Lynette & Siong Hing (wife & husband teammates) take 1st and 9th place, at Kuantan Century Race

On June 1st, Lynette Ngo and Siong Hing took on a huge challenge for their first race of the year, The Kuantan Century Race on the east coast of Malaysia. For most races in and around Malaysia, it is typical for the women to ride and race within the men's fields. They do have separate awards and podium slots for women, but being able to stay with a super fast men's field is KEY to winning! And that is exactly what Lynette was able to do on this day. The race starts as one bunch and the challenge is to get to the front where the strongest racers are.   Lynette was a little nervous about the 2000 strong field, so her goal for the first 20km was to stay upright and move as much to the front as she could. She was very relieved to see the first climb at 8km, as she knew this might help her effort. Before the race, her Peaks Coach, Karen Mackin, reminded her that it would be critical for her to go really hard on these climbs. She was advised not to worry so much about going too hard (because it will likely ease up after the initial climbs and the group has shelled the weaker riders). Lynette took the advice and went hard, overtaking large numbers of riders until she could see the front of the peloton. Near the top she saw the group splitting at the front as the faster riders sped off on the descent. She immediately latched on to a couple of riders and the three of them managed to close the gap and join the lead peloton. Lynette said, "I found my teammate in that peloton but no other girls!", which meant they would get Gold and Silver! The pace picked up, the group split. Both women were still together in the 2nd pack chasing the lead peloton. Lynette's teammate (and husband) Siong Hing managed to hang in the front group, and despite what Siong called an "eventful and messy finish", he was able to place 9th in the Masters Category. Meanwhile, with 1km to go, Lynette attacked and created enough of a separation from her teammate to win the top podium position by half a bike wheel. Exciting stuff!

PCG Coach: Karen Mackin