Running in the rain

Rain did not stop runners from reaching their distances at two events last month, writes Syida Lizta Amirul Ihsan

Runners heading to the finish line.

TBoth the 13km and 21km medals from both races can be joined together, making this running medal unique. HE thing about organising two running events is that one will be compared to the other. This is exactly what happened at the second leg of the IJM Allianz Duo Highway Challenge.

I did 13km at the Besraya Run and 10km at the NPE Run, and couldn’t help but compare the two. I preferred the former — the roads were wider thanks to a lower number of participants and the after-race space was bigger because it was the highway office area.

The NPE race, on the other hand, hosted more than 9,000 runners who were flagged off in front of the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall.

Participants ran on a totally closed highway which started along the roads at Sunway Pyramid. They were treated to a view of sunrise against the backdrop of the city skyline along the race route.

But the number of runners made it less spacious than the Besraya Run and the roads were probably not as wide.

RAINY MORNING

At KM4, it started raining. While it wasn’t heavy, my wet clothes made running uncomfortable. I did think of quitting — the The writer (second from right) with her colleagues after the run. rain can easily trigger flu, plus I find running on wet surfaces unsafe — but that meant running back 4km to the starting line. So I alternated between running and walking until I reached the finish line, where there was a queue that started even before the finish line. Runners were picking up their medals. There were two lanes and they were inadequate.

But to be fair, there wasn’t enough space to start with. The post-race area was much less compared to the Besraya one and because it was a rainy morning, everyone was looking for shelter, making it even more congested.

PUTTING FITNESS FIRST

The duo highway challenge was held in collaboration with IJM Corporation and Allianz Malaysia as title sponsors with Besraya and

Pacers for the 21km race, ready to help runners achieve their targeted time.

The 21km runners heading towards an underground bridge.

New Pantai Expressway (wholly-owned subsidiaries of IJM Corporation) as venue sponsors.

IJM Corporation chief executive officer Datuk Soam Heng Choon says the highway run was organised to create awareness on the accessibility and convenience of the two highways that the company owns.

“Today’s turnout surpassed our expectations, showing us that there is awareness among people to be healthy and fit.”

Allianz Malaysia chief operations officer Seand Wang says the company will continue to support such events as there is a growing interest in the running community where people are taking action to make healthy changes to their lifestyle.

Overall, it was an average run due to the backlog at the medal pick-up for the 10km race. The rain didn’t help either. As a runner, when you don’t feel comfortable, the overall feel-good factor of a race is lessened. But as always, a day when I run is always a better day than when I don’t.