Race Review Twin City Half Marathon 2016
Cyberjaya, Malaysia
24 January 2016 Time 05:30
Headline Event Owners Cyberview Sdn Bhd Race Director Undisclosed
Event Organisers Undisclosed
PRE RACE.
Entry was through Howei.
Face book information was generally good, once you found the page! Who decided to name the Twincity Marathon page Cyberjaya Marathon. There was a Twincity Marathon 2016 page, hosted by Sports.my, which was never updated.
I was very impressed that just about every post to their FB was monitored and answered.
Race registration and kit collection: Was very quick and efficient, there were plenty of counters and I have heard of very few problems.
Facilities at the start area were extremely good, free flow of water at the start and sufficient toilets. However I pity anyone who used the toilets that did not have a phone light as there was no lighting and everything need to be done by touch.
Parking was ample but like with just about every other Malaysian event there were no shuttles to avoid street parking.
Competitors were well entertained prior to the start. The warm up Marimba, which it seems is all the rage now with event organisers, replaced the group dynamic stretching that worked back in the day.
RACE.
Organisation: The event organisation, pre-race, was very slick and professional. The starting chute was one of the best controlled I have witnessed here in a city run.
Course: A typical city road course, generally uninteresting and quite flat, I recorded 228 mtrs. ascent, and run on predominantly unclosed roads that were safely marshalled. Water and feed stations were very abundant and very well catered and at most stations there were a couple of toilets.
However there were two long sections run on roads without any form of street lighting and very, very little lighting provided by the organisers. One of the sections was quite badly littered with stones, although I have not heard that anyone was injured due to this. None of the signage on these dark sectioned were lit which led, in part, to some major problems.
Marshalling and feed stations: I need to deal with this in three sections.
1 Safety and traffic marshalling was well organised and worked well.
2 Feed station marshalling was exemplary, a really great bunch of cheerful folk urging us all to do our best.
3 Direction and course intersection marshalling. For most part these guys were good and performed there tasks well. However, on the blacked out road at the point where the Full and Half Marathon diverged there was total disaster. I have been advised, first hand: That a marshal at this point actually directed a group of half runners onto the full marathon route.
A half runner that saw a friend running onto the wrong route asked a marshal, with a motor cycle, to turn the runner around, but he did not.
I arrived at that point and there were no marshals to be found.
All the problems could easily have been avoided if the intersection was properly marshalled and the signage had been well lit.
Worryingly I have been informed by several participants and a member of the organising team that a very similar series of events also took place in the 2015 version of the Twincity Marathon.
POST RACE.
Medal, Shirt and Food distribution was well organised and efficient.
The rest, medical and massage areas were ample. Food and drinks were freely available and of a good variety. There was also a good number of food vans for supporters or those who did not fancy what was offered by the organisers. The general atmosphere was very good.
Communication and administration post-race really let the event down.
Due to the course problems there were, understandably, a high number of timing and place objections to be dealt with. This naturally caused problems but these problems were exaserpated as the organisers continued with the prize presentations while these objections were still under consideration.
I was directed by the organisers to speak to the head of technical for a statement regarding his findings on the route problem. I waited for over three-quarters of an hour whilst being advised that he was on his way. While waiting I witnessed two of the top ten women in the full marathon being, correctly, disqualified, having not crossed the time check at the problem point.
I also spent some considerable time with a young lady pleading her case. The timing checks clearly showed her a few seconds behind the eventual winner at all but the finish line. She fervently pointed out that she was directed onto the full marathon route by a marshal. We waited patiently until the head of technical switched off his phone.
Returning to the presentation area we had to leave the young lady to fight on alone as there were so many crowded around trying to get their case heard that we felt it best to vacate the area.
I did get to speak to a representative of the organisers who advised me that ‘they’ had completed a lighting check at one a.m. and all was fine. However, one of the sections that we ran along was a road where there were lamp-posts with no lamp heads.
My overall score for this event is 75% the one major error in planning and the inadequate way with which it was dealt stops me from giving nearer to 90% as, if it were not for the fact of the course problem, it would have been an extremely enjoyable event.
I ran a short poll on the effect of the course problem, the results of which are:
Did course problems interfere with your race
190 answers; No 128 votes 67.4%. Somewhat 42 votes 22.1%. Greatly 20 votes 10.5%.
Will your experience make you consider not joining in 2017
190 answers; No 124 votes 65.3%. Yes 66 votes 34.7%.
Happy Running
When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
Other comments;
Yim Henng Fatt (Four hour pacer Full Marathon): But the route kinda did and missed a crucial turn that went for 3km and missed the roti canai water station. Who's fault? Well both ways I guess and hope the organiser can plug up this little loophole for good next year. Many of us FM were in the same boat clocking 3km lesser overall.
There was a split for HM and FM eventually. We went straight, u turn and resume back again with the HMs who made a right turn earlier. Then disaster struck. Somewhere along here was a left turn for FM. We didn't see it. Maybe blocked by runners from HM, FM and 10km. No marshalls were there either as YK and I was very persistent in all the road markers.
When YK and I got to this junction, it was not even 7am. Around 6.45am and still rather dark. I remembered running around the middle of the road and so was everyone else cause there were no traffic there. I don't recall seeing a signage or Marshall. Maybe it was still dark or maybe we were too preoccupied keeping pace. Whichever it was, it doesn't really matter now. I shoulder the blame myself and I wished the organiser would make this a bit more foolproof next year. Not about me getting the exact distance but for those who did podium. There was a chaos and some runners missed this not entirely due to their fault and podium-ed.
Melissa Lian: I'm so disappointed to the volunteers(not sure which point, didn't show correctly direction for HM runner) cause I ran more than 21k... No wonder only left FM runner on the road... So tired
Zuhier Hassan Zulkifli: Same here ended up running 24km in total. There were areas that were really dark. Some of the marshals could use lights to guide the runners. Organisers, please take not for next year's event.
Cyberjaya Marathon: Hi Melissa abd Zuhier. We can understand your disappointment. Thank you for taking the time to write to us. Rest assured they are recorded and will be shared with the team for improvement of our event. Hope to see you again next year!
Topoi Slevin: Thumbs up organiser...the best ever for local event, sporting crew, adequate water station and surau ...not to forget mee hoon goreng sedap
Norman Awalludin: This is unacceptable!! No more large size tshirt available (M,S,XS only available) !!!! I believe we did put the tshirt size during registration months ago. How come the organizer didnt estimate tshirt sizes according to ordered ?
Elmolita Jane: Although I must say I was quite disappointed coming supposed the 2nd and being told I was disqualifed but the race was good nevertheless and I enjoyed cyber jaya .. Please do consider familiarising the marshallers more ESP at the turning points and round about.. I ll be back !!!
My Personal Race
My second event of 2016 and a near five minute improvement so all in all I am quite happy with my performance on the day.
All was going really well to hit my target time of 1:50:00 and then I arrived at the disaster point. Not knowing that there was a divergence I continued chasing after the runners in front of me. At the next timing check point I noticed that my chip did not register so I ran across the mat again, still no sound. I told the guy on the computer that I didn’t hear my chip response and he told me I was OK to continue. When I got to the next marshal I asked if I was on the correct route, as I could see other runners crossing the road some way in front of me, he advised me that I was running the full marathon course. This knocked the wind completely out of my sails and looking back at my stats I an see just where I suddenly markedly slowed. I did have the forethought to stop my watch at 21.1 kms at least giving me a time for the correct distance of 1:53:16.
I walk jogged the remaining distance and enjoyed the company of those runners trying to break their own personal time barriers. There is much more chatting and encouraging going on back here than at the more competitive end of the field.
I made sure that I stepped around the finishing mat to record my first ever official DNF.
