Report: 24th Malaysian Open Masters Athletics Championships

By Aiman Cheah

Date: 19 - 20 June 2010
Venue: National Sports Stadium Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur

2nd Day: 20 June 2010 (Sunday)
Time : 4.00 p.m.
Event : 5 000 metres
Category : M40-44

There were only four competitors in my category. I only hope to do slightly below 24 minutes so that I would not be overlapped too many rounds by the winner. Never mind being last in my category but not last over all because there were a few much senior runners there.

I must admit that they put me to shame. Many of the participants who are much older than me run at such fast pace. I doubt if I could match them even if I were to be fitter. I used to complete PJ Half Marathon in around 1:45:00. That was many years ago. Even at that level of fitness, I would still be left biting the dust by them.

Some officials cynically told me that I could have run 25 laps when I was finishing. Not too professional, I guess. They had made me walked 5400 metres when the race was 5000 metres the day before. They owed me an apology instead of being cynical. I would have loved to do a 25 lap run if there was one.

I don't mind even if it was a 52 1/2 lap if they were willing to wait for 3 hours! I would recommend the ones involved in the blunder to get back to the basic - go to primary school and master basic counting only up to number 13. To get the time difference of each lap, they need to be in the second phase of the primary school. Return to the track and they would definitely become a better lap recorder.

How I fared in the 5 000 metres race

Lap	Time	Total
1	0:47	0:47
2	1:38	2:25
3	1:55	4:20
4	2:06	6:26
5	2:13	8:39
6	2:07	10:46
7	2:04	12:50
8	2:01	14:51
9	1:56	16:47
10	2:03	18:50
11	2:01	20:51
12	2:02	22:53
13	1:50	24:43

Generally, I am happy with my performance although it was a bit out of my target. I should be able to do 1:50 per lap to go under 24:00. I managed to avoid being last and in the process I got the last podium finish. As this is my first track race for 5 000 metres I am looking forward to do better although I may end up empty handed.