I was having mixed feeling while reading the letter and holding the medal sent from the Organizers of Saberkas RH Marathon. Automatically, my mind wanders to Ipoh Marathon held in July 2004.
I would like to share this story with other runners. Till to date, the runners are still talking and making reference to it – for the wrong reason.
We ran the Ipoh International Marathon on 4 July 2004. Since it was the first marathon in Ipoh, The Club gave full support of that event. The Club organized and assembled hundreds of enthusiastic runners. We drove 200 km from Kuala Lumpur and put up a night in a 5-star hotel located strategically next to the starting point.
On race morning, everything went quite smoothly. However, five hours after starting time, the race officials “close shop” instead of the specified six hours. When the marathon runners returned at the finishing point, they were bewildered and lost – there were no officials in sight.
I was relaxing after completing my marathon slightly more than four hours and I was sitting in cool shade under one of the tents. The new definition on human drama of marathon unfolded before me: I watched the runners’ facial expression transformed from the satisfaction of completing the marathon into frustration and despair. Imagine enduring for more than five hours running in hot weather with constant self-talk to justify your participation only to confirm you were right in your thoughts when no one bothered to greet you and to acknowledge you at the finishing line.
Worst still, there were no medals beyond five hours. The runners complained fiercely and argued with the race officials. Eventually, the race official recorded runners’ details for those that did not receive the medals. I heard the medals were wrongly dished out to the 10km or 7km categories resulted insufficient in supply.
Weeks passed and some runners began to doubt the seriousness and commitment of the event organizer. Nevertheless, they kept their promise and eventually some of the runners received the medals via postal service months later; others, still waiting. The unhappy chapter was closed. However, quite a number of the disgruntled runners swore that they will never return to run any race in future organized by the same organizer in Ipoh.
Different runners have different needs. As the running distance increased, the expectation from runners increased accordingly. Runners do concerned with toilets, water stations, drinks (water and isotonic) that served along the course; the certificates and medals.
The expectation is valid as these requirements are part and parcel of a marathon event. A fun event could be ruined by a mere insufficient attention to details by the organizer. For drinking water, preferably use bottled water and not scoping water in full view of runners out from the big black tank meant for storing toilet water where the source was doubtful. I had that lousy experience when running Awana Tri-Terrain race in Genting Highlands many years ago resulted in acute diarrhoea.
Staging a full marathon is a serious matter as expectation from runners is high, especially when they start to compare with those well organized ones. It requires a lot of planning from the Organizer; teamwork, and commitment from the officials and volunteers.
By KC
I would like to share this story with other runners. Till to date, the runners are still talking and making reference to it – for the wrong reason.
We ran the Ipoh International Marathon on 4 July 2004. Since it was the first marathon in Ipoh, The Club gave full support of that event. The Club organized and assembled hundreds of enthusiastic runners. We drove 200 km from Kuala Lumpur and put up a night in a 5-star hotel located strategically next to the starting point.
On race morning, everything went quite smoothly. However, five hours after starting time, the race officials “close shop” instead of the specified six hours. When the marathon runners returned at the finishing point, they were bewildered and lost – there were no officials in sight.
I was relaxing after completing my marathon slightly more than four hours and I was sitting in cool shade under one of the tents. The new definition on human drama of marathon unfolded before me: I watched the runners’ facial expression transformed from the satisfaction of completing the marathon into frustration and despair. Imagine enduring for more than five hours running in hot weather with constant self-talk to justify your participation only to confirm you were right in your thoughts when no one bothered to greet you and to acknowledge you at the finishing line.
Worst still, there were no medals beyond five hours. The runners complained fiercely and argued with the race officials. Eventually, the race official recorded runners’ details for those that did not receive the medals. I heard the medals were wrongly dished out to the 10km or 7km categories resulted insufficient in supply.
Weeks passed and some runners began to doubt the seriousness and commitment of the event organizer. Nevertheless, they kept their promise and eventually some of the runners received the medals via postal service months later; others, still waiting. The unhappy chapter was closed. However, quite a number of the disgruntled runners swore that they will never return to run any race in future organized by the same organizer in Ipoh.
Different runners have different needs. As the running distance increased, the expectation from runners increased accordingly. Runners do concerned with toilets, water stations, drinks (water and isotonic) that served along the course; the certificates and medals.
The expectation is valid as these requirements are part and parcel of a marathon event. A fun event could be ruined by a mere insufficient attention to details by the organizer. For drinking water, preferably use bottled water and not scoping water in full view of runners out from the big black tank meant for storing toilet water where the source was doubtful. I had that lousy experience when running Awana Tri-Terrain race in Genting Highlands many years ago resulted in acute diarrhoea.
Staging a full marathon is a serious matter as expectation from runners is high, especially when they start to compare with those well organized ones. It requires a lot of planning from the Organizer; teamwork, and commitment from the officials and volunteers.
By KC
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