Saturday, November 29, 2008

DTC 8K Turkey Trot race report



The Dhaka Triathlon Club hosted an 8K Turkey Trot on Friday, November 28 at 4PM. There were lots of new faces and these new faces turned out to be FAST! A total of 26 runners completed the 8K course that started and finished at the American Recreation Club on Road 69 in Gulshan. The runners ran around Gulshan park and then over the Rickshaw bridge for a quick tour through Baridhara before turning around near the Chinese Embassy and French school and heading back to the finish.

The top male finisher came in in 30 minutes and 33 seconds and his lovely wife was hot on his heels running a smoking fast time of 31 minutes and 12 seconds!

The top male and female finishers generously donated their prizes (a pumpkin pie each!) to the 2nd place male and female finishers. The pumpkin pies went to these equally deserving and super fast runners: Matthew Aris and Sabiena Feenstra.

Top age group runners received Power Bars for their top finishing times. A special thanks to Dave Martz for taking the lead runners out on his bike, JR Rinfret, a SUPER race volunteer and to Emily Gurley for assisting the race director in a HUGE way!

Thanks to all of the participants and family members that showed up. We aim to make our races family friendly! If you would like to raise some money for your favorite Dhaka charity and help host a race, know of a good running course for training or a race, or have any feedback for us on how to make your club better, please email Robin at rmartz@umich.edu

Thanks and we’ll see you at the next race!



Monday, November 24, 2008

8K Turkey trot

The Dhaka Triathlon Club is hosting a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot!

8K Run Friday November 28th 4:00PM

Start is outside the American Club front gate, Road 69 in Gulshan-2

Fastest male and female finishers receive their own pumpkin pie!

Top age groupers also will take home prizes!

100 taka race fee due at sign in (3:30PM-3:50PM)

Please pre-register by emailing Robin at rmartz@umich.edu



SLR report: November 22

We headed into familiar territory by going over the bamboo bridge and out into the country for this week's SLR. 2 folks in high gear for marathon training did 14 and 16 miles respectively and 2 triathletes in training ran a mere 12 miles. A newcomer to SLR and to long distance running toughed out a 12 miler after having only completed 6 miles at any one time. Brava Irina!

NOTE: We do encourage all abilities to join us for SLR, but ask that you have run no less than 2 miles shy of the distance we are covering. (i.e. anyone attempting a 12 miler should be able to cover 10 miles comfortably). Of course, folks can join us and turn around at the playground in Basundhara (6 miles RT) or at any other point as we often run out and back routes.

As always, we will leave Saturday morning from the ARA at 6:30AM and becasue the triathlestes are tapering, we will only run between 8-10 miles.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

DTC Member Spotlight-JEAN RENE (JR) RINFRET

The DTC Member spotlight will be posted every few months and our first spotlight is on one of DTC's first members and shining stars, JR Rinfret! Enjoy the interview with JR below and some photos showing his great finish at the recent Halloween 5K and his wonderful sense of humor! 1. What do you do for work in Dhaka?
I’m an engineer. I work at the Local Government Engineering Department in Dhaka, in the water resources development sector.

2. What do you do for fun in Dhaka?
Our family has been here 5 years now. During our first years, we explored Bangladesh quite a lot, but somehow we are now happy with our “regular life” in Dhaka, dinners with friends, events at school, etc, spiced up with short trips outside in the region. Our family also has this thing about inviting friends over for spaghetti…

3. How long have you been swimming or biking or running?
I ran a little all my life, but I only started running a bit more “seriously” in 2007. I started long bike rides in Dhaka in 2004, with my buddy Robert K. We must have done 100 rides between 2004 and 2008.

4. Why do you swim or bike or run?
I run because I thoroughly enjoy it and it’s good for my health. Improving my time on different distances also gives a great feeling of accomplishment. I also feel good after a run, when I return home, and get insulted by my two teenage kids. Ice hockey is still my favorite sport, though, but options are rather limited in Dhaka.

5. What is your strongest/weakest discipline?
Difficult question. I am equally weak in all disciplines.

6. What are you training for right now?
Khon Kaen marathon, Thailand, 25 January 2009.

7. What is your most memorable race experience (best or worst)?
My first (and only) marathon, at the age of 50, in Khon Kaen, last year. I had no idea that pounding your body for 4-5 hours could be so fun. I am now trying to convince friends to do the same stupid thing.

8. What are some of your PRs?
My PRs are so large that they won’t even fit on this page. I did 23’48” on the DTC Halloween 5K last week, and I am quite proud of that. My only marathon was 4:37:01. That’s what the certificate says, but it must have been a mistake as I am sure it was below 3 hours. I checked Boston, and I would qualify in the “75 years and over men” group. Feels great.

9. What are you goal PRs?
I would like to run a marathon below 4 hours. I think I can get there “shortly”.

10. What is your favorite running and/or biking route in Dhaka? Outside of Dhaka?
For both running and biking, crossing the “bamboo bridge” north of Bashundara leads to the Isapur road with tons of nice trails and villages. Yesterday on the long run, the newly marathon converted Jonathan and I had Expresso GU on the Isapur bridge at mile 7…. Italian bistros don’t serve better espresso….

11. What advice would you give to a newcomer to Dhaka that is interested in beginning or continuing to swim or bike or run here?
Joint DTC! Also learn to run in the mornings… cleaner air, no traffic; you get the whole town to yourself! Join one of the biking groups, it’s a great way to get out of town, meet people, and have fun. If you like tech stuff, get a GPS… with the new Google Earth high resolution images around Dhaka, you can see where you got lost. For swimming, don’t try the Gulsan lakes.


THANKS TO JR FOR INSPIRING OTHER MEMBERS (AND NON MEMBERS!) OF THE DTC AND FOR BEING A REGULAR FIXTURE AT DTC'S SATURDAY LONG RUN (SLR)!
GOOD LUCK IN KHON KAEN, JR!!!

DTC to host TURKEY TROT!

The DTC will host a Turkey Trot race on Friday, November 28th at 4PM. The race distance will likely be an 8K.
Please stay tuned to the website for more details and check the ex-pat clubs for a flyer to be posted next week.

SLR reports: November 1st and 8th

NOVEMBER 1 SLR
Trying to catch up on SLR reports! November 1st a small-ish size group headed to the "beach" for a 12 miler. The beach is located just past the playground in Basundhara. We planned to run to the playground (3 miles) then the beach (another 1/2 mile) along the sand and then around Basundhara for a few miles. Robin had some GI issues and had to cut it short (THANK YOU BOB for running with me!) The longest 9 miler I have EVER run. Running 6 miles with goose bumps dreaming of my bathroom at home is not a fun way to experience a long run! JR and Dave ran strong and JR was the only one that ran the 12 miles...great job!

NOVEMBER 8 SLR
We had a great size group today! We welcomed Becky and Stefan to SLR! Both excellent runners that ran 6 and 7 miles with us respectively! Bob, Dave and Robin headed across the bamboo bridge and out to the 6.5 mile marker. With Robin and Dave running the 6.5 back to the ARA and the .1 home, they logged a half marathon today! GREAT to be done and set a new record at the ARA ordering FOUR (yes, four!) Gilbert breakfast sandwiches post run to eat between the two of them!

Please join us this Saturday, November 15th at 6:30AM in front of the ARA for our next long run!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

DTC Halloween 5k results and top finishers!

Here are the final results from DTC's Halloween 5K held on October 31, 2008. Thanks to all of the runners for coming and supporting the club and a HUGE special thanks to Gary from Re-Fit for hosting the race and providing gift certificates for massages for the male and female winners.














Halloween 5K runners finish strong!












Here are some of the runners from this week-ends Halloween 5K. All runners finished strong. As Robin stood at the finish line calling out the official time, more than one runner picked up the pace down the home stretch for a great time! Runners picked up the pace enough to be able to break 20 minutes, 22 and 25 minutes! We even had a canine/human team sprinting across the finish line!
Congratulations to all of the runners!


The 5K racers are off and running!

The runners take off and Dave leads the way on his mountain bike! Everyone keeps an eye on his yellow jersey.

There is a reason Amy was our first female finisher and second finisher OVERALL...she can fly! Look...her feet are not even on the ground! Amy crossed the finish line less than one minute behind her betrothed and beautiful babes.

Greg was our first finisher overall, although technically Zoellie and Bela crossed the finish line first, Greg accepted the 1st place prize on their behalf.

Thanks to re-Fit for sponsoring the prizes---a free one hour sports body massage to both Amy and Greg! What a GREAT gift!