Coming back to race in this event was because my friend, Alice invited me to go along. We are kinda like “loner” runners and prefer to go around alone. But we somehow managed for this race. Although some hiccups of not really knowing where I left my race belt, I decided to go ahead with the long never used Camelback hydration pack.
Official Website: http://checkpointspot.asia/event/eventinfo-mwm19.aspx
The last time I took part in this race was 2015. I still remembered that I managed to squeeze in a 6th Place in the women overall. It was at Shah Alam, where the famous Blue Mosque was. I liked the race then but the route was a little complicated with small loop, that could easily be missed.
This year, the race took place in Petaling Jaya( PJ), having done a half marathon in PJ last year. I find the routes in PJ very undulating and also most of the places you can run is through the residential area which is not very ideal as the road is narrow. Looking at the route for MWM, I could already sense that many runners in the full marathon will get lost in the second loop. Starting at 2 am makes it even more challenging to fight the Z monster and a cut off time of 6hours 30 minutes with cut off times at certain water stations makes it even more challenging for the first time runners.
RACE PACK COLLECTION
The race pack collection was from 28th Feb to 1st Mar at the Padang Timur, which is also the race start and end point. Due to many requests from foreign runners and runners staying out of the state, they put an extra slot on Sat the 2nd at AB Mall which is just opposite the Padang. There were not many people so the collection was smooth
Directions to the collection point
RACE DAY
On the roads
We stayed at the PJ Luxe Boutique Inn, we are acutally 600m away from the start point. The room was decent and very new, breakfast was also provided. After checking in we were more if like preparing for the race. I slept early as I have to wake up at 12am just to make my way to the race. For a person who simply loves to sleep. It was rather difficult for me to perform well in night races, this was already proven in the Sundown marathon. Still very tired but with some coffee and my usual Red bull it got better. The padang ( field) is very large area and the organsier filled it with stage and many other sponsors booth. This year there was also a VIP tent for the media and VIP. The main stage was far from the start line because of this most of the participants does not want to proceed there for the warm up. The toilets were also put right at the very end
The start line was not that prominent because there were no lights shining on it, kinda less that Wow feeling that can be created in the night. Bag drop was pretty fast and after dropping off the stuff I went to the start line.
Race Route
The route is really confusing. Looking at the map you can be already assured that you will get lost. Having DQ before due to lack of distance in Malaysia ( the Twin City Marathon to be exact) , I had became more careful not to run the wrong way in Malaysia. This time round I went to Google live the area and make sure I note down some of the main Landmarks that I should see so that I will not lose my way.
Race route for Fm , it is basically 2 loops of 21km
Maybe it is the super well organised Chom Bueng marathon that left me impressed that there is still hope for Southeast Asian races, under comparison, MWM was really quite disappointing. Especially having done the past editions. The water points were quite spread out and besides Water, Isotonic and only one station with banana. There was nothing else, no special touch of cold sponge, and other treats. I must say the volunteers were really helpful and cleared up their area after runners.
Bag drop
getting ready
After the 1st Loop I was already quite tired to do another one because it is a night , dark and boring, and also the up hills and turning all around just makes the race even more mental. Even some of the pacers looked very burnt out. I was trying to chase the 4 hour pacers, they disappear after a few turns. Unable to catch up, I got a bit worries as there were no signs only cones but being loop, it seems like cones everywhere.
Padang Timur at 1 am
As I turned out of the 1st Loop, there was really one confusing round about where you really do not know which way to turn , the marshaller looked very blur and unsure. I was lucky that the race director happened to be at the fateful roundabout and she directed me to the right way. I was really lucky because a few faster runners really got DisQualified because of this.
Camera men were also very limited in this race. I guess I only saw 2 and the finishing one. I think I was lucky to have found some shots of me. As for the Finishing line, I think it was really not well planned. Usually medals are given out right after but for this race, there was no sign or marshallers or even blockage to direct the finishers to the goodies collection. Most of the finishers were like in a state of confusion. Then we realise that it is really far away. As I finished early I did not experience the chaos that the 10 Km and 5km runners experienced later.
Given many different choices of having or not having, medal , finisher shirt , bandana just make the ending even more confusing as some runners were not given what they need and also those who did not order the medal just “thick skinned” went to the line and got a free medal. I don’t blame the volunteers because they were really short handed and hordes of runners come in as day breaks. I think this is one part that the organisers need to seriously think about and also to improve.
Cereal booth from Nestle
Milo Booth
One free nestle coffee at the coffee booth after run
Overall
At the podium
So nice to see Lim Sioh Har sallysan:) She was 10th for Malaysian Women category
With the lovely Alice , she did a HM
Lucky to have came in 2nd for women veteran, I was given some cash money to pacify the feeling of the poor organisation. The overall organisation was quite messy and rather confusing race route. There were also many woes about the cut off time for some of the water points which made some of the slower runners feel very worried that they will not be able to finish the race.
There were plus points though, a larger carnival at the end, with free Milo and Nescafe, goodies of cereals and Milo bar. The medal was also very nice with a pin so that the Muslim ladies can use it for their scarves.
All in all, having joined the earlier editions, I really prefer the Shah Alam editions but unfortunately due to Subway constructions, the place is not conducive for running. Unless there are more changes and improvements, I guess I will not be back unless it is a free slot.