Sundown Marathon 2011 Final Results

Last week, I checked on the Sundown results and was surprise to see a FINAL updated one. The earlier posted here was the provisional results. I'm happy to see the improvement in overall standings. Not bad, i think i can still improve.

The next event will be the SAFRA Army Half Marathon coming up in Sept, the last time i ran in this race was 2 years ago.

Sundown Marathon 2011 Half Marathon Review

I had finished the race, there isn't any personal best. Just how close it was? This year I finished in 2: 06: 16. Last year it was 2: 06 : 15. So the difference was 1 sec to my personal best.

I gave my best, if i didn't stop at the last 2 water points, I am sure it can be around 30 sec faster. But anyway, I'm more determined to run a personal best again this year.


Race Review
This year Sundown orgainizer Hivelocity did a great job, after taking feedbacks & making adjustment to the overall race experience, there isn't any major issues. They received lots of complaints after last year race, as expected more people turn out for the race this year.

My friend Roland pick us up at around 5:30pm, reaching at around 6:15pm. Four of us running, last year it was 5. The race starts at 8pm, we were early and there are plenty of parking lots. Unlike last year, I didn't move to the very front of the start line.


Start of the race

When the gun went off, I just have to overtake the slower runners, kind of waste a bit of energy, need to get into good position, i overtook hundreds of people. At around 5km, I looked at my watch - 28mins. Good pace, however at around 8km, as usual the same old problem on my right knee, I slow down a bit, at around 10km, it was less than an hour on my watch. Just have to maintain this pace, i tell myself. The weather was humid, was totally wet from head to toes. At around 13km, i kind of feeling the strain, i'm running out much faster than i did in training, the only thing i knew was that i had done this before, all i have to do was to repeat it again.

From 13 km onwards, I stopped and took a slip at every water point, just to have light refreshment, it was a tough run. After 15km, the road was kind of empty in front of me, just half a dozen people, i was too tried by now to overtake any of them, just running at the intended pace.

At 19km mark, I looked at my watch, it was 1 hr 53 mins. I knew it will be quite close this time, so i just pick up speed towards the finish without looking at my watch again (when u look at your watch, you tend to slow down), the right knee problem was gone (or i just block it away), the final push to the finish line. As usual, i was familiar with the route, in the final stretch of around 2km it was total darkness, i was running towards the light at the finish line (the music gets louder as it was closer). When i crossed the finish line, i knew i had the same timing as last year 2hrs 6 mins.In the last 2.1km, i took 13 mins.

race results from runpix

I have a total of 7 pictures taken, i selected 2 of my favourite and post here :)

My friend Roland 59 years old, came in 2nd in his age group, Chin 54 years old, 3rd in his age group and Hong in 40-44 age group, he finished at 16 position. They are all superb runners and i can't keep up with them in training, i'm usually a step behind them.

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