All these three pictures taken from Kwang Leng.
John Heng missed his sub-4 by 13 sec!
Liew Chin Ngen completed the full marathon in 3:26:45, his personal best? (I believed)This was my 5th marathon after I ran my maiden marathon in March 2007. I will remember this event for a long time since there were many incidents happened. As a result, the organizer of this event, Octagon, as promised, delivered the most memorable event (as far as I am concerned) but perhaps not the way they wanted. They have lost control over the event as most runners complained from the way they organised the Bib collection on Friday, then the redemption of medal and the collection of luggage after the race, the “water” shortage, the traffic, etc, and a long list of shortcomings that many runners had already posted in their blogs.
When the news broke out that Standard Chartered Bank will sponsor this marathon, many local runners were so excited. The response was so good that registration was force to close much earlier. (P.S. However I was a bit saddened just before the race start when I heard the announcement that there were only 1,900 Full marathon runners. I was expecting at least 3,000 (25%) participants for the 42KM category since we have such a large population).
After I registered for this event, I realized that I have to attend a company’s workshop in Cherating Club Med from 26th to 28th June 2009. Since it clashed with the SCKLM, I quickly made some arrangement that I could leave Kuantan on Saturday night so that I still could manage to run on the Sunday morning. Since this was the tapering week, I refrained from taking part in the more strenuous activities during these 2 days and took the opportunity to carbo-load with all the good foods provided. This turned out to be the wrong strategy as I put on at least 3 more KG (memang exaggerated lah!).
I drove alone starting from Cherating at around 8pm after a comparatively light dinner, I took a wrong turn exiting the new Highway and drove towards Kuantan, thanks to the ever confusing sign board along the road. At around 11:30 pm, I was arriving at KL and I decided to stop at the last R&R just before the toll, rested there for half an hour and drove straight to Dataran Merdeka following my plan.
I was at Dataran Merdeka just after midnight, there were a large crowd and I surprised that there were so many runners came here at this wee hour. When I started to look around thoroughly, those people around were youngsters having a good Saturday’s night outing. It look a bit weird to have a group of “partying dressing” youth hanging around with a running event backdrop (with the tents, the grand stand, the mobile toilets, etc ).
The Full Marathon started punctually at 5.00 am. It was a perfect weather, cool with slight rain, to run, however I did not quite please to have my shoe and socks wet during the starting of a run. I was standing not so far from the start line and it took me less than 20 sec to cross the line.
My target today was simple, completing the Full Marathon within 4 hours would be an achievement since I could only manage to do 3 times 30KM LSD training after the Great Eastern 30KM run in January. I knew the important of the LSD training for the marathon but I still believed that those 20KM run during some of my weekend would help me through.
I started with an easy pace, not much of an option due to the crowd, I caught up with Ng “Kin Hong” after around 2 or 3 minutes near the old Railway Station. I was surprised he was not pacing with his training mate, “Fei” Keong. As the congestion eased, I picked up a little speed heading towards Bangsar. Saw “Papaya” Lee and “Fei” Keong not far ahead, I kept the pace and slowly approaching them. While we turned in to Brickfield, “Fei” Keong saw me and run together with me for the next 1 or 2 KM. He decided to slow down slightly just before the water station at 5th KM. I moved ahead and run alone again along Loke Yew road and here I overtook Tay Poh Chye, he was running much slower compared to last December SC Singapore Marathon. Caught up with Klang Pacer SP Wong around this area. SP was not running his usual pace so I decided to move ahead alone along Jalan Cheras.
I was so surprise to see Tee Ee Kia overtook me just before turning into Jalan Tun Razak. I took a look at my watch and did a rough calculation based on the distant marker, I was at an average of 5min per KM pace at this point. I knew that I would not be able to survive later in the run with this pace and I was quite certain that Tee would not be able to sustain this pace since we did train together sometime. I am sure Tee is a better runner but I also knew that he did not train hard enough for this run especially the LSD. As all these thoughts still with me, I saw Tee sitting at the roadside seemed trying to take off his shoe, he showed me some sign indicating he was having problem with his shoe. I moved ahead and only after the race he told me that he finished the run slightly more than 4 and a half hour and having problem with his wet socks and shoes.
Met Jason Thiang riding his bike along the course and he was surprised I was running at this pace. He was right because I started to feel the strain when I turned into Jalan Ipoh and I decided to slow down a little. I had overtaken a few runners and at the same time, a few runners overtook me around Jalan Sultan Ismail/Jalan Ampang, including two ladies and Sam Pritchat. At the water station at Jln Kia Peng, I skipped and nearly fell on to the ground while I tried to maneuver around the volunteers to grab a cup of water on the table. They were standing outside trying to pass those cups of water to the runners, but the 4 runners just in front of me took all the six cups held by the 3 volunteers, 2 more volunteers were holding the sponges.
At around Jalan Bukit Bintang, my speed dropped to almost 7 min per KM as I became tired and hungry. Since I did not have the habit of carrying any Gel or Bar while running, I had to wait till I reached China Town. I torn open the PowerGel immediate when I took it from the volunteer and squeezed those sticky gel into my mouth. It was quite a challenge to swallow it without water and it was a calculated risk that the water station would be at around the church along Jalan Hang Jebat. I took 2 cups of water and my throat and stomach felt much better and there was no miracle, I still had to struggle to climb the slope just outside of the FTAAA’s office.
There were huge amount of traffic being held up the run for runners crossing over to the middle of the highway in front of the Istana. I was wondering why the traffic police did not diverse those vehicles and prevent them from coming in to the Istana area where they had to wait a long time. Running in a narrowly condoned-off path along the highway created a sense of insecurity. Making it worst because the full marathoners running along-side the half marathoners. What-if the high speed car lost control and veered towards the crowded running path, many runners will be killed and injured. However, putting this negative thought aside, it is quite pleasant for me running along this path feeling proud overtaking many slower half-marathoners, temporary forgetting my tired body and heavy feet.
It was a challenge to run up the slope in front of Wisma Tani, it was a huge relief when I reached the top and started strolling down. I had studied the route map many times and I knew that I need to turn left towards Pertama Complex at Jalan Raja Laut. I gathered all my energy and continued running completing this loop while the effect of the PowerGel started to kick-in.
Kevin Tan & Ah Boon’s wife were at the finishing line after finishing their half marathon waiting for all the Taman Bukit Jalil runners returning. I was glad that I could still make it within 4 hrs. However, it was not as lucky for John Heng, he crossed the finishing line while the clock showed 4:00:26 Hr (Net Chip Time of 4:00:13) and later I found out from the internet that he missed the sub-4 by a mere 13 second!
Another shocked was that Liew Chin Ngen finishing at 3:26:43 (No, the shock was not the timing, he was expecting to finish sub 3:30), overtaking our top runner John Chow (Ah Wei). Ah Wei only managed a poor timing (as he is a 3:15 marathoner) of 3:45:50.
I will not dwell into those negative aspects of the event as most incidents have been widely publicize in the local newspapers and the internet. However I would like to congratulate our maiden marathoner, an 80KG plus “Big Size” Liew for completing the full marathon in less than 7 hours. He was lucky that he carried some money with him so that he can enjoy stopping by at, at least 4, of the best marathon water stations in the world equipped with all sorts of cold drinks, Coke, Seven-up, Gastronate, 100 plus, orange juice, etc, including beer. While other not-so-lucky runners had to pick up half-filled water bottles along the road to re-hydrate. For those who are curious how the water station look like, there is a picture below.
When the news broke out that Standard Chartered Bank will sponsor this marathon, many local runners were so excited. The response was so good that registration was force to close much earlier. (P.S. However I was a bit saddened just before the race start when I heard the announcement that there were only 1,900 Full marathon runners. I was expecting at least 3,000 (25%) participants for the 42KM category since we have such a large population).
After I registered for this event, I realized that I have to attend a company’s workshop in Cherating Club Med from 26th to 28th June 2009. Since it clashed with the SCKLM, I quickly made some arrangement that I could leave Kuantan on Saturday night so that I still could manage to run on the Sunday morning. Since this was the tapering week, I refrained from taking part in the more strenuous activities during these 2 days and took the opportunity to carbo-load with all the good foods provided. This turned out to be the wrong strategy as I put on at least 3 more KG (memang exaggerated lah!).
I drove alone starting from Cherating at around 8pm after a comparatively light dinner, I took a wrong turn exiting the new Highway and drove towards Kuantan, thanks to the ever confusing sign board along the road. At around 11:30 pm, I was arriving at KL and I decided to stop at the last R&R just before the toll, rested there for half an hour and drove straight to Dataran Merdeka following my plan.
I was at Dataran Merdeka just after midnight, there were a large crowd and I surprised that there were so many runners came here at this wee hour. When I started to look around thoroughly, those people around were youngsters having a good Saturday’s night outing. It look a bit weird to have a group of “partying dressing” youth hanging around with a running event backdrop (with the tents, the grand stand, the mobile toilets, etc ).
The Full Marathon started punctually at 5.00 am. It was a perfect weather, cool with slight rain, to run, however I did not quite please to have my shoe and socks wet during the starting of a run. I was standing not so far from the start line and it took me less than 20 sec to cross the line.
My target today was simple, completing the Full Marathon within 4 hours would be an achievement since I could only manage to do 3 times 30KM LSD training after the Great Eastern 30KM run in January. I knew the important of the LSD training for the marathon but I still believed that those 20KM run during some of my weekend would help me through.
I started with an easy pace, not much of an option due to the crowd, I caught up with Ng “Kin Hong” after around 2 or 3 minutes near the old Railway Station. I was surprised he was not pacing with his training mate, “Fei” Keong. As the congestion eased, I picked up a little speed heading towards Bangsar. Saw “Papaya” Lee and “Fei” Keong not far ahead, I kept the pace and slowly approaching them. While we turned in to Brickfield, “Fei” Keong saw me and run together with me for the next 1 or 2 KM. He decided to slow down slightly just before the water station at 5th KM. I moved ahead and run alone again along Loke Yew road and here I overtook Tay Poh Chye, he was running much slower compared to last December SC Singapore Marathon. Caught up with Klang Pacer SP Wong around this area. SP was not running his usual pace so I decided to move ahead alone along Jalan Cheras.
I was so surprise to see Tee Ee Kia overtook me just before turning into Jalan Tun Razak. I took a look at my watch and did a rough calculation based on the distant marker, I was at an average of 5min per KM pace at this point. I knew that I would not be able to survive later in the run with this pace and I was quite certain that Tee would not be able to sustain this pace since we did train together sometime. I am sure Tee is a better runner but I also knew that he did not train hard enough for this run especially the LSD. As all these thoughts still with me, I saw Tee sitting at the roadside seemed trying to take off his shoe, he showed me some sign indicating he was having problem with his shoe. I moved ahead and only after the race he told me that he finished the run slightly more than 4 and a half hour and having problem with his wet socks and shoes.
Met Jason Thiang riding his bike along the course and he was surprised I was running at this pace. He was right because I started to feel the strain when I turned into Jalan Ipoh and I decided to slow down a little. I had overtaken a few runners and at the same time, a few runners overtook me around Jalan Sultan Ismail/Jalan Ampang, including two ladies and Sam Pritchat. At the water station at Jln Kia Peng, I skipped and nearly fell on to the ground while I tried to maneuver around the volunteers to grab a cup of water on the table. They were standing outside trying to pass those cups of water to the runners, but the 4 runners just in front of me took all the six cups held by the 3 volunteers, 2 more volunteers were holding the sponges.
At around Jalan Bukit Bintang, my speed dropped to almost 7 min per KM as I became tired and hungry. Since I did not have the habit of carrying any Gel or Bar while running, I had to wait till I reached China Town. I torn open the PowerGel immediate when I took it from the volunteer and squeezed those sticky gel into my mouth. It was quite a challenge to swallow it without water and it was a calculated risk that the water station would be at around the church along Jalan Hang Jebat. I took 2 cups of water and my throat and stomach felt much better and there was no miracle, I still had to struggle to climb the slope just outside of the FTAAA’s office.
There were huge amount of traffic being held up the run for runners crossing over to the middle of the highway in front of the Istana. I was wondering why the traffic police did not diverse those vehicles and prevent them from coming in to the Istana area where they had to wait a long time. Running in a narrowly condoned-off path along the highway created a sense of insecurity. Making it worst because the full marathoners running along-side the half marathoners. What-if the high speed car lost control and veered towards the crowded running path, many runners will be killed and injured. However, putting this negative thought aside, it is quite pleasant for me running along this path feeling proud overtaking many slower half-marathoners, temporary forgetting my tired body and heavy feet.
It was a challenge to run up the slope in front of Wisma Tani, it was a huge relief when I reached the top and started strolling down. I had studied the route map many times and I knew that I need to turn left towards Pertama Complex at Jalan Raja Laut. I gathered all my energy and continued running completing this loop while the effect of the PowerGel started to kick-in.
Kevin Tan & Ah Boon’s wife were at the finishing line after finishing their half marathon waiting for all the Taman Bukit Jalil runners returning. I was glad that I could still make it within 4 hrs. However, it was not as lucky for John Heng, he crossed the finishing line while the clock showed 4:00:26 Hr (Net Chip Time of 4:00:13) and later I found out from the internet that he missed the sub-4 by a mere 13 second!
Another shocked was that Liew Chin Ngen finishing at 3:26:43 (No, the shock was not the timing, he was expecting to finish sub 3:30), overtaking our top runner John Chow (Ah Wei). Ah Wei only managed a poor timing (as he is a 3:15 marathoner) of 3:45:50.
I will not dwell into those negative aspects of the event as most incidents have been widely publicize in the local newspapers and the internet. However I would like to congratulate our maiden marathoner, an 80KG plus “Big Size” Liew for completing the full marathon in less than 7 hours. He was lucky that he carried some money with him so that he can enjoy stopping by at, at least 4, of the best marathon water stations in the world equipped with all sorts of cold drinks, Coke, Seven-up, Gastronate, 100 plus, orange juice, etc, including beer. While other not-so-lucky runners had to pick up half-filled water bottles along the road to re-hydrate. For those who are curious how the water station look like, there is a picture below.
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