant that there is still work to do here in creating trails to access the Mother Nature that still exists here. 

That said, don’t expect it to be a complete pushover though as there is a sting in the tail just as there is at the XTERRA World Championships at Fleming Beach in Maui, Hawaii. 

It's not Fleming Beach in Maui but running along it will be as much fun! 😎

Overall, I will close my course review with the same comment as I made regarding the resort, in that Rome wasn’t built in a day! 

Even allowing for the obvious improvements that I believe can be made to it over time it ain't ever gonna be a beast like the one we created in Langkawi. That's a good thing though in many ways as, other than the risk of overheating, there is nothing to fear about the course and everything to look forward to given the endless possibilities for fun of the off-road multi-sports genre.

In summary, this is a very do’able course for all concerned and combined with the endless opportunities to pamper yourself and the family at the resorts facilities it will, in time, become one of the most awesome and complete XTERRA race venues on the circuit. 

My assessment and vote therefore is to get yourself along to the event, if you can (Race day is 29 September) so that you can come and support what is going to9 be the start of something great. It might not be perfect this year (but nothing really ever is) but it is definitely deserving of support as is Azura and Tough Gorilla as well as The Desaru Coast Resort for what they are trying to create here. Please therefore take advantage of Azura’s generous offer and register by clicking here  before all the 100 slots are taken up. 

Warmly & sincerely

Dave
The Trihard Rustman &
Summit Seeking Sherpa