Adidas KOTR (3)

Album 3 - Please click here to view photos by courtesy of JASON LEE. Stay tuned for more photos. Scroll down the pages for a report written by yours truly.

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Without doubt, the Adidas King of the Road (KOTR) run on Sunday 2 August 2009 was a challenging event with its route going through many uphill and downhill. In this event, the Mother of All Uphill Runs has to be the final hill but the icing on the cake was that at the peak of the uphill run, the Shah Alam Stadium – the finishing point – was immediately unfolded in full view.

At that moment, I have three more minutes to my previous 2’00.45 timing in KL Marathon (28 June). So I ran and ran and ran, extending wider stride and increasing faster pace hoping to clock in an improved timing. I completed the run in 2’01.20 (35 seconds slower) but later realized that this is a 22.7km run while KL Marathon is 21km. Too much jerking does affect the brain in thinking clearly.
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Selangor Menteri Besar, YAB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (right)

The starting point was at Shah Alam Stadium with lots of space for one to move around. The Selangor Meteri Besar, YAB Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, came to grace the occasion and flagged off the run at 6:30 a.m. as planned. I salute and respect this Menteri Besar who is humble and good with time management that did not make thousands of runners to wait.

The moment the runners exited from the Shah Alam Stadium, we were greeted with the first and long uphill run. Of course, the good point is that the final assault would be the much needed downhill run. With months of trekking in local mountains (in preparing for Mount Everest Base Camp trekking trip on 4 October 2009), click here I find running uphill was quite easily managed.

I like running in Shah Alam, the capital city of Selangor. The entire running route was clean and tidy with well-maintained, low-lying scrubs lining the course. The traffic was light on Sunday morning which was just ideal to stage the running event. There was only one occasion where traffic jam was built up when the traffic warden allowed longer green wave for runners to cross the road.
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Huge Crowd – As reported, the Adidas King of the Road attracted 10,000 or more runners which was a big success to draw in the crowd. This is one of the runs where we get to see more young runners participating in running. The huge turnout of runners painted a sea of yellow dots when viewed from afar. Thanks to Adidas for the generous sponsorship of good quality, dry-fitting vests with vibrant orangey-yellow in trendy and slim-fitting design complemented with the signature Adidas III stripe in blue.

Waterstation – In my opinion, this is two thumbs up. For a half marathon event, there were so many drinks stations that I have lost count of them. The organizer even provided sponging stations which are usually meant for full marathon races. Later, I learned from one official that there were six water stations and six sponging stations. This is a startling contrast compared to last year where certain runners complained of insufficient water and gave it two thumbs down. click here.

Traffic Control – Traffic control was good. The route went through many roundabouts and I could see the traffic wardens were actively discharging their duty by allowing the runners to pass. I was passing by numerous roundabouts, and runners were receiving green wave all the time! However, I heard from the slower runners that priority was shifted to allow more traffic to pass. I believe this is an inevitable situation as the Malaysia drivers, after waiting in their vehicles for more than five minutes, are not too happy that this is a free country and they could not free their vehicles from obstruction by the runners.

Distance Marker – Quite interestingly, all were showing the same distance of 22.7km. There was no distance marker along the route. Nevertheless, this is something which the organizer could easily improve on next year.
. What is wrong with this photo? Lane A, B and C are being blocked by inconsiderate runners and spectators.

Crowd control leading to the finishing line – This is the most bizarre happening and I have not seen such situation before in other running events. The spectators practically sit on the lanes blocking Category A, B and C (of half marathon category). How could the officials allow such obstruction to continue. The Shah Alam Stadium is a huge venue but the inconsiderate runners and spectators chose to block the way.

At the Finishing Area (in the Stadium)

There were many runners at the finishing area with lots of activities going on: some were busy lining up for Milo and 100 Plus drinks which run out much earlier than expected causing disappointment among runners; some busy talking to their friends; some resting on the field in groups; some eagerly waiting and cheering for their friends. I walked around greeting and chatting with my runner friends. The most frequent remarks from them: "Wah, did not see you for ages." I quipped: "I have been hiding in the jungle. Suddenly, when I come out, I see so many people around."

Another lady runner asked how come I have 4 bands while her husband got only 1 band (confirmation of a runner passing by the route). I quipped that I just run here, run there, run here and run there and collected so many.

One runner friend, after inquiring my timing, said how come I can still run so fast. So I quipped: "I must be dashing for cover when chased by bees or insects in the jungle while trekking."
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Dr Shara, KC, ChongYF, Yee Choi, Weng, Josie, Annie, Steven, Chee Yung, Meng

Meeting Point – Dr Shara, a trekker friend for the coming Mount Everest Base Camp trip, said in his email that he hoped we could meet in this Adidas run. Guess where we met? I met him at the toilet. Later, I met AB Tan, PK Chan, Weng, Steven P5; I met the ladies: Geannie Tan, Josie, Annie, Alexis – not in toilet. Then met Jason Lee, the photographer, and we have rounds of group photos.

Tunneling – The huge Shah Alam Stadium is connected with a network of tunnels for mobility of spectators within the stadium. Proper signage is important and that include putting up red/white plastic ribbon for prohibited entry to sections that are closed or not used. It could be fatal for any runner who is in need of urgent medical help and get lost in the underground of the gigantic structure.
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Conclusion

It is such a good feeling running in the Adidas King of the Road event as we may temporary feel that we are the king of the road (expanded scope of heightened feeling) until the reality set in that we still have to overcome numerous uphill run. Other than the shortcomings, BRAVO to the organizer for providing ample supply of drinks, good traffic control and mapping out a challenging route; and at the same time, highlight the beautiful landscape of Shah Alam. The bright orangey-yellow running vest, with its trendy and slim-fitting design, looks really good. Above all, thanks to Adidas for the great sponsorship.
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Written by KC

Jason Lee (left), Yours truly KC (middle)

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