Sri Garden 20th Anniversary Charity Run

Date: 9 October 2011

Venue: Sekolah Sri Garden, Taman Maluri, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Distance: 7km (Garmin: 5.74km; some measured 5.82km)

Timing: 28:11 (Garmin)

Pace: 4:53 min/km (Garmin)

Result: 7th (Women’s Open)

Website: here

 

This was a last minute thingy which I signed up 2 days after it closed! Thank goodness the organizers were nice enough to let me in. I didn’t sign up until after Jakarta because I wanted to be sure the ankle held up. 3 weeks out and it’s still nagging; at least the pain is gone; there’s some lingering tightness and pull – oh yeah, our resident consultant sports physician (aka Dr Pui San) diagnosed it as some ligament something something.

This event was dominated by runners of African descent (probably attracted by the prize money – cash rather than the humdrum vouchers). The top 9 places in the Men Open went to them as did the top 3 in the Women Open category. Nope, it wasn’t that less competitive in the latter since Amelia took the fourth spot and the fifth went to another lady from the African continent. That leaves about 5 remaining slots for the weekend warriors like us. Oh well, I did have a glimpse of this when I saw the name list during the bib collection the previous day. I should have gone for the Teluk Pulai event (if I didn’t get lost getting there to begin with).

Km 1-2

As the field was small, I was lined up at row 4 with Cynthia (new friend!); Meyyapan was up at row 2; didn’t spot Stanley though. This out-and-back course started at the road just outside the secondary road to Sri Garden before turning left to Jalan Perkasa and I probably started too fast getting caught up with those in rows 1 and 2. There were a few ladies ahead of me which is usual (I start slow!) but soon, I was ticking them off one-by-one except for a Caucasian lady in a white cap whom I would paced off for the remainder of the race.

Km3

We hit Tesco at the end of km2 and the next 200 meter stretch was unpaved road reminiscent of Phuket. Thank goodness it was short. Then it was basically running through the Taman Maluri neighbourhood.

Km4-5

Back on the main road (Jalan Perkasa) heading back to the school. Midway through, I spotted some of the schoolboys (schoolchildren and the vets did a shorter 5km) – for one moment, I wondered who took the wrong route: them or us. They saw us coming and immediately made a turn around. It was on this stretch I managed to pass the lady in the white cap (oh, it was an Adidas).

Km5-End

Oh crap! Ms White Cap passed me after the turnaround into Jalan Pria with 700 meters to go. Ok, that’s not as crap as the muddy field where the finishing was.

Pros:

a) Online registration – Mr Arul (Sports Coordinator) even kept aside my bib and tee for me. He did that for the runners who registered online/emailed him whereas those who went the route of paper or through FTAAA collected theirs at the hall. Not that there was any problem with that – smooth collection of bib; in an out in less than 5 minutes.

b) Great post-run carnival (relative to the size of the run). There were egg sandwiches sponsored by one of the local insurance agents, Revive isotonic drinks, H2O and goodie bag sponsored by Allied Pickfords.

c) Good follow through/traffic management post run: finish, record bib number and walk through for breakfast, water and goodie bag.

d) Plenty of finishing spots up for grabs – 10 for each category. I would say, they were very generous indeed – cash prizes, individualized placing medal and (naturally Sri Garden embossed) cap.

e) Race fees going towards charity and I like that they tied this event with this coming weekend’s packing food for hunger event.

Cons:

a) Route confusion – due to lack of marshals?

b) Muddy field for finishing. Then again, you can hardly blame the organizer for the rain overnight, can you? Perhaps they should have put up some planks?

Here's the finish line though you can't see the muddy fields

c) Some dilly dallying with the prize presentation – the “we will start immediately…” was repeated from 9 am through 9:40 am.  The prize presentation was at the courtyard. Sylvia and Mr Moey were among the winners.

But first check out the ziraffe!

d) As expected, no road closures. The possible dangerous section was Jalan Perkasa since this is the main artery to Kampung Pandan and Taman Maluri; the rest were on secondary roads.

e) No hydration station along the route – this was ok for me since I don’t stop at aid stations for runs under 10-12km but I think most would have appreciated a sip along the way. Unless…I was mistaken – the run was pretty much a blur for me and I may have missed the station.

Photo log in FB here