Report: 26th Malaysian Open Masters Athletics Championsips

By Aiman Cheah

Date: 2-3 J une2012
Venue: National Sports Council Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur

DAY 1
Time: about 10.00 a.m
Event: 5 000m Walk
Category M40 | Position: 1st | Time:37mins 38secs

First competitive walk after stroke. Gold medal? Yes… a complimentary medal. I was the only walker in my age group. My wife was a little worried but I convinced her that I was not going for the timing nor the positions. My target was just to complete the walk in 45 minutes.

I must thanked my family for their support. My son had walked with me thrice... 2.1km prior to the event. My daughter did once… Just a leisurely walk of about 25 minutes.

I swam for 30 minutes on Wednesday and 45 minutes on Thursday. It was a leisurely pace. I felt good and did not have problems. That was why I was confident to complete the walk. On Friday I walked 4.2km with my son.

Lap	Time	Time Total
01	01:30.51	01:30.51
02	02:56.83	04:27.34
03	02:49.19	07:16.53
04	02:55.31	10:11.84
05	03:02.16	13:14.00
06	03:07.87	16:17.86
07	03:10.08	19:23.74
08	02:56.81	22:20.55
09	03:03.55	25:24.10
10	03:10.11	28:34.21
11	03:05.00	31:39.21
12	03:01.06	34:40.27
13	02:57.70	37:37.97

DAY 2
Time: 4.00 p.m
Event: 5 000m
Category M40 | Position: 3rd | Time:27mins 33secs

Bronze medal for my first competitive run? Yes… like the day before it was also a complimentary medal.

Unlike the walk, I was not as confident as running is more competitive me.  I told my wife that I would give up if I was left too far behind after two laps. Mr Jesmail Singh wished me luck before the race and I told him the same...

I may stop if other runners were too fast. He made it a point that completing the race is far more important than competiting in the race. I certainly agree with him but then I was too slow, it would affect the programme for the following events.

I was lucky because I could keep pace with the second last runner. Completed the first 200m about 30m behind. The distance went to about 50m going into the second lap. I made up my mind not to abandon the race as I could cope with the pace. Let it be even if I finish close to two laps behind.

I guessed before I could complete the 1,000m I was already lapped by Cpl Shaharuddin, my student's 'sifu'. I think I avoided the last position with 6 laps to go.

Lap	Time	TimeTotal
01	00:53.10	00:53.10
02	01:53.30	02:46.40
03	01:58.33	04:44.73
04	02:02.22	06:46.95
05	02:07.14	08:54.09
06	02:00.24	10:54.33
07	02:07.14	12:56.58
08	02:08.33	15:04.91
09	02:17.61	17:22.52
10	02:16.70	19:39.22
11	02:31.61	22:10.83
12	02:42.88	24:53.71
13	02:39.07	27:32.78