Race Review Sungai Menyala Forest Trail 50K
EVENT. NAME: Sungai Menyala Forest Trail
VENUE: Port Dickson, Malaysia
DATE: 01 April 2018 Time: 07:30 [07:30]
Headline Event Owners: Malatra Ventures
Event Organising Company: Malatra Ventures
Race Director: Razif Yahya.
Timing company: Race Yaya (from the Philippines)
Registration company: Direct via PayPal
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: Event details were a little sketchy at registration, only being able to give approximate distance and elevation as the course details had not been finalised. 2/3 No race specific page so until well into December the Malatra Facebook page was running information for two separate events. 1/3 Updates, especially the change of the 50k course, were a little last minute 2/4. Element total 5/10.
Contact: There is no race specific page, just the Malatra page for information on the event. Their Facebook page had a link to Malatra’s Web-site which is predominately an online store, on day one there wasn’t even a link to the race registration site. No Phone or E-mail but there was a message us button, which I used to request the event ownership and RD information, they answered fully on the same day, can’t do better than that. Element total 7/10.
Catagories: Male/female open only. It’s just as well that I, like many others, run for the love of running rather than to compete for a podium position, at 69 years I doubt I would have had much of a chance but it is more the principle that we have all paid our dues and it is good to have some reference as how you did against those of a similar age. Even age grading the results, without prizes, would enable us older folk to stay competitive. Element total 2/10.
Value of entry: At RM232 (early bird) rising to RM262 it seems a fairly average market price. 13/15. add ons & quality 4/5. Element total 17/20.
Race registration and kit collection:
Collection point, ease of collection: There was no postal service which is almost always the best way, however, with a pick day arranged in Kuala Lumpur plus for those outside the capital the afternoon on the day prior and an early race morning option made RKP an easy affair. [Race day 10/10][Organisation 9/10] Element total 19/20.
Section total 50/70
Race site Facilities:
Venue, space and amenities: A great place to run, walk or explore away from the city. [Venue 5/5][Space wu/cd 2/3][Pre race water 2/2] Element total 9/10.
Toilets facilities: [Number 5/5][Condition 4/4][Lighting 0/1] Element total 9/10.
Start area: [Staffing 4/5][Information 4/5] Element total 8/10.
Parking and transport: It’s an unfortunate part of using this venue, there is next to no parking space and what little there is was taken up by the organisers, medics, bomba and the volunteers so participants are left only with the road side parking which stretched to over a kilometre from the start point. Although nothing can be done about the lack of space I do feel that this venue can be vastly improved by an organised car-sharing policy and a shuttle service from designated parking points. [Space 0/5][Alternatives 0/4][Free 1/1] Element total 1/10.
Section total 27/40
Running total 77/110
Care of Competitors:
Starting time, race & safety briefing and control:
There was supposed to be a briefing at 7:00 am, if it did happen it was not very well advised as I and many other runners were at or near the start at that time and were unaware of any briefing. [Briefing 0/6] [Start time 4/4] Element total 4/10.
Medical facilities. Start/finish and on course: [Start/fin 8/8][Ambulance 4/4][Mobile 0/4][Aid stations 0/4] Element total 12/20.
Section total 16/30
Running total 93/140
THE RACE.
Organisation:
Course management:
This section really surprised me, knowing the organisers and the race director to be fervent trail enthusiasts the lack of safety implementation and enforcement was woeful. No emergency number was given out, although it would not have helped much as most of the course had no reception, but the worst lack of care was that there was no mandatory kit inspection and absolutely no enforcement. There is clear evidence of participants running without the required hydration and food yet nobody was disqualified, including the winner who ran without a hydration pack.
What is the point in pretending to have a safety policy if you don’t follow through? I have so often heard “If we implement the safety policy many people will not join” my view is if they don’t want to run safe then we don’t want them to join. [Safety: emg # 0/4, kit insp 0/8, Enforcement 0/8] [Course signage 10/10] [Environmental impact 8/10] Element total 18/40.
Course design and enjoyment factor: Excellent – Very High - High – Med – Low (subjective) I must admit that I only increased my distance from 25k last year to 50k this year because it was advertised that a new single 50k loop would be used. A last-minute change, I believe by the forestry commission not the organisers, meant going back to the two-loop course of last year and I don’t like loop trail courses. So for a really interesting course run twice.
Element total 15/20.
Marshaling: I only wish I could score the next two sections higher, these trail angles were by a long way the best encouragement and helpfulness I have ever come across. Not just the cheering and the smiles but the unexpected excitement they showed was fantastic. On several occasions I had a marshal running out to meet me so I didn’t have to stop to have my tag read, at CP5 a marshal ran to pace me into the CP while arranging for my preferred hydration to be made ready. Those angles were angles. [Quantity 5/5] [Quality 7/7] [Friendly 3/3] Element total 15/15.
Feed stations: [as advised 5/5] [Number 5/ 5] [Staffing # & quality 4/4] [Stocking 5/6] Element total 19/20.
Section total 67/95
Running total 160/235
POST RACE.
Finish line: [Control 1/2] [Ease of medal/shirt 3/3] [choice of food and hydration 4/5] Element total 8/10.
Resting and cool down areas: Good – Sufficient – Lacking. Subjective. Element total 7/10.
Finishing information: having arrived almost four-hours after the winner the ‘party’ was over so I cannot comment on the prize ceremony and the only race information available was what my wife could remember. [Placings posted 0/2] [Announcements 0/2] Element total 0/4.
Section total 15/24
Running total 175/259
AFTER EVENT
Course clearing: I can only hope that the organisers came through with their promise to clear the course after the event. It still amazes me that there is an element amongst us trail runners that still think it is acceptable to discard their trash along the course. Gel packs, discarded food and wrappers along with various empty plastic bottles. I only wish I could name the hero runner who returned to the finish line clutching a plastic bag half full of crap he had collected from the trail while he ran.
Results: It would seem that the timing system is only as good as those who operate it as there was obviously quite a few problems with finishers not being tagged and still showing as active the day after the event. [72hrs 3/6] [Full results 8/8] [Age Grouped 0/6] Element total 11/20.
Post event communication: Good – Limited – None. [Organisers photo 0/2] [Event write ups 0/4] [Participants stories 0/2] [Future 2/2] Element total 2/10.
Section total 13/30
Grand total 188/289 giving an overall score for this event of 65.0%
COMMENTS: 65% looks like a really bad event but on the contrary this event is a well organised run, very friendly and great fun. There are so many areas that just a little more effort or planning would so improve the overall score. The organisers really need to re-evaluate their approach to the safety aspects, everything is there except the implication of the safety rules.
Would I return to this event: No – Unlikely – Possibly – Yes If all is well I will be back again next year, hopefully in the senior’s category, probably back to one loop or possibly in the relay event if I can find four other souls who want to run with these old legs.
Happy Running
When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
Photographs courtesy of: ET Tey, Vivien Tay, Delia Willis
My personal race.
7:43:41 (7:09:31 [50 Kms]) 49th. of 228.
My day started so well, meeting old friends and fellow runners as well as making some new friends, one or two very special.
Being interviewed prior to the race was a new experience for me and being personally presented with my medal by the minister, just because I am so old, was at least an acknowledgement that us older runners do have some credence.
An interesting post-race point of interest, well for me anyway, my time for the first loop of 3:13:49 was 3 seconds faster than my 25k race time of last year which poses lots of questions:
Did I go out to fast? I don’t think so.
Am I getting faster? Most definitely not.
Was it an advantage having run the course before? Quite probably.
Is my trail-running ability improving? I bloody well hope so after all the effort I have put in.
There is little really to say about my race other than perhaps my resent Everest base camp hike took more out of my legs than I had thought, not an excuse more a reality check and I do feel that I let myself down, not for the first time.
Okay, I did it again, I was never lost but I was on the wrong route for close to five kilometres, and totally my own fault. On my second loop somewhere around 40 kms. I missed a very well-marked turn while daydreaming. Some how I knew I was wrong but just couldn’t convince myself to turn back until far to late, the added distance wasn’t the point that I feel bad about, it was my reaction to it. I became despondent, even self-pitying, run/walk became walk/walk and at one point all I wanted to do was take a shortcut back to DQ. Luckily the two young lads at the point where I could have taken the short way back talked me into at least completing the course, thank you guys.
So what was shaping up to be a pleasing 6:20ish accomplishment turned into a 7:45ish back-end shuffle to the line.
I train my body to perform at my optimum level, and although I say it myself, I think I don’t do to bad a job of that.
BUT, how do you train your brain to be on your side and support you when things go wrong?
