Before the Pros took to the course later in the day, amateur endurance athletes had their chance to battle it out for glory at the Singapore T100 weekend
SINGAPORE, 13-14 APRIL 2024 – In the unforgiving Singapore heat and humidity, defending champion Ashleigh Gentle conquered not just the heat, but also herself, to produce a stunning performance and come from behind to clinch the Singapore T100 Women’s Pro title in style.
Gentle showed her mettle in the latter stages of the 100km race on Saturday (April 13), completing the 18km run in 1hr 9mins 10sec to beat reigning Ironman world champion Lucy Charles-Barclay and surprise podium finisher Els Visser.
A relieved Gentle, 33, said after her win: “It feels a bit surreal to be honest. It surprised me a little bit but I’m obviously very happy. It’s just very different. Last year I found my flow and felt really comfortable and strong whereas this year it was very gritty, it was hard."
"So same result, but the feelings to get that result was so different so it’s just one of those things where you kind of have to persevere no matter what circumstances you’re dealt with and how you’re feeling and I’m just really glad that I was able to stay composed and still perform at a really high level.”
The heat (quite literally) was brought over to the next day, when the Men’s Pros flagged off at Marina Bay.
A new champion was crowned at the Singapore T100 as Dutch wildcard Youri Keulen claimed his first T100 victory on Sunday (April 14). The exciting race in Marina Bay also saw T100 No. 5 Sam Long charge to second after coming out of the swim last and serving a 30-second penalty, while Belgian Pieter Heemeryck finished third.
Keulen, 25, said: “I’m delighted with the win, but I'm exhausted.” Keulen promptly collapsed after crossing the finish line and immediately received medical attention. He is well taken care of and will be back on his feet soon. After finishing fourth in the season opener in Miami last month, the win will be a boost of confidence for Keulen.
The day kicked off with races for amateurs, who tackled the 100km triathlon or one of two duathlon distances. The Standard Duathlon comprised a 5km Run, 32km Bike and another 5km Run, while Long Distance had a 9.5km Run, 64km Bike and 9.5km Run.
Among the participants was Singapore’s first and only Olympic champion Joseph Schooling, who took part in the Standard Duathlon Team Relay alongside Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung and Member of Parliament Poh Li San. Ms Poh ran both 5km legs, while Mr Ong and Schooling shared the 32km bike course.
Schooling said: “That was a lot of fun. In swimming, you can’t really see your surroundings, but at least for this one, I could enjoy my atmosphere. There were a lot of challenging parts out there with a lot of fun parts coming down the hills, but overall it’s my first time doing something like this and it exceeded my expectations. Maybe I’ll go for the run next time, we’ll finish out the trio of events over three years. It’s a 5km run so why not, but I would also consider biking again.
Other than the recently retired Olympian, several of Singapore’s national triathletes such as Ahmad Arif Ibrahim, Yong Man Yun and Lam Wai Kit also took to the course, with Lam taking 2nd in the overall amateur men’s triathlon event.
19-year-old Ng Xuan Jie dominated the course, coming in as the second overall female in the Standard Duathlon, which also saw Singaporeans Jillian See and Bernice Tan finish in the top ten. The two competed in the 20-29 category, and took to the podium as second and third respectively.
The T100 Singapore Age Group event also comprised team relays competing in either triathlon or duathlon disciplines. Sportplus Team 1, formed by Aldrich Goh, Elizabeth Tan and Lucas Lim finished first in the Standard Duathlon mixed relay category and also came second overall.
“I think there was a bit of pressure for me as many of the cyclists were guys,” shared Tan, who took on the role of the cyclist in the team.
“But it’s okay! Girls can beat guys,” she laughed.
“I love the route. We train here all the time so I know it by heart. This was my first time having to take someone’s tracker with me. It was interesting having to track where my teammates were and time my warm up and nutrition,” shared Lim, who competed in his first relay on Sunday.
Chermaine Zhou, Sarah Swee and Sharon Choo, otherwise known as Sportplus Team 5 achieved a shock podium finish. Nursing an ankle injury, Zhou ran the first running leg, before passing it onto Swee who cycled strongly. It was Choo who had the honours of crossing the finish line for her teammates, who all only found out of their top prize in the all women’s category right before the prize ceremony.
“Coming into this race, the goal of the run was always to form an all girls female social relay team to join our first ever duathlon relay race, in hopes of inspiring more girls to step out of comfort zones in multi sport races like this and most importantly to enjoy ourselves,” shared Zhou.
“What an unexpected surprise and shock for us when we realised we came in first for the standard duathlon female relay category - we didn’t even know there was such a category!”
“I joined this race with no expectations other than to have fun. Today’s rain was a blessing and a curse. It helped ease my first concern about the heat but also made the course more dangerous,” said Swee.
With the energy still reverberating through Marina Bay from an electrifying weekend, the excitement for T100 Singapore 2025 is already high, with many athletes — amateur and pro — vowing to come back for more against the backdrop of Singapore’s famed skyline.
For more photos taken by SportPlus.sg over the Singapore T100 weekend, visit our gallery here.
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