The Putrajaya 100 event last Sunday was conclusion of a dream for us Malaysian runner. It was a long road towards achieving this dream.
Finally, we have a 100 miler Ultra Marathon in Malaysia. It's was an historic event for all runners, organizer & volunteers involved with this epic event.
Congratulations are in order to all finishers regardless of categories, if you Did Not Finish (DNF) this race, it's only a delayed success. Trust me my friends, i been there and done that. You're all amazing pioneer of a shared Ultra dream.
We owed this historic event to special group of amazing people. Team PACAT Arman Arshad Mikael Zinov Zulkiflee Zainal and volunteers. You guys have guts and unshakable belief to organize this event and we salute your effort paid by blood, sweat and tears.
The organizer are shrewd and smart bunch of people. The Putrajaya 100 is not about the organizer, it's all about the runners!
We're not only tested on our courage to last till the final mile but also on supporting each other, sportsmanship, camaraderie, and integrity!
There's no timing chip, only you the runners knows how far you ran the course without taking short cut or discounts. At the end of the day, Ultra Marathon is a metaphor to real life challenge. You endure life no matter how hard or painful it gets, you just don't take shortcut in life!
I believe it's the sole responsibility of the runners to know the course and the map in details. You need to study map before you run the course, runners cannot rely solely on the markers. Anything can happen to the markers during the race, well you could always blamed the organizer, your dog, your mother in law, your shoes everyone else except you!
Of course, this goes without saying. You need to prepared for all kind of weather, day and night gears. It's you, the runners responsibility not the organizer. It's not like someone put a gun to your head to register for this event.
I remember painfully my first 100 mile completion at the inaugural Craze Ultra 2012. I did more than 160km, 170.8km to be exact. I strayed off the official course and got lost, it cost me extra 10km. Proud to say i didn't take short cut in that event or in life.
Unfortunately, the timing of P100 was all wrong for me. It’s a week after Ultra Thai Chiang Mai (UTCM150). The logic thing to do was to register the shortest distance in P100 event as a recovery run from UTCM, so it was 52km for me.
It was forecasted as a rainy day on that weekend, not a drop was seen on day time, it was hot and humid. Someone said after i completed the 52km run, it was high as 45 Celcius on midday. Yes i was burnt alive during the run.
The organizer had to made changes to the route in the last minute due to Formula Electric Car Race happening in Putrajaya at the same weekend. Instead of running around the core island, we’re briefed before the start to do loops of 5km between CP1 to CP2. This is where many runners made mistakes and skipped the loops either intentionally or not.
I had a good race in the early part, maintained 5:30 pace per km till halfway point. The sun killed my pace and left me to walk the final 10km. I pity those runner who were doing 78km, 100km and 160km in the hot sun, such a brave warrior to run in the heat wave like that.
I finally made it to the finish line in second place in time of 6:43 hours. Frank Hasse from France won first place. Just loved the 50km distance now, it was a short and comfortable distance for old runner like me. Maybe i should focus on doing 50km in the future, no more 100km or 100 miles! or maybe not…….
With Frank Hasse (52km Champion) after race, congrats Shanaz finishing 3rd Women in 52km.
Gear used:
- Shoes -Salomon X-Scream 3D (available 2015)
- S-Lab Sense Tee (White/Red)
- S-Lab Exo Twinskin Short (Black)
- Salomon Exo Calf (Black)
- Hydration bag - Salomon Skin Pro 3 set (White)
- Salomon Desert Hat
- Optic Nerve Sunglasses – Model Vahstro (available 2015)