A FEW days before the registration for this year’s Asics Relay Kuala Lumpur 2018 closed, runners were told that the venue would be moved from Dataran Merdeka to Bukit Jalil.
I had wanted to run in the city, since I missed the race last year due to my pregnancy and my hopes were dashed with that announcement.
I knew from the onset that the feel of running in the city would not be the same as running around car parks, in a stadium or along a cluster of sporting venues.
The system was simple. One team is made up of four people. For the 21km category, each runner will run one 5km loop. For the full marathon, each runner will have to do two loops before passing the baton to the next.
If the run was held at Dataran Merdeka, then I would have imagined runners running along Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, or maybe around the Lake Gardens.
At Bukit Jalil, the loop was uninteresting, save for the stretch inside Stadium Putra. The rest of the route took us into parking lots with a few U-turns. It seemed that it was hard to map a 5km route so runners had to run on weird areas just to get that distance.
GOOD JOB
But despite the last minute change, the organisers did a good job of organising the race. There were many activity booths set up at Parking Lot B, including a stage for performances and surau for male and female Muslims for Maghrib prayers before flag-off.
The race was flagged off eight minutes late and the first runners were already getting impatient with the delay. The starting pen was narrow and runners were huddled together on a still evening.
As for the running lanes, some were wide and some were narrow to accommodate U-turns so race marshals on motorcycles kept reminding runners to abide by the arranged cones.
BIG CROWD
The race was well-received with some 3,600 runners taking part in 914 teams across two categories.
Celebrities such as Sazzy Falak, Daphne Iking and Aishah Sinclair also took part in the race, adding some star presence to the line-up.
Even marathoner Edan Syah was in the team of influencers, when he’s a true blue marathoner. Sea Games 2017 bronze medallist Muhaizar Mohamad was there too, running to win, as always.
As for me, I ran the 21km distance with my husband and two of our friends. I am worlds away from my pre-pregnancy stamina and shape, so I decided not to push myself to run the 42km.
It was a good run, one that was organised well despite the hiccups. Nothing much could be done to the route, given the constraints so runners lived with it. But I couldn’t help but wonder how different it would have been if the run had been held in the city. The lighting, the wide roads and the whole atmosphere of running in the city would have made the run fun and memorable.
ASICS RELAY KUALA LUMPUR 2018
WHERE: Bukit Jalil Sports City
WHEN: Sept 29
DISTANCE: 21km and 42 km
WEATHER: Still and hot
ELEVATION: Minimal
RATING ***