Race Review EventBiz Trail Run

EVENT. EventBiz Charity Trail Run 2016.

FRIM Botanical Park, Kepong

28 Febuary 2016 Time 07:00 [07:18]

Headline Event Owners EventBiz Race Director Undisclosed

Event Organising Company EventBiz

PRE RACE.

Entry and information: Very easy via MYrace. Little in the way of any updates of information regarding the event.

The event organisers provided an email address, and my emails were replied to efficiently.

There was a change of date prior to my registration but I could find no information as to the cause of the change.

One small area that could have been easier, once near to the event starting point I followed the signs to FRIM but the actual starting point was at FRIM Botanical Park the signs for which read Kepong Botanical Park, providing coordinates for GPS use would avoid any confusion.

Race registration and kit collection: No postal service was available and to compound that the kit collection was the week-end prior to the event in a central city mall. Not having a postal service or event-day collection option is becoming the norm but for the wrong reasons. It is cheap for the organisers and pulls in a crowd for the merchant hosting the pick-up. What it isn’t is far more important:

1. It is not environmentally friendly with hundreds or thousands of unnecessary journeys being made.

2. It is not participant friendly due to the time and cost of making the pick-up.

3. It is not organiser friendly as it restricts participation from out station runners – organisers – not everyone lives in Kuala Lumpur.

I was informed that the kit collection it’s self was quite quick and easy.

N.B. I have to thank Wendy Soo for allowing me to collect my bib on race morning, which was specifically a no-no, as I was in Hong Kong during the collection week-end. Had it not been for her assistance I would have missed the event.

Race site Facilities: Plenty of space for the participants at the venue. Toilets were woefully short with long queues right up to flag off. There was no lighting in the toilets which may have been part of the reason why at least some of the portaloos were in a disgusting state.

Due to my late arrival I am un able to comment on whether there was water available pre-race.

There were sufficient ‘staff members’ around if any one needed assistance.

Parking: The tiny parking area near the start point was insufficient and the majority had no option but to park on the surrounding roads. Shuttles: There were no shuttles provided.

Competitors: There was very little in the way of pre-race information given out, even the delayed flag off time, another organiser that can’t find out what time the sun rises, was not actually communicated it just sort of evolved as people moved from the warm up to the start point.

The field was, for some reason, split into male and female? This was strange as the size of the field was not too large to be set off together and a good number of the ladies are somewhat faster than many of the men.

RACE.

Organisation: Apart from the things mentioned above the event was well organised.

Course: The route was quite interesting with a reasonably tough ascent just 700 mts. From the start but after that climb the remainder was little more than an undulating track. Around three and a half kms. were run on paths and much of the remainder was on prepared gravel track. With one steep decline and no technical sections the course was overall quite easy. There was around a total of 288 metres of ascent. I enjoyed the course if not so much the surfaces.

Marshalling and feed stations: There were plenty of marshals on the course and for the best part they were strategically placed. Just one area of concern was at a sharp right hand turn, unmarked, the marshal was positioned at the bottom of the turn rather than at the actual turning point. If you were looking straight ahead you would not have seen him, as did the athlete ahead of me, luckily I saw him and was able to call him back onto the correct route. Both he and myself advised the marshal to reposition himself, let’s hope he did and there were no further mishaps.

Two well stocked water stations were more than sufficient for the course and distance. The table volunteers were spirited and enthusiastic.

Thank you to all the volunteers.

POST RACE.

The post-race was smooth and efficient and although there was very little choice of food and drink what was available was good and plentiful.

Plenty of resting area was available and all the medical requirements were well in place, as they were on the course.

Top placings were never announced, room for future improvement along with a posting board.

No chip or on course timing was provided so there will be no full results.

I stayed around chatting and watching the very good entertainment that was laid on for well over an hour after my finish and still there was no sign, or announcement, as to when the prize giving, top five in each category, would take place so I am unable to advise who the winners were. So, can I just say well done to all those who took part and congratulations to all the winning athletes.

My overall score for this event is 80% which I feel is a respectable effort for a small charity event, but some improvements need to be made.

Overall I feel the Race Director and all who have been involved did a good job in giving us an enjoyable and safe event.

Happy Running

When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

My personal race.

My only event for this month was fun, I was pleased with my overall time and that I finished so strong but I could have, or at least should have, done better on that first big climb.