#7 NUS Aquathlon family

 Hello everyone! It is Yun Ting here. 

It has been a very very long hiatus since my last blog post. I think I will start getting back to it again. When I joined NUS in August 2020, Covid-19 hit and most lessons were on Zoom. I first joined NUS Aquathlon in 2020 and am still in the Aquathlon family today (year 3). 

What is Aquathlon? 

It is a multisport event, that includes swimming 800m and running 5km right after. It is a challenging but fulfilling and fun sport. 

Why did I choose to join Aquathlon? 

I was interested in doing triathlon but unfortunately, Singapore universities do not offer triathlon as a co-curricular activity. Hence, the closest to triathlon is Aquathlon, swim and run without cycling. I also joined a triathlon club to pursue my interest in the sport further. That was also when I first started road cycling. 

Joining Competitions and Becoming a Varsity Athlete

Due to Covid -19, Singapore University Games (SUNIG) were cancelled for 2020 and 2021. There were small-scale competitions such as Metasprint and more recently, Trifactor. My first Aquathlon competition was Metasprint when I signed up for the Freshman category. It was a shorter distance (400m swim, 2.5km run) and I manage to come in first for my age group and gender. 

Subsequently, I trained a lot and got injured and felt burnt out. Suffering from shin splints and shoulder pain, I could not run as often and decided to take a break from Triathlon as well as Aquathlon. Going back to training in early 2021, I had to gain back the stamina by starting with base training. My team and coaches were very encouraging.

In Academic Year 21/22, I volunteered to be the female captain of the Aquathlon team and became a varsity athlete. Training with the team is always fun as we help push each other in each set. We were able to motivate each other to train hard and consistently by showing up. 

In late 2022, it was announced that SUNIG would be happening again and we would be racing against other Universities. It would be my first time participating despite being in year 3. I am nervous yet excited. 

Updates: I did not manage to compete as I was down with Covid on the week of the race... :( 

Nonetheless, our female team came in 3rd and our male team was 2nd place! Congrats Team!

NUS Aquathlon family 

With the removal of more restrictions, our Alumni could train with us again. I am thankful to be part of this team. Besides training, we would also have lunch/ dinner together after training sessions to bond. Here's to more team training, meals and doing well in competitions together. Go NUS!