Report: 16th Asia Masters Athletics Championships

By Aiman Cheah

Date: 9 December 2010 | Thursday | 3.00pm
Event: 5 000m Race Walking Men40-44

Results:

#	Name	Country	Time
1	Thiru Kumaran	Mas	23:12.01
2	A.J. Weerasuriya	Sri	26:27.27
3	Ghorbanali Fanine Z.	Ira	27:12.95
4	Peter James Back	Sin	28.23.33
5	Suresh C.R.	Ind	28:45.95
6	C. Vishwas Shripati	Ind	28:47.21
7	Aiman Cheah Tiong Chap	Mas	29:27.89
8	Jayapal Kuppusamy	Mas	30.37:82
9	Rasal Rajendra Hindurao	Ind	31:23.86
10	P. Namindaka	Sri	35:07.53

It was cloudy. Nothing more to ask for. Quite comfortable to race. Water was also provided before the start of the 200m run line.

I was quite relaxed, hoping to do my best in the race. I had done badly in training for almost two weeks. I only hope to complete the race in a decent time without passing out!

I wonder where I got the energy to keep up with the leaders, albeit momentarily. 1 minute for the first 200 metres was too good for me. The second lap of 2:11 was also good and I did not feel out of breadth. The third lap was completed in 2:15. I knew I would not last that pace.

I had been struggling even to maintain a 2:40 pace during my training session. I pitted for a gulp of drink. I just followed Vishwas. Unfortunately, during the last five laps I could not keep up with him. He was just consistent and left me further and further.

Ability to change pace midway deserted me and I was worried of not being able to last the distance because I had already been doing better than I did in training.

I got two warnings for knee bending. The first was on the straight to the finishing line and the second was when I collected the drinks. On both occasions it was not intentional.

Preparation prior to the race:
6 Dec - 6.3km run 43:11 (walk 1/4 of the distance because out of breadth)
7 Dec - 10.5km walk 1:05:05
8 Dec - 700m swim (forgot to bring goggles - had to stop due to rain)

After all the blunders in training. I was glad that I got it right on race day albeit I wish I could have been better. The time was better than the 23rd Malaysian Open Masters Athletics Championships in Ipoh on the 7 November 2009. I would certainly give it another try if the event is held in Malaysia again in future.

Below is how I did in each lap:

Lap	Time	Total
1	1:00	01:00
2	2:11	03:11
3	2:15	05:26
4	2:19	07:45
5	2:19	10:04
6	2:21	12:25
7	2:21	14:46
8	2:26	17:12
9	2:25	19:37
10	2:28	22:05
11	2:30	24:35
12	2:29	27:04
13	2:24	29:28