Penonton: Ipoh International Run 2012

Monday, July 2, 2012

Ipoh International Run 2012 - Top 20 Results

Date: 1 Jul 2012
Venue: Stadium Indera Mulia
Distance: 5km, 7km, 10km and 21km

It is the time again, once a year, where you get to have great food and get to run against and with some of the best runners from Malaysia and Thailand (I dunno where to describe the 30+ Kenyans). And this year's results were pretty predictable although there were some new comers. Men Open 21km position were mostly Kenyans. For the 21km veteran category Jean Pierre retained his champion status (for the last few years he has been holding that title).

This year, the organizers mentioned that there are 17,500 participants, can spot only about a few hundreds joined the signature 21km, and most of the competitive runners in the 21km were either African Open or the Veterans (local and Thais). So one can easily conclude that it was another wasteful effort setting up a 21km route for small group of participants. Organizer should open a 21km category for local men open.

So that means most of the participants are from 5km, 7km and they are young local school kids (estimated 15,000 are students). There was a weird scenario happened - when top 5km runners boys arrived at finishing line, there were still few hundred kids moving slowly to cross the starting line. It was unbelievable. Basically that should sum up the scene.

Bads:
Safety of runners. No cones or barricade that protect the runners from the fast moving vehicles along the road.
Last 2-3 km. All runners, especially 21km, 10km will have to run zig zag to move out of the human traffic (this year more than 15,000 walkers blocking the route)

Good:
Sufficient water and sponge stations.
Affordable joining fees (the good about no frills /no timing chip)
Medal design is nice
FOR ME: I get to opportunity to race with some of the top runners in the regions, its like an annual health check on speed and competitiveness.

More photos here
PerakView with video (in Mandarin) here
Sinar Harian report here