Diary of an Old Pair of Legs April 2016
Running - 241 km this month [985 km. total for the year] Ascent 2415 mtrs. [7438 mtrs]
My Event Calendar [May] Event: Venue: Target time: Borneo Int. Marathon Kota Kinabalu 3:59:59
Xterra 21k trail Langkawi
King of Kemensah 18k trail Kampong Kemensah, Ampang
The Great Relay 100k Kuala Lumpur
This month has been a little different to most, mainly due to me being in Australia for the majority of the month. I was there as my entire pit-crew, that is, my wife Delia, chose to spend her fiftieth birthday along with our friends, Rosie and Stu, exploring Western Australia’s wilder parts and what a great time was had by all. Although I managed to put in some good mileage, in some nice cool temperatures, I did miss out on some of the quality work. It is often difficult when away from home, especially when out in the back country, to find a place to run hill repeats or speed sets. But, some running is better than no running.
A single race comparison of the Malaysian and Australian running scenes.
While I was away in Australia I did manage to run in one event, The Bunbury 3 Waters Running Festival’s half marathon [see my earlier race report] and the differences between this event and the majority of Malaysian events is, I feel, worth discussion. The first, and probably the most significant, point of interest was the lack of participants across all six distances. I imagine that there was only between one-thousand to one-thousand two-hundred competitors in total, and here in lies both the problem and the possible salvation of our sport here in Malaysia, along with much of Asia. If this event had been held here in Malaysia I feel that it would have been supported by many, many more participants, probably many thousands more.
So why, you may ask, do I feel there is a problem when vast numbers of people are supporting our sport, aiding their health and propping up the industries that surround the running scene.
The actual field of runners would have a very different perspective to that found in Australia as too in many of the more established running communities around the world. Almost to a man the runners in the Australian event were competitive runners, if not competing to win their category then at the least competing against themselves, the majority having set target times, perhaps because the event was incorporated into their training cycle schedule or perhaps they were out to set a PB. Even those that were without targets were always there to win against those close by, I doubt I passed one person that did not put up some resistance. Some tucking in behind and hanging on for as long as they could, some tucking in only to surge past later and take my place. For the majority of runners, the competition is all part of why they run.
Whereas, here in Malaysia the major element of each and every event is the social running contingent, the non-competitive and usually slower runners and walkers. At all events you will find large groups of participants bound together in friendship, running, jogging or walking while chatting, taking photographs and generally having a great time. And, if that is what they want from an organised event, that is besides the event shirt, the finishers shirt, the medal and the goodie bag, then that is fine. They pay their entrance fee and have every right to be there and enjoy their time as they feel fit to.
However, as I see it, it is also part of the problem. Because running has become such a significantly popular ‘pass-time’ throughout Asia, and at an explosive pace, it is sometimes attracting the wrong people onto the band-wagon. Some less than desirable money-making attempts to capitalise on the sport’s popularity have affected many of us. But, there are also the non-rogues, those that just see organising an event an easy opportunity, perhaps to make some money but often to publicise themselves or a cause they support. Successfully putting on an event is an arduous business and a large scale events requires some specialised expertise to get it right. High numbers of participants with low expectations, on the technical elements of a running event, will only perpetuate the less than perfect approach to many of our events.
Large scale running events here in Malaysia are still more or less in their infancy, for example the Borneo International Marathon will celebrate it’s tenth year in 2017, the Bunbury Running Club’s event was it’s thirty-fifth anniversary. And therein lies another part of the problem, the Bunbury Running Club! Just how many actual running clubs are there in Malaysia? In Australia almost every community has some sort of formal running club, often linked to local community services, schools and tracks. My personal experience while living in Malaysia is that running clubs are generally loose groups, often internet based, that meet up in local parks for largely unstructured running practice. There are some very good groups and some very ordinary groups but in the true sense of the word they are not running clubs, there are no facilities, no trainers and no structure such as inter club meets or running leagues.
An indication of the problems in properly organising Malaysian running is evident in my home town of Banting. We have a stadium – Stadium Jugra – complete with a running track. We, the public, are not allowed to use it? There is at least one of these loose groups that use the facility as a meeting point and then run the roads and pathways that circumnavigate the stadium.
In time the running scene in Malaysia will, inevitably, go into a numerical decline or rather evolve into a smaller, more mature animal.
Setting up proper running clubs with coaches is a prerequisite to changing the mind set of many runners and it will happen. Once it has happened then there will be more pressure, organised pressure, to ensure that events are properly organised with safety as a priority but also ensuring competition as a part of the equation.
Competition is healthy in all sports, and, like in any other sport, should be encouraged at all ages and at all levels. We cannot all be world champions, or national, district, town or club champions but we can all compete. We can all compete against ourselves or our peers to be champions of our own efforts.
To expand on how the ability to compete can be improved I have compared the results of my last two events, one here in Malaysia and the one in Australia.
Malaysia: Inov8 Trail Run. Results: Top ten places in Male and Female Open and Veteran categories.
Australia: Bunbury 3 Waters Running Festival. Results: Full times and places broken down into junior for the two distances less the half marathon, then in ten-year age groups, starting at eighteen for the other events and all distances also split into gender groups.
This clearly illustrates the different expectations of the running communities within each of these two countries and it is replicated many times over. And, it isn’t just what it given that makes the difference it’s what can be done with the information, for example:
Information extrapolated from the Australian half marathon results;
Overall position, Name, Age Group, Time 1st. Roberto Busi M30 – 39 1:15:50 3rd. Steve Weller M40 – 49 1:24:28 5th. Keith Yardley M50 – 59 1:26:48 8th. Joanna Turner F30 – 39 1:28:45 12th. Gary Peace M60 – 69 1:29:24 22nd. Paul Lavender M18 – 29 1:31:38 30th. Kerri Wallis F40 – 49 1:37:42 35th. Ashlee Ritson F18 - 29 1:39:07 41st. Sandra Stockman F50 – 59 1:40:14 62nd. James Willis M60 – 69 1:47:41 119th. Arthur Twiss M70+ 1:54:32
But with the use of Age [and Gender] Related timing, which compares times against the single age world record for the distance, we can get a clear picture of exactly who performed the best on the day rather than who is the fastest guy in the field.
Overall position, Name, Age Related score, 1st. Gary Peace 81.34% 2nd. Roberto Busi 77.01% 3rd. Keith Yardley 76.38% 4th. Sandra Stockman 75.79% 5th. James Willis 74.39% 6th. Joanna Turner 73.65% 7th. Steve Weller 72.12% 8th. Arthur Twiss 70.45% 9th. Kerri Wallis 70.01% 10th. Ashlee Ritson 66.29% 11th. Paul Lavender 63.71%
The changes in the relative positions in this very small sample of a field of two-hundred and twenty-four shows how some inspired presentation of results could give some well-deserved credence to many down the field runners as well as some inspiration to improve further.
For example, it is considered that anything above eighty percent is of national championship standing and if this type of results were available here in Malaysia would we find a hidden Age Graded champion somewhere in the middle of the pack?
Happy Running.
Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
