Race Review: ASICS Relay Malaysia 2018

The second edition of the ASICS Relay Malaysia took place last Saturday night at the Kuala Lumpur Sports City – Bukit Jalil, in KL.

Click here to view the Asics Relay Malaysia 2018 photos.

Organised by HiVelocity Events and attracting about 1,000 teams comprising of four runners each, the event had aimed to provide every participant with a night of fun and fitness as well as a fulfilling experience and a whole lot of good memories.

There had been two different running categories, the Half Marathon Relay (21km) and the Full Marathon Relay (42km).

For the Half Marathon, each team member completes one lap of the race course (5.25km) and for the Full Marathon, members each run two laps of the race route (10.5km) in order to make up the total distance.

Participated in the Full Marathon Relay

I took part in the Full Marathon Mixed Relay in a team with Chio Kian Tatt, Danny Chong Chit Keong and Adib Alimor from the KLCC Running Group. This had been my first time taking part in a relay race in Malaysia.

The flag off for both of the running categories had been at 8pm in the evening.

So I took a Grab down to the Bukit Jalil Stadium and I reached the event site at about 6.15pm – as the journey had been somewhat faster than I had initially anticipated.

Checking out the race village

As it was still early at that point, I took some photos around the event area after collecting my media passes over at the VIP tent area, and then I had a look around at the booths that were available at the race village while I waited for my team mates to arrive.

Being the first runner for my team, I needed to report to the start pen at about 7.30pm – according to the official event programme. At the start pen, the team baton, which would be used to record our team’s combined race timing, was collected.

On site, there had been lots of food carts that were offering items for purchase and these had ranged from hamburgers to fried chicken as well as rice and noodle dishes to an assortment of beverages such as coffee, tea, fruit juices and milkshakes.

From my observations, a lot of runners had appeared to be buying the popcorn chicken and the deep fried chicken items – so I figured that this probably must have tasted good. I didn’t manage to get round to trying it myself, though.

Besides that, the sports apparel company ASICS also had a small booth at the event site, where they were selling tee shirts, socks and accessories such as running belts and backpacks.

Other booths on site had also included a massage tent, hydration tent, and game tents that were giving away small items such as water bottles and socks.

For one of the games, runners had to try on the new ASICS HyperGEL-SAI running shoes and then using these shoes, they had to attempt some sports-related tasks, such as a shuttle run and a Bosu ball workouts.

And runners completing these challenges, would get ASICS discount vouchers and a pair of socks as a token of their participation.

I had been tempted to try this out, but in the end, I decided not to, as I had preferred to save my energy for the actual run instead.

Layout was Messy

Despite the plus point of there having been a rather large variety of food stalls and event booths available, I thought this had made the layout of the race village a bit messy at the beginning.

This is because when I had got to the Bukit Jalil Stadium, there had been barricades positioned everywhere and as a result, it took me some time to find an entrance to actually get inside the race village, from the carpark area.

At the race village, as the time slowly ticked by, the energetic and hyperactive event emcees also got the participants pumped up for the run ahead, with plenty of singing, dancing and fitness workouts, which definitely helped to get me into the mood, too, and gave me something to do, as I hung around and waited.

After a short while, our team’s second and third runners, Danny and Kian Tatt arrived, and soon after that, our last runner, Adib reached the race site. So we took a few team photos while we were still fresh, before I headed over to the start pen.

Start Pen’s Signage Not Visible

Locating the entrance of the start pen for the 42km event, took a bit of time.

This was because there had been some signage pointing to the direction of the start pen for the 21km category but there was no clear sign for the 42km relay. So as a result, my team mates and I had to ask several times to find out how we could enter the start pen.

The only signage for the 42km event was the signs pointing to the location for the transition areas. These ones were quite clear.

And even though the event programme had indicated that the start pen was supposed to open at 7.30pm, it actually opened roughly about 10 minutes late, and even though I had followed runners to find my way into the pen, I was still not sure if I was heading to the right place.

But in the end, I guess that I need not really have worried though, because it had turned out that the start pen for the 21km and 42km events had been at the same place.

A race baton was quickly pushed into my hand just before I had entered the start pen. So at least I did not have to worry about trying to find out where to get this.

Unlike what I had thought, the baton resembled a wristband so this meant that I could wear it on my wrist, without the need to physically hold onto it when I was running.

Entering the Start Pen

Despite the initial confusion though, I had arrived early enough to get a spot near the front of the start line, so this meant that while waiting, I had been one of the lucky ones who could see the percussion drum performance taking place prior to the flag-off. This had been quite interesting to watch.

The emcee also spent some time telling runners in the start pen about how to make the transition to our team mates and warned runners not to clutter the transition pens – instead upon completion of our run, we should pass the baton to our team mates and immediately exit towards the race village.

As well, the emcee had also jokingly told runners too, that he had hoped that there would be no “public paging” again this year.

Apparently this had been because at the first edition for the ASICS Relay Malaysia which had taken place last year, there had to be public announcements made for specific runners to make their way to the transition pen because their team mates had finished their run and they had not been around to make the change-over!

Beginning My Run

The race had eventually flagged off about 10 minutes late, after all of the announcements and performances had been completed.

When the horn blew, I started running.

As I had not fully recovered yet from the Berlin Marathon which I had completed a couple of weeks back, I tried hard not to get myself caught up in the race adrenaline and atmosphere.

Wanting to do their best for the team, everyone had been running quite fast at the beginning and though there was a little bit of congestion at some point early on, at least I was still able to run and maintain a good pace, because everyone was going strong and nobody was walking.

But I realised that my heart rate had been rising quite quickly soon after I took off from the blocks. But I managed to maintain my average heart rate in the Steady Zone.

The Race Route

The race route had been a 5.25km route which took runners around the vicinity of the Bukit Jalil Stadium area.

I had thought that because of the constant out-and-back running and the numerous u-turns along the way, the route had been quite loopy and a bit monotonous and there were times when I admit that I had felt that the run would never end.

As well, it also did not help too, that it was night time, so this meant that there was not really much scenery to see.

So when I ran, I found myself counting down the kilometres and trying not to think about how much more I still had left to run.

In terms of the elevation of the course, there had been several slopes along the way, but fortunately these were all gentle enough and did not really pose too much of a challenge.

I slowed down a little during the uphill sections and increased my speed again when I went downhill, in order to not let myself recover and to prevent my heart rate shooting up too quickly.

Lighting

Despite the darkness, the lighting also was not too bad along the way. There had been enough lighting for me to be able to see where I was running, so that I would not trip and lose my balance at any point of the run.

And it also helped too, that it had been a simple running course and that there were no stairs or other obstructions along the way.

Running inside the Bukit Jalil Stadium

But what I liked about the running route was that it had brought participants inside the Bukit Jalil Stadium.

This had taken place somewhere within the first kilometre of the run, and runners had to complete one loop of the 400m stadium track before continuing with the run.

Unfortunately the stadium had been rather empty during the time,. It would actually have been nice if there were some volunteers there to cheer runners on when we ran into the stadium.

There were a few photographers inside the stadium though, so it had been nice to look out for them and strike a pose – whenever I saw a camera pointing in my direction.

Some “Air Conditioning” en route

It had been a pretty humid evening, but there were also segments during the run where I could feel some air conditioning, probably from the nearby buildings, and when I passed by these sections, it had felt really good, as the air conditioning had helped to cool me down, a little.

Hydration was good

I had also counted that there were two hydration stations along the route and from what I observed, these seemed to be serving water and 100PLUS isotonic drink.

With the high tropical humidity levels in Malaysia, I would consider this to be sufficient to cater to the needs of the runners. I took water at one of the stations and this had been slightly chilled, but not ice-cold.

End of First Loop

The final stretch had been especially draining and tested me mentally, because when I still had about 1.5km left to go to the completion of my first loop, I could already hear the emcee’s voice, but I tried my best to block this out and instead try and focus on my running.

Upon completion of my first loop, it took some degree of willpower to press on and run one more loop, rather than simply run through the transition arch and call it a day.

Beginning Second Loop

But because I knew that I owed it to the team to complete the distance that I had been tasked with doing and not take short-cuts, I continued running, taking the required magenta wristband to indicate that I was now embarking on my second loop of running.

I also knew too that if I cut short my run, I would never be able to ever forgive myself for doing such a thing.

The second time around, the running course had felt much more spacious, probably because the first runners for the 21km relay race were all heading into transition and it would take time for the first runners to locate their respective team mates, take the baton and head out again.

So for me, this had made it easier for me to run because it felt substantially less crowded.

Knowing exactly what the running course was like this time around, I think that I was able to pace myself better too. I must say that it really did not help with the mental aspect though, because this time, I knew where the u-turns and the upslopes were.

As I had continued running, all the u-turns somehow merged and everything felt more repetitive than ever, but I knew that every step I took would bring me closer to the transition pen and the end of my run. So I kept on going, with the aim of running a respectable time for the team.

Finishing my Leg

Finally though, after what had felt like forever at one stage, the race village was in sight.

It had been a relief to go into the transition pen, after one hour and 12 seconds of running, and pass the relay baton to Kian Tatt, then head over to the race village to have a well-earned rest.

Distance was Short

However I have to comment that when I had finished my run, my Garmin had indicated a total distance of 9.63km.

So this had meant that the running course had been slightly short.

Replenishing my Energy

I headed into the VIP tent to get some water and food in order to replenish my energy levels. Even though I’d eaten a rather late lunch, I admit that I was beginning to get hungry again, after the run.

But it was quite cold inside the tent due to the air conditioning going at what had felt like full blast, and I did not want to stick around there in my wet running attire.

So soon afterwards, I had decided to head out to have a look at the tents in the race village area again, and I got a deliciously refreshing strawberry milkshake.

Tracking my Team Mates

I then hung around waiting for my team mates to complete the run, tracking their running performance using the official ASICS Relay race app – to see where everyone was at.

Sometime after Kian Tatt had finished running, I caught up with him and we discussed how our respective runs had went, while waiting for the whole team to complete the Full Marathon relay.

It was a relief when our third runner Danny joined us over at the race village, because this had meant that our team would not have much longer to wait before we completed the relay.

I admit that by this point in time, I had been yawning and beginning to feeling a bit groggy already.

And having to battle a bout of jet lag during the past week since my recent return from Europe had not helped my cause, either, as I’d not really been sleeping well lately.

Our Team is Done

Due to the late starting time of the Relay, it had been close to 1am when our last and fastest runner, Adib, had completed the relay, run through the finishing arch, and picked up our team’s running entitlements – these were a medal and a bottle of 100PLUS for each runner.

Our team’s total combined timing for the Full Marathon Relay had been about four hours and 37 minutes.

There had still been plenty of time to spare though when the four of us were done – this was because with a six hour cutoff time for the event, the whole ASICS Relay event would not end officially till about 2am in the morning.

Our Mandatory Finishing Photos