Race Review Twincity Half Marathon 2018

EVENT. NAME: Twin City half Marathon

VENUE: Cyberjaya, Malaysia.

DATE: 21 Jan 2018 Time: 05:30 [05:30]

Headline Event Owners: Ten Senses. Information requested 22 Nov 2017 on Facebook message, no reply.

Pre-posting copy sent for Correction/comment 22 Jan 2018 on Facebook, no response.

Event Organising Company: Ten Senses

Race Director: Unknown

Timing company: CheckPoint Spot, first class as we have come to expect!

Registration company: Howei, efficient.

PLEASE NOTE: This review is based on my personal observations and experience of the event and is intended to be helpful to other runners for their future event selection and also to aid the organisers by giving a honest and unbiased opinion of both the good and the not so good elements as I found them. Where, on the rare occasion I have used information other than my own it will be clearly stated as such and will have been from a trusted source and corroborated by others.

THE EVENT

EVENT SCORE CARD SUMMARY

PRE-RACE.

Entry and information:

Initial event information and updates: 22 Nov 2017. Very detailed but no confirmation of the course until two weeks prior to the event 2/3] There was a Facebook page pre-registration which was an upsized version of the registration page with a few adverts thrown in. There are no links to a web-site. 2/3 [The event owners teamed up with CheckPoint Spot as their communications provider for event updates 1.5/4] total 5.5/10.

Contact: Was only available via Facebook messages 1/4 [Usage, there is little evidence that communication was an ongoing concern of the organisers 3/6] total 4/10.

Catagories: Male and female 2/2 open and a veteran 3/3 (40+) class were all that were offered. No Age groups, juniors and us older folk obviously just make up the numbers and help pay for the prizes that are on offer 0/5 total 5/10.

Value of entry: @ RM75 (83.48 total) just a little on the expensive side 12/15 [add-ons & quality 4/5] total 16/20.

Race registration and kit collection: Collection point, ease of collection: With no postal service available there is no possibility of full marks. [Pick-up point 6/8][Organisation 7/8] Given that 90% of the runners were from Kuala Lumpur one of the pick up days could have been organised in KL.

But why no postal service, it saves thousands of wasted journies, saves many many litres of fuel, stops tons of CO2 being produced and gives runners an extra day to train. total 13/20.

Section total 44.5/70

Race site Facilities:

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Venue, space and amenities: [Venue 5/5] [Space wu/cd 2/3] [Pre race water 2ü] total 9/10.

Toilets facilities: [Number 5/5] [Condition 3/4] [Lighting 0/1] total 8/10.

Start area: [Staffing 5/5] [Information 5/5] total 10/10.

Parking and transport: [Space 5/5] [Alternatives 4/4] [Free 1ü] total 7.5/10.

the place to meet friends

I know the total doesn’t tally, I deducted points because of the lack of enforcement to stop those who parked on the course and double parked along the roads.

Section total 34.5/40 Running total 79/110

Care of Competitors:

Starting time, race & safety briefing and control: [Briefing 0/4] [Chute control 0/2] [Start time ü 4/4 >1min, 2 >5min, 1 >10min] total 4/10.

Medical facilities. Start/finish and on course: [Start/fin 8] [Ambulance 7] [Mobile 5] [Aid stations 5] total 20/20.

Section total 24/30 Running total 103/140

THE RACE.

Organisation:

Course management: [Traffic control and Course Safety 12/25] [Space 5/5] [Signage 10/10]. total 27/40

There were three worrying factors that I noticed:

1 The event was run on open roads.

2 Runners were directed to run in the wrong direction, runners should always run towards traffic as this gives both drivers and runners site of what is approaching.

3 There were long sections of highway without traffic marshals – just cones.

My personal view: Events should only take place on closed roads.

Course design and enjoyment factor: Excellent – Very High - High – Med ü – Low (subjective)

It is always difficult to score routes in cities, they are what they are boring city roads. total 14/20.

Marshaling: [Quantity 3/5] [Quality 6/7] [Friendly 3/3] total 12/15.

Feed stations: [as advised 5/5] [Number guide: /3km 5/5, /4km 4 /5km 3 /6km 1] [Staffing # & quality 4/4] [Stocking 6/6] total 20/20.

Section total 73/95 Running total 176/235

POST RACE.

Finish line: [Control 2/2] [Ease of medal/shirt 3/3] [choice of food and hydration 4/5] total 9/10.

Resting and cool down areas: Good – Sufficient ü – Lacking. Subjective total 7/10.

Finishing information: [Placings posted 0/2] [Announcements 0/2] [Prize ceremony 4/6] total 4/10.

Section total 20/30 Running total 196/265

AFTER EVENT

Results: [Timely 24hrs 6 ü, 48hrs 5, 72hrs 3, >5days 1] [Full results 8 ü] [Age Grouped 2/6] total 16/20.

Post event communication: Good – Limited – None. [Organisers photo 1/2] [Event write ups 1/4] [Participants stories 2/2] [Future 0/2] total 4/10.

Section total 20/30 Grand Total 216/295 overall score for this event of 73.2%

COMMENTS:

Would I return to this event: No – Unlikely – Possibly – Yes This event is usually my first outing of the year, sufficient time to recover from my Christmas to New Year break and gives me a good indication of where my fitness is for the coming months ahead.

Happy Running

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

Photographs curtesy of: Best of Running. Jeffrey Teo. Steffi Goh. Bryant Goh. Linda Wong. FizSaid Photo.

My personal race.

1:56:08 [21.9 Kms] on my sixty-ninth birthday 100th. of 3386 competitors, 35th. of 755 in the old boys section, old as in forty plus. Top 3% just can’t be a bad result.

My aim for this event was to run a time trial cross speed training session at the start of my longer term ultra-distance training. My aim was sub 1:50 which proved a little optimistic, but I am pleasantly satisfied with my overall performance.

Just three weeks into the new year after a training break I cannot expect much more, just 10% off my all time best.

I am sure that conditioning will improve my ability to sustain my speed for longer over the next few months.

At half way I was on par with my best ever half marathon, but the last nine kilometres saw a steady decline in pace but no jump in heart rate. In conclusion: Just train harder.

One sad note on my run: At the 19km U-turn an idiot of a marshal tried to stop the runners so that a work bus could travel up the course. Are they not aware that they are supposed to be looking out for those competing not clearing the way for the traffic?

One sad note for some of the 12km runners: It was great to see that the organisers had laid on a complimentary bus service from points around Cyberjaya. My wife was to catch the 06:15 courtesy bus from Depulze for the start of her 5km run, along with others, most of whom were in the 12km event. She arrived at the designated pick up point at 6:12 to see the 6:15 bus disappearing up the road. For her it just meant waiting for the 6:30 bus for those in the 12km it meant a very rushed start to their event, well it should have. The 6:30 bus duly arrived at 6:42, when the driver was asked why it was just a shrug of the shoulders and a grunt. The five young ladies in the 12km event arrived at MaGIC shortly after the start of their event.