The 21-year-old Singaporean who attempted an Ironman as his first triathlon

Around the 19th kilometre of the marathon — six and a half hours into the race — Evan Wong felt a side stitch sharpen into something he could no longer run through.

He walked. Tried to run. Walked again. In his head, the race was slipping away.

Then, somewhere between aid stations, he tried something almost absurdly simple: he asked for a bag of ice, pressed it against the spot under his ribs that had been folding him in half, and started running again.

Within minutes, the pain eased.

Looking back, the 21-year-old says the only thing he would change about his entire race is using the ice pack earlier.

Wong finished VNG Ironman Vietnam 2026 in 11 hours, 46 minutes and 21 seconds — third in the men’s 18–24 age group, and 171st overall in a full-distance field of more than 700 finishers.

He is from Bedok. He works part-time as a teacher. He trained without a coach because he could not afford one. And the Ironman in Da Nang on 10 May was the first triathlon he had ever entered.

Vietnam’s first full-distance Ironman, held alongside the 10th edition of IRONMAN 70.3 Da Nang, drew more than 4,700 entrants across race week — the largest triathlon festival ever held in Vietnam, and the largest IRONMAN race week in Southeast Asia.

Most competitors spend years progressing through shorter races first.

Wong skipped the ladder entirely.

Skipping the ladder

The idea took shape after he completed last year’s Sydney Marathon. Looking for another challenge around May or June, he landed on Da Nang: close to Singapore, relatively affordable, and logistically manageable for travelling with a bicycle.

He signed up.

Most coaches would advise first-time triathletes to begin with a 70.3 — the half-distance Ironman. Wong did not see the point.

His view was simple: race-day performance depends on preparation, not previous medals.

Training began in January. The first two months focused on base fitness — getting comfortable on the bike, in the pool, and adapting to the training volume an Ironman requires.

From March onwards, he ramped up to roughly 20 hours a week.

A long ride on Saturdays. A long run on Sundays. Eventually, brick sessions: long rides followed immediately by shorter runs, before another long run the next morning.

No rest days.

He built the programme himself using online videos and publicly available training advice.

Three weeks before race day, he rode 170km on a Saturday, ran 10km immediately afterwards, then completed a 35km run the next morning.

“That was when I knew,” he says.

Loops along the Coastal Road

Training for an Ironman in Singapore requires compromise.

Open-water swimming options are limited. Cycling is harder still. The island has few long, uninterrupted roads, so serious cyclists often train in loops.

Wong did most of his riding along the Coastal Road — the longest continuous route he could piece together.

The climate, however, helped.

Singapore’s heat and humidity closely resemble Da Nang’s conditions, and race morning brought overcast skies and intermittent rain during the bike leg.

His nutrition plan held throughout: roughly 100 grams of carbohydrates per hour, sodium supplementation, and water from aid stations when needed.

“I wouldn’t change anything,” he says.

The bike was the hardest leg

That assessment is surprising because the numbers suggest otherwise.

Wong completed the 180km bike leg in 5:47:33, averaging just over 31km/h. His pacing stayed remarkably steady across the ride — the sort of discipline many age-group athletes take years to develop.

He moved from fourth to third in his age category during the bike leg and held that position for the rest of the race.

But to Wong, none of it felt easy.

About 20km into the ride, he could already feel fatigue building in his legs from the swim. He abandoned his target pace early and settled into something sustainable, reasoning that any gains made by overpushing the bike would collapse during the marathon.

At around 40km, he wanted to stop.

He kept riding.

By 160km, he knew he would finish.

He never checked his age-group position during the race. He only learned he had placed third afterwards, when his family told him.

Halfway, then the stitch

The marathon began smoothly.

For the first 18 kilometres, Wong felt stronger than he had on the bike — physically and mentally — holding a pace between roughly 5:30 and six minutes per kilometre.

Then the side stitch arrived.

The slowdown showed almost immediately. His pace dropped into the sevens. By kilometre 23, he was walking more than running.

The ice pack came a few kilometres later.

Soon after, he stabilised enough to keep moving consistently again.

What Wong remembers most from that stretch is not the pain itself, but the atmosphere of an Ironman marathon deep into the day: exhausted athletes, screaming spectators, and the smell of competitors who had been racing for more than 10 hours.

He crossed the finish line with what he describes as his “last bit of strength”, sprinting down the red carpet.

The first thing he drank afterwards was a coconut-lime drink.

The first thing he ate was an ice cream sandwich.

The honest version

Asked what he would tell another young Singaporean considering a first full Ironman, Wong does not offer the inspirational answer.

“I would tell them that they shouldn’t do it.”

And if they insist, he says they should at least attempt a half Ironman first.

The full distance, he says, is far longer than most people expect. Success depends on maintaining focus across 11 or 12 hours, where one mistake — pacing too hard, under-fuelling, ignoring pain too long — can unravel an entire day.

He is equally direct about the financial cost.

“The Ironman brand is extremely expensive,” he says.

This is not bitterness so much as clarity: a 21-year-old part-time teacher explaining exactly what the experience demanded from him, financially and physically.

What it cost, what it was worth

Wong does not yet have another race confirmed, though he expects he will eventually sign up for one.

He has no intention of turning professional. Endurance sport exists alongside the rest of his life, not in place of it.

For readers tempted by the same challenge — with the Da Nang race set to return in 2027, alongside other Ironman events across Vietnam — Wong’s debut offers a useful reminder.

Not that anyone can complete a full Ironman.

But that doing it well requires honesty: about preparation, limitations, money, pacing, and the small decisions that shape a race long before the finish line.

At kilometre 19, Evan Wong learned that lesson through a bag of ice.

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