Report Ipoh Starwalk 2008

By Aiman Cheah Tiong Chap

Venue: Stadium Indera Mulia, Ipoh
Date: 15 June 2008 (Sunday)
Time: 7 a.m.
Distance: 10km

I woke up at 5 a.m. After such along time, without the help of the alarm clock. However, I was not feeling too fresh. The day before I had woken up at 4 a.m. to fetch my wife's cousin at Hentian Putra and could not sleep after returning home at around half past four. Then went for the Adventure Charity Run and drove to Ipoh. My son woke up at half past twelve and three for milk. Luckily, he slept immediately after feeding, allowing me to continue my sleep.

I left the Merloon Hotel at 6 and pick up my FTAAA counterpart and with the help of Mr Naidu, we made our way to the stadium. We proceeded to the place where competition walkers were assembled. Most of the participants became restless when they were still being kept in the stadium at a quarter past seven. I guessed the flag off was a little more than half past seven. It had not happened for Ipoh Starwalk since its inception in 2004.

I had a good position for the start - beginning on the third row. Like usual, I was way behind immediately after flagging off. However, I was quite lucky because the heave traffic did not really obstruct me. I thought I did quite well as i caught up with most of the familiar faces.

When I looked at my watch, I had actually pressed it twice! So no time to indicate how I had been doing. I ran out of steam after about half an hour. Could not longer chase the participants in front but fortunately could maintain my position. However, towards the end, I could not hold my position. Anyway, those who overtook me were not from my C category so it did not affect my postion. I ended up 7th with the time of 1hr 03mins 39 secs.

Actually I was disappointed as I had aimed for a sub 60 mins finish. I could have made it if I were a bit lucky. The last two days of my preparation was disrupted because I had to take my van for service. I did not expect that it would be a whole day event! So no training on Thursday and on Friday, UM swimming pool was not available - only for women! I had overlooked the schedule. I had done 1hr 03mins 49secs for 10.5km on Wednesday and was on course for a sub 1hr because the distance for the race is slightly less than 10km. Yu Song was 4th in 58mins 49secs. Looking forward for the Penang Starwalk to give him a run for his money.