Bidor Run 2009 - Part 1

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. For the elite runners, maintaining the position is vital in every race. Were those sweat flung out of his head when he turned around to assess his competitive position?

Graceful and well posed

Wendy Ming-Huey of Ipoh

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Jason Lee (Left)

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Written by KC

I like participating in Bidor Run. The running route leads runners to kampung (country) areas passing by quiet road with lush greenery lined with old rubber trees and oil palm trees at both side of the road. The road was newly tarred providing runners with extra cushion compared to hard ground. There was very little traffic which was very conducive for running. At times, we could hear the birds chipping in the sky. They must have been alarmed and surprised to see so many people running around in that area disturbing the peace and tranquility they used to enjoy.

The route is not without challenge. There were two loops for the Bidor Half Marathon category – the first loop was very flat while the second loop has two challenging hills to overcome. The route, however, takes runners to two unpleasant landmarks – one was a factory that makes the place smelled like shit. I was told by runner Fei when chatting with him while running that it was a poultry factory. Another landmark, depending how you look at it, is the Chinese cemetery.

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Your truly (KC) with a red radiant glow face

The Bidor Half Marathon held on Sunday 26 April 2009 was my second time running in Bidor. The previous time when I ran there, it was durians (The King of Fruits) season. Passing by the durian plantations lining along the running route, I could see durians bearing on trees. There was one make-shift shelter where one Malay old lady was selling durians.
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The Journey - When the alarm triggered at 2:30 p.m., I was still very blur. At that moment, I felt that I still did not have enough sleep yet. After all, that was the second morning waking up early (on Saturday 24 April, I have to wake up early for The Star newspaper photo-shoot at Bukit Tabur, Malawai for Everest Base Camp Team) click here. I went to Jason Lee's house and five runners started the journey at 4am and arrived at Bidor at 6am. We located the runner, Ming, who helped register for us and it was just good timing for the race to start at 7am.
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Standing at the starting line of Bidor Half Marathon, oh yes, I have not been standing at the starting for quite sometime since I participated in the Penang Bridge Marathon (doing half category) click here. I think the 1,300 runners are total categories as I see the crowd for half marathon could be about 700 runners. The race was flagged off at 7:00 a.m. sharp. Tough it was a warm and humid day without much cloud in the sky, the intense ray of the sun only started to shine strongly at 8am. The best thing was that the direction of the sun was always behind the runners.
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Water stations - The water stations were well managed by the volunteers. Water stations were located approximately every 5km each serving bottled water in cups. At the 15km mark, ice-chilled isotonic drink was then served. Ahh... it was really satisfying gulping the cold, sweet and refreshing drink.
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Finishing Area – I saw Jason Lee was there busy taking photos. According to him, he realized that the local runners in Bidor are a little camera-shy. He could know it when a runner, especially lady runner, when seeing photographer, would consciously run behind another runners to hide from the camera.
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I met quite a number of the regular runners and chat with them – Sonny Ng, Vivian Law, Lawrance Leong, Kelvin, RunWitMe, John Tan, Wai Mun, etc. Clocking at a timing of 1 hr 59 minutes, I was glad that I was only 9 minutes slower from my usual timing.
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L-R: Chee Loong, Ngai, Ming, KC

Hamper – During lucky draw, my bib number of B189 was drawn. What a lucky day for me! It was a hamper containing many different bottles of toiletries. The runner, Ming, who assisted us in getting the bibs is actually my childhood neighbour. Together with him, there was this young, tall and quite handsome teenager who is his son (first time seeing his son). So while holding the hamper walking around, I have a good idea. I just gave it to Ming's son – much to everyone's surprise – and I said that it is the present for knowing and meeting him (Ngai).

Hooi Fang - I met Hooi Fang, a lady runner who came from Penang with her group of keng chow (strong) runners. She will be running in Sundown Marathon on 31 May 2009 follows by KL Marathon on 28 June 2009, both full marathon categories. She and her friends would drive back to Penang after the run. Af for me, before going back to Kuala Lumpur, we went to savour the famous duck soup noodles in Bidor town.

Other than the factory that produced unpleasant smell, overall, the event was well organized – smooth execution of the race, consistent water stations, kampung route, quiet, very little traffic, and abundance of trees lined the route.

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Written by KC

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