Spring swim and tri events in SE Asia

Hi! Triathlon Malaysia has posted their tentative dates. There are two races you may be interested in:

• Kenyir Lake Triathlon - this is an Olympic race the last weekend of March 2012. It is in a beautiful setting but be warned that the bike section has a nasty hill (), and I have also been told that the run may have some hills too. I have never done this one before, but some of my local friends have done it a few times and say it is a great race. (http://www.triathlonmalaysia.com/race-details.php?eventID=24&tab=race - this year's race info) I am already training for it . . . I will do it for the first time.
• Kapas Marang Swimathon end of April 2012 - this is a . . . are you ready for it . . . 6.5 km open water swim. I have never done this one either . . . but it is in the beautiful waters of the East Coast. I am considering this one for the first time too . . . I have done some long open water swims before, but it has been a few years. (http://www.triathlonmalaysia.com/race-details.php?eventID=18)
• The Bintan Triathlon end of May 2012 - this is a fun one I hear . . . http://www.bintantriathlon.com/ . . . it is a bit of a trek for me though.

I have also looked around for shorter races early in the Spring . . . but alas . . . none to be found. I would Google Singapore Triathlon throughout December into early January to see whether there are any races in Singapore. They seem to have a pretty active triathlon and duathlon season, but nothing has been published for the new year.

I think we need to pool our resources and come up with a South East Asia Triathlon / Duathlon Calendar. What do you guys think? I know of quite a few races happening in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia because I have been living in the area for a while. It would be nice to have a one-stop shop instead of trying to find it by ourselves. I have started to do next year's race and training planning and it is hard to do if you don't know where to look. 

Have fun training and eating and sleeping and repeating . . .

Why did I think Kapas Marang was in the summer? Anyway, I know a couple of guys who have swum it, they love it. Apparently you take a boat out to Kapas, get dumped, and then you swim to Marang . You can also hire your own escort kayaker (for one or two persons) for a low fee, U.S. $20 I think.

Downsides are that it is across a shipping lane and the course isn't tremendously well marked, but it's a completely straight shot, so it doesn't need to be well marked.

I have to go hit up my training partner for his calendar ... I'm not kidding ... it is COMPREHENSIVE. Frighteningly so. Also, he lives literally down the street from me so I have no excuse.

Thanks for the info. I went to the Kenyir Lake site but it's the info from last year and I don't see registration for this year. Will keep checking. It might work IF I could work out transport to/from for myself and my bike.

The swim sounds a bit long for a first race--thinking more 3-4 km range, 5 at the outside. Those who aren't familiar with the Singapore scene should check out the Singapore Sprint series--I'm signed up for the aquathlon (Feb. 19) and tri (May 6). Apparently the biathlon (Oly swim/run put on by the Navy) is either postponed/cancelled this year or replaced by a duathlon championships in Feb.--not really up my alley. I have done Bintan. I have SO done Bintan! Anyone who wants to know about it can see my epic report of last year's race or the panicked posts about bike transport! Possible but not likely I'll do it this year--too close for comfort to my HIM in June--it's a tough course, hard to get to/from from Vietnam, conditions were extremely hot last year, and it took me a long time to recover.  BTW the organizers (Metasport) are planning an IM and HIM ("Metaman") on Bintan in September. Hmm... but it's NOT a long weekend for me.  Ugh. Look forward to the OWS stuff Yanti--hopefully something will match up.