Here we are again at Al Mamzar, another triathlon, this will be his third here and fourth overall so far.
Jasper is excited. Not only has he been training hard but Grandad is also here to watch him this time.
I look around one morning as I’m sitting down to a Friday morning coffee and Jasper comes tearing through into the living room, puts his socks and shoes on and then races back out to tag the front door. A few more times and he has cut the time by seconds.
Jason takes him for a ride on Saturday afternoon and they smash their previous Nad Al Sheba track record by several minutes over the two laps (about 18km).
Yesterday I arrive home and Jasper is practicing his cycling transitions. Riding up the street, dad has explained how to swing his leg over in anticipation, jump off at just the right time and run with the bike before swinging it around to hook onto the rack (currently played by dad’s outstretched fingers).
The alarm goes off at 5:30am. I snooze and am promptly woken again by a ‘come on!’ before I swing myself out of bed and drag on some clothes. Once in the car, Jason hands me a can of Nescafé coffee (he knows me too well) and I smile at the genius of getting me going in the morning.
It’s light as we set up the bike and lay out helmet, socks and shoes in the transition zone as Jason parks the car. It has been raining overnight though. Not just the few drops that usually passes as rain here but a proper shower such that I did a double take as I walked out to the car earlier when the ground was wet.
We haven’t got much time to spare and make our way straight down to the beach for the instructions to be given before the first race is off. The Junior Super Sprint line up shortly after and this time, in his new wetsuit, I can’t even make him out in the water with all the others.
Sure enough though, he comes out of the swim at the back of the first pack, way ahead of where he seemed placed last race. He’s almost finished transitioning by the time Harley and I are able to run up to the area and he is leaps and bounds ahead of his transition last time too – all that practice is paying off.
We cross the road to wait for him to pass on his ride. Harley warms up his cheering voice and we clap the first group through. We wait. The next group of kids comes through and I’m thinking that he’s fallen behind a bit, I was sure he was out of the water before them. As the time goes on I start to worry. I’m just about to start off up the track when Jasper comes past.
“I fell off” he says as he rides past, holding up a bloody elbow as he goes. “Oh no”, I think to myself. But that fact that he’s back on his bike and still going is something.
His transition goes well but he’s clearly a bit shaken. We wants to finish the race and as he sets off for the run it starts to sprinkle again. The run is only short and he comes down the final sprint in what seems like no time. Once again I’m so, so proud of him. In some ways more so since he has gotten up and finished despite being hurt.
On closer inspection he has a badly grazed elbow, shoulder and hip. The first aid team cleans him up and through a few tears he says he wants to go home. Fair enough.
We pack the equipment up and head to the car. The day is looking like the showers could continue which is a bit off putting, I have never seen weather like this in Dubai before. Once we’re in the car and the boys have had something to eat and drink, they settle into a movie in the back seat.
We detour for some sightseeing with Grandad out to Skydive Dubai and JBR before arriving home.
On checking the results later in the day we realise that once again, he has done remarkably well. Overall he has even shaved a few seconds off his total time, including the fall.
What a champ!
Would I Return?
Yes. I don’t think those 5:30am starts are leaving us any time soon and Al Mamzar is a good place for it.
Nice post – really proud of jasper too.