Larian Belia 50 Tahun Sarawak Merdeka 2013 - Report

5km Run

Young and Old Pounding the Tarmac

It is always a tough ask to wake up early on a Sunday morning to run a race. What it takes is a lot of discipline and dedication and determination.  Had registered for the Red Crescent Jogathon (4km) and the Belia Run (6km - veteran), and decided to choose the latter.  Arrived at 6.30am to see many a familiar face in the crowd.  The gun time was supposed to be at 7am but this was changed to 7.25pm because of aerobic exercises.  Always nice to see people warming up while the veterans just chatted among themselves.  They had already warmed up you see.  Since this was essentially a run for the youth we saw many of them there. Lots of shiny trophies and medals were to be given out.  What's more there would be a lucky draw for electrical appliances and vouchers for meat.  The latter was a new one for me.  Yours truly was going to run this as part of my training towards Penang Bridge International Marathon.  The route from the old Dewan Undangang Negeri building was a very familiar one indeed.

The open category would be 8km long. They were flagged off first.  The veterans and the youngsters went off after them.  Was surprised to discover that some of them had run in the recent Putrajaya Night Marathon and King of the Road too. What a small world we live in! Only goes to show that runners in Kuching will go all the way to Kuala Lumpur to run long races.  Look who is talking, right? We posed for photos before and after the race.  My legs felt good but I most definitely felt heavy and only managed to finished in 20th spot.  If I had tried harder 17th spot would have been a possibility.  It was that sort of morning.  The heat got to all of us because of the late start.  We stayed behind for the prize giving ceremony. Kaliani Rajamanickom took top prize for the veteran's run.  John Lonchienne was 3rd for the open category. Many others from the Reservoir Park, Cat City Joggers and Hornbill Pacesetters running clubs placed too.  Over-all it was a good day for the old timers.

Kaliani and John

Reservoir Park runners

Junaidi Abang and me

L-R: Reuben, Jackie Chong, me, Philip Chua

Frances and Grace Lee

Frances Ngu and me

Shirley Liew and me

Open Category runners in action

Veterans and Juniors about to start

May Lai (next to me) and fellow competitors

Me and Eugenia Galan

Ronald Liaw, Eugenia and Reuben Su

Me finishing strong (pic: Yong Chuang)

Drank five cups of milo!

Hornbill Pacesetters runners (pic: Yong Chuang)

John with his trophy

Kaliani receiving his first prize