extracted from ST forums.
Plea for ice cube rebuffed
ON SATURDAY, a group of friends and I had our training for a coming
marathon. We usually have our long runs at East Coast Park.
However, the weather that day was exceptionally hot. Without the
hydration provided by sports drinks, I felt that the top of my head
was on fire. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the hydration
point, the ice in the sports drinks had all melted.
I needed ice to cool down my core temperature and I had no choice
but to go to the snack bar at the Osim Tri Swim starting point by
the beach, called Kayak Snack Bar. I told a man there that I did
not have any money with me, and asked if he could give me an ice
cube as I was not feeling too well.
He refused, despite my plea that all I wanted was just one cube. He
said the ice was not for sale.
I was shocked. I asked him: 'So, even if someone is dying, you will
not give him one ice cube?' He said: 'No.'
I told him that he had just lost my business and that of many other
athletes. He said: 'It doesn't matter.'
A week ago, my husband and I were in Kona, Hawaii, for the Ironman
World Championship. The people there were amazing. Each time when
we had our training before the day of the race, running down Alii
Drive, folks there did not hesitate to top up our water.
At the Olympic Distance race in Phuket, the villagers, who barely
had anything to their name, never hesitated to offer us water from
their water bottle, even though they had paid for it.
What is wrong with the staff at Kayak Snack Bar? I could have died
of heatstroke!
Janet Simone Lim (Ms)
