Newton Run 2010 Race Review

The finisher medal, both 18km and 30km runners received the same medal (similiar design as Malaysia Newton Run on 26 Sept 12km/25km), I thought they should at least differentiate the 2 race distance. Well the ribbon colour remains me of the flag of Thailand.

Running 3 rounds of 10km each, along the beach there was strong headwind in the early morning and it made us push harder, that was tough.

On Sunday morning, together with 5 of my running friends we completed the 30km run at East Coast Park. The cut off time for the race initially was 3:30 hrs for 30km, however the organizer decided to change it to 5:30 hrs just in Sept. The emcee announced that there were 3,500 runners for both race distance, however it looked less than that. Before the start of the race, my friend gave me a packet of power gel, which I intended to take at around 13-14km.

The race starts at 7am, it was drizzling (cool perfect weather) and I reminded myself to be careful of the wet ground. The participants in this race are mostly seasoned runners(signed up to meet the cut off time), once flag off, all these runners just push forward.

Started the race at a comfortable pace, slightly faster than what I did in training. At the 2nd water point around at around 4-5km (at the lagoon) I picked up 2 packets of gel at the water station. Finished the first 10km (round 1), I checked my time it was slightly more than 1hr, was running at a good pace. In the second round, I met up with my running mate Roland, and we ran together for most of the 2nd round, at 20km mark upon crossing the line at the check point, I checked my time it was 2 hrs 1 min, I told my friend Roland we are going out a bit fast, but he just maintained his pace while I started to slow down, pretty soon I lost sight of him.

The final round of 10km (after running 20km) was the most challenging, my longest training run had been around 19km. At around 23km, was starting to feel the strain, my legs are alright (just a bit tired by now), no problem with my knees, so I looked at my watch again and knew that I can probably finish the race within 3hrs or so.. to get another PB. Popped the 3rd packet of gel before the lagoon, guess it was more of a psychological effect, thinking you are energised by the gel...I kind of slow down more in the final round, trying to maintain the pace I wanted.

In the last 3-4km towards the end, started to pick up some speed, I knew I was the last to finished in our group, at the last 2km, I maintained a good pace. Finally crossed the line in relief, finished the 30km run ... a true test of strength, stamina, endurance and speed. Crossed the line in 3 hrs 7 mins. Was happy with my time, gave my best, at least I didn't walk apart from drinking at the water stations.

Well, at the finish I took 2 cans of 100-plus, given an ice-cream and a wet towel (kind of refreshing).. with some ice, I used the towel to cool down..

The fastest time acheived by my friend was 2 hrs 25 mins, followed by 2hrs 45 mins, 2hrs 47 mins and Roland was 3 hrs 6 mins (he was 58 years old). Another friend finished in 3 hrs 20 mins. A good race with everyone getting a Personal Best.

This is a small scale race, the participants are manageable, however I can tell that there are a shortage of volunteers at the water stations. There wasn't any cheering group along the route, apart from the 30-40 people cheering at the finish line. Anyway a good race.

Till the next race. The next largest event will be the full marathon in December, and it was less than 2 months away.

Sundown Marathon 2010 (29 May)

Running tag and D-tag for timing.

The medal is thinner as compared to previous years.
Men's Open 21.1km ranking - 254/3301 (9 Jun 2010)

Last Saturday took part in the half-marathon night race at the adidas Sundown Marathon 2010. Finally, I achieved a personal best timing of 2:06:14, the 5th attempt in 7 years.

Before running this race, my best timing was in Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2004, a time of 2:09:09. In SCSM 2006 half, ran 2:13:44. In 2008 SCSM half, a time of 2:13:14. In 2009 SAFRA Army Half Marathon (a tougher race running up the expressway) finished in 2:18:29. After 4 attempts, I was destined to run 2hrs 14 mins for a half marathon... So I tried to take advantage of this race, with a starting time at 9pm (though the air was hot & humid), but at least there isn't any heat from the sun.

With 3 of my running friends, Martin, 40 yrs old (best time this year in 1 hr 36 mins, was placed 19), Chin, 53 yrs old (finished in 1:58). Roland, 58 yrs old (finished in 2:02), he encouraged me when we met at 16km mark, where I was leading him.. shortly he overtook me, this made me determined to give a final push, maintaining my pace towards the finish (at average 6 mins pace). My inspiration came from my friends, despite being older in age, they are superb runners always running with deep passion.

A great race for everyone, we had our photos taken by an appointed photographer after the race, followed by a deserved night snack of "Indian prata", it was almost 2am. Hopefully in the next half-marathon, I have the chance to improve my timing again, it is not going to be easy but not totally impossible.

Race Review:

This is my 3rd Sundown marathon, in 2008 I ran the full marathon, at that time the total participants was probably less than 5k, a niche race in my opinion, the full marathon sign up was just around 4.5k. From my records, 3,599 men and 861 women completed the full. For 84km race, just a few hundred runners. The race was manageable back then, but recently it seems the organizer are getting their hands tied.

Has making more Money the main factor? More than 19k runners this year, an increase of 8k plus as compared to 2009. How was the logistic, transportation and manpower being planned? In the area of bag deposit, entertainment and wider running route, it was good planning. As usual credits to all the volunteers, they are the biggest plus point in this race. With limited resources and manpower, the volunteers did a wonderful job.

As I travelled to the location by car, it was very smooth along the way. But considering the majority of runners depended on the race day feeder buses (learnt that there was about 10 buses catered for the event), it was a huge disappointment, together with complaints from lack of drinks at each water point. From all the posts on Facebook Sundown Marathon, it sounds like a nightmare for most people.

The organizer will have to look into the complaints and improve... else runners won't bother to sign up next year, the race fees are not cheap (increasing every year) in the first place. I had experienced bad races in Mizuno Wave Runs (first 2 years) and understand the frustration even after the race, hopefully runners can forget about this and look forward to their next race. Good luck & enjoy your runs :)

Earlier post in Feb:
Medal Collections till 2009