Penonton: New Balance Pacesetters 30km 2010

Sunday, January 17, 2010

New Balance Pacesetters 30km 2010

Men veteran 30km

Women 10km

Men 10km

Date: 17 Jan 2010
Time: 5.30am
Venue: Padang Merbok, KL
Distance: 30km, 20km, 10km

In short, 30km of slopes and winding hills. Although most avid runners are familiar with the running routes, the arrangement of this year's race was such that it almost created a new challenge, especially in the last 8km or so.

Hazards; as I don't really train much in this area, I found out that some of the streets can be quite hazardous due to lacking of street lights. Police assistance was good, as most traffic junctions were well manned.

Although overall organization of the event was quite good, there seems to be some hiccups that were caused by the lack of road marshalls. It seems that most of the complaints came from the elites and those in the front packs. As there were lots of turning points and small roads, runners depend very much on road marshalls or signage to help them navigate through the course. However, it seems that there were junctions that were not manned at all by marshalls nor the display of any signage. This cause confusion. Others complained that they were misguided by the marshalls, and ended up having to run extra miles due to this. One elite runner gave thumb down when he reached the finishing line.

I personally encountered a junction which was not manned at all..and the pack I was with, almost came to a standstill, until one of us pointed out that one of the road is a no-through road.

Another blunder - distance markers - why races in Malaysia can't have good distance markers?
Having put forward those few minuses above, I have to say that in overall there are more plus points than shortcomings. I am sure the team in Pacesetters has put a lot of effort in the planning and organization of this event. Lets hope they will find alternatives to overcome the shortage of volunteers in the future. (especially in the up coming Energizer - Cyberjaya and darkness will not do without marshall/signage).

For the 30K event, I will definitely come back again next year.

More photos here