Team RBU @ 10th Pacesetters Track Meet

“Runners should Blog and Bloggers should Run” – RBU

Team RBU made an unforgettable debut at the Track Meet organised by Pacesetters at Selayang Stadium last Sunday.

Seven distance runners answered my call for Team RBU, although not all of them are Bloggers but they’re definitely runners; hopefully we could see some of them writing down their running experiences in near future.

I would say that it was definitely quite a difficult task to assembly a team of runners for this event, not many runners interested to run track as its a different kind of challenge.

Initially, i was only looking to send a team for the “Mixed Open Relay”, which would consist of two men and two women. Nearing the due date, more runners informed me their of their interest to join the team, by then the team of four runners was already completed. I decided not to disappoint these avid runners and look for few more runners to complete the Team RBU, i was thinking if we got eight runners (four men, four women); we could enter all the Team events.

Mawar Suria completed the puzzle as the eight runners, a few days before due date, and most of these runners are now a proud new members of the Pacesetters Club (PACM).

Introducing the Team RBU Track 2011 - Ra.Y, McIjam, Azhar, Fiki, Shanaz, Ilyanna, Aini Kasim and Mawar Suria.

I decided to seek help from Ketua Reban (KR) for training purposes, we had only one practice at the MPSJ Stadium Track a week before the event. Only Ijam and Aini attended the practice, other members of the team was unavailable and i had food poisoning during that weekend. Unfortunately, Ijam was injured during the practice and hopefully he would recover before the race.

Nervous about the event, one fine Thursday afternoon i went down to nearest track and practice with my new spike shoes. Found out that i wasn't as fast as before and i also injured my right feet after the training, darn it! Just what i need before the big event, i found out later much of the team was suffering injuries here and there, but they stick on to the team and made it to the D-Day. I said to them it’s only a fun run..no pressure to wins any medal (i don’t think they believed me..he he)

RACE DAY

Based on the strength of the runners in Team RBU, i speculated we could target a swoops of 10 medals. At the Stadium on the race day, we realised that most of us do not know what to expect for the day to unfold; and honestly deep down inside we didn't expect to win any medals at this event as it is our first experience competing as a Team.

Lets face it, Team RBU is a underdog team, prior to this; i guess nobody really know who we were, except for those who frequent out blogs. But we made a quick impact at the stadium, all of us was uniformly dressed in the Team RBU blue vest, which made us stand out from the other team. Thank you KR for your help in redesigning the RBU logo and the vest printing.

15 events was the menu for Team RBU on that fateful Sunday morning, it started with 3000 meters (actual distance 3.2km) event. We had Shanaz and Azhar for the 7.00 am event, only runners for this event required to wear timing chip. I keep the faith on this two to deliver the medals for Team RBU as these two are strong runners. They paid my faith with Gold and Bronze, Shanaz bagged the Gold for category D Women (age group) and Azhar won Bronze for Category D Men, he beat Ronnie See for 3rd placing, mind you Ronnie is quite a fast runner.

Congrats Azhar –first time running track bagged Bronze.

Team RBU Medal tally - 2

After the 3k event, it’s 200 meters individual race. Category D Men was very competitive, all the fast runners was in our category. Ijam, Fiki, Azhar and myself ran but no medals. Different fate for the girls, Nana and Aini won Gold and Silver for 200 meters in Category E; while Shanaz bagged Silver for Category D.

Team RBU Medal tally – 5

100 meters individual race was next, Ijam pulled out as he felt some kind of injury around his thigh. It was Fiki, Azhar and me ran 100 meters – still no medal! Superfast runners were many in Category D, i guess lack of talent or lack practise could be our excuses..he he.

100 meters – Category D

The girls did extremely well, Nana and Aini sweep 1-2 finishing in 100 meters Category E (Gold and Silver respectively) and Shanaz add a Bronze for he 100 meters Category D Women.

Team RBU Medal tally – 8

The team event came next, the first one is 4 x 100 meters. Finally the Team RBU Men broke the duck and won Gold in Category D, the girls match our Gold with their own Gold in Category E, 4 x 100 meters women.

I realised when arriving at the stadium that morning, our girls are in two separate age category, two in E and two in D. We had to downgrade two members from Category D into Category E, that was the reason the girls ran in Category E in team events.

During the 4 x 100 race i noticed Ijam was so nervous that he almost ran onto the wrong lane, i shouted out loud to him after i passed the baton. He quickly recovered afterwards. Ijam was so out his elements that day, ones could see that he was in a nervous state during the whole ordeal (unlike him). He never ran track before and not to disappoint us, he ran with an injury. Thanks Ijam, your team spirit is priceless!

Team RBU Medal tally – 10

Next team event was 4 x 400 meters, the length of 400 meters is one whole round of the track if you are not familiar with track distances. The men managed to get another medal for this event – Silver in Category D. The golden girls of Team RBU once again struck Gold in their 4 x 400 meters category E, this was one of the highlight of the whole event. The organiser decided to combine all age group at one go, as it would saved time. So you could see different age group racing against each other.

Shanaz started as the first runner brilliantly but still trailing the Category F School Girls Team, they wore red vest. So it was the Blue versus the Red team, second runners was Mawar and she did well when overtook the second runners of the Red Team. When Aini took over from Mawar, it was a comfortable lead; but the 3rd runner of the Red Team was gaining fast on Aini, she almost overtook Aini at the last 100 meters.

Watching the girls running all day, i could see that Aini was reserving her energy, and i decided to ran on the field besides her and cheer on; when she heard footsteps behind her, she quickly pushed on the turbo and passed the baton to Nana our last runners. Nana ran well and made sure the Gold was ours, congrats girls – that event was the highlight of our day, all the spectators in the stadium was on their feet cheering madly.

Team RBU Medal tally – 12

The final event was the Open Mixed Relay, which the first runners ran 200 meters, second runners ran 400 meters, third runner ran 600 meters and final runner ran 800 meters. Ijam was badly injured after the 4 x 400 meters event, and sadly he had to called it a day. We managed to lured a runner to take his place, Team RBU had two teams for this event and both team ran quite well but other team ran faster, no medal for this last event.

Congrats to Pacesetters for organising different challenge for runners, thanks to all runners and teams who participated and particularly Team RBU for your huge support. Hopefully this will be an annual affairs for the RBUs.

Final Team RBU Medal tally – 12

6 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze.

Gold	Event	Category	Gender
6	3000	D	Women
	100	E	Women
	200	E	Women
	4 x 100	D	Men
	4 x 100	E	Women
	4 x 400	E	Women

Silver	Event	Category	Gender
4	100	E	Women
	200	E	Women
	200	D	Women
	4 x 400	D	Men

Bronze	Event	Category	Gender
2	3000	D	Men
	100	D	Women

Name	Category	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Shanaz	D	Women	3000
5	D	Women			100
	D	Women		200
	E	Women	4 x 100
	E	Women	4 x 400

Name	Category	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Nana	E	Women	100
4	E	Women	200
	E	Women	4 x 100
	E	Women	4 x 400

Name	Category	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Aini	E	Women		100
4	E	Women		200
	E	Women	4 x 100
	E	Women	4 x 400

Name	Category	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Azhar	D	Men			3000
3	D	Men	4 x 100
	D	Men		4 x 400

Name	Category	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Mawar	E	Women	4 x 100
2	E	Women	4 x 400

Name	Category	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Ray	D	Men	4 x 100
2	D	Men		4 x 400

Name	Category	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Fiki	D	Men	4 x 100
2	D	Men		4 x 400

Name	Category	Gender	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Ijam	D	Men	4 x 100
2	D	Men		4 x 400

Photos: Tey, Shanaz & Aini.