We headed down to Tongyeong for Tim’s 2nd tri in Korea. It is a beautiful location a little Southeast from Busan, in a small harbor town in a little bay off of the Korea Strait. It took us about 6 hours to drive straight down the peninsula from Seoul, including rest stops and traffic. There are a few sightseeing things to do in Tongyeong, like visit Mireuksan Mountain, unfortunately we didn’t have time for much.  

    Thanks to Seoul Tri, we stayed in a pension (Korean hotel where you sleep on floor mats) across the street from the race start/finish, we could watch some of the bike and run from our window. There are a few restaurants right there and a convenience store which made it the perfect place to stay.

    We drove Friday evening in order to avoid Saturday Korean traffic and so we could watch the World Cup race on Saturday. Check-in for the age-group race was Saturday afternoon, during which the boys and I found our way to a small beach near the race site. We were not prepared, but that did not stop us from having a little fun!

After Tim checked in and did a little pre-race swim and run, we headed into the town to find some dinner and snacks. Tim also desperately needed a haircut, so we found a place next to the Underwater Tunnel so the boys and I could go for a walk. Then we decided on pizza to take back to the room and found a small bakery to get some breads for breakfast for race day (Sunday). Afterwards we headed back to the room to eat!

    The night went well, the boys took some effort to get to sleep, but that was nothing new. Since we were right at the race site, Tim got up and got going race morning while the boys and I took our time eating some breakfast in the room and gathering all we needed for during the race; diapers, snacks, toys, ipad, stroller, etc. Unfortunately we about froze once outside and did not come prepared with jackets! It was windy and much cooler by the water than I expected. However, we managed through and the boys played with a few toy cars and ate oranges given to them by strangers (common for them to get gifts from Koreans) while I photographed the race. Of course they would stop and cheer for dad whenever I showed them he was coming!

We were able to stay near the start/finish area and still get to see Tim several times, the swim, T1, once on the bike, T2 and twice on the run. Overall I thought it was a great race for the athletes and spectators alike.

It was an Olympic Distance race with nearly 1000 age-group athletes. Tim raced extremely well, better than Sejong, and came out 3rd in his age group. He went a :  (splits and stats)

~ Kristin (written a year after the event)