2010 Running Events Updated

I would like to wish all runners a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The coming year will see many new running events being organized as more and more people realized the benefits of the sport. So here goes the list for 2010. Have a RUNderful year ahead!

JAN
1st: Saucony Pacemakers Network Run W F
5th: Penang International 12hr Walk F1 F2
17th: New Balance Pacesetters 30K W F
23rd: USM 1st Open Relay W F
24th: Pacesetters Breakfast Run W F
31st: Just Run 2010 F1 F2 F3
31st: KL Masters City Day Relay F

FEB
6th: Putrajaya Night Marathon W F1 F2 F3
TBD: KL Towerthon

MAR
27th: Energizer Night Marathon W

APR
11th: Malakoff Penang 26K W
25th: Bidor Half Marathon
TBD: BHP Orange Run W

MAY
16th: New Balance Pacesetters 15K W
29th: Adidas Sundown Marathon W
TBD: Cendana Hikathon
TBD: Komtar Tower Run W

JUN
27th: Standard Chartered KL W

JUL
TBD: KWYP Penang Hill Climb
TBD: Seremban Half Marathon W

AUG
TBD: Adidas King of the Road

OCT
TBD: Borneo International Marathon W

NOV
21st: Penang Bridge Int Marathon W

DEC
5th: Singapore Marathon W
19th: Malakoff KL 12K W

PAC Cendana Hikathon 2009

PAC successfully organize the annual Cendana Hikathon at Youth Park. Familiar faces grace the podium yet again. This year's route was longer than last year as they exited through Moon Gate. Serious knee injury kept me out again. Looking forward to next year's event in May.


PAC Website

USM 1st Open Relay 2010

USM's Athletics Club is proud to start its annual Relay Competition on 23rd January 2010, from 7.30am to 9pm at USM Athletics Stadium, Penang. We are pleased to invite all the athletics/runners from your reputable club to participate in the above competition for Children, Junior, Institution of Higher Learning(IPT), Open and Veteran categories.

Entry Forms are available in 2 Languages as below:

USM Open Relay 2010 Entry Form (English)
USM Open Relay 2010 Entry Form (Malay)

For more details visit http://usmopenrelay.blogspot.com/

Nokia Sports Tracker Review

Nokia Sports Tracker is a GPS-based activity tracker that runs on compatible Nokia mobile devices. Information such as speed, distance, and time are automatically stored in your training diary. On this site you can store and share your workouts and routes.

What I find interesting about this application is its ability to plot out your tracks including information such as ground elevation, speed, pace, duration and distance. Furthermore it is able to incorporate the satellite information into Google Maps. The data could be assessed in user-friendly graphical plots so you can compare your performances. Best of all, you could upload the application instantly after your workout using WIFI (if your phone is WIFI-enabled) or 3G assess points. After that, you could share your workout with friends and other users across the globe.

The dashboard view allows you to see at a glance a summary of all your latest workouts and its location in Google Maps. The page is embedded with the Google Map application so you can zoom and pan across the map freely.

If you select one of the workout profiles, you could see a graphical plot on the right which displays your speed and elevation vs duration. It could also plot out your heat rate if you have heart-rate monitoring devices. If you mouse-over any of the points in the graph, it could display the exact speed and elevation information at that time. There’s a scroll bar at the bottom of the graph which allows you to drag the time to the limited area, the graph will zoom in accordingly.

One additional cool feature also displays the music played during the workout session.

The Sports Tracker application on the Nokia phone allows you to choose from a list of activities available or you could customize it yourself. The database-ready activities are running, walking, hiking and cycling. You can customize it to show the speed or pace, autopause and speed averaging. The autopause when enabled is a feature which allows the application to stop the timer when you are idle. For example if you are disrupted in the middle of your workout or you would want to have a break but do not want your timing to be affected, the timer will only resume when it detects you moving.

The phone application also allows you access to useful information and graphical plots as below.

I would rate this application highly and do not mind carrying some extra weight in my arm pouch.

Guang Ming Bukit Jambul Hikathon 2009

Date: 1 Nov 2009
Time: 7:45am
Distance: 6.5km
Start: Entrance to Kawasan Mendaki Bukit Jambul
Fee: RM10
Closing date: 25 Oct 2009

Cendana Hikathon 2009

Date: 4-Oct-2009 (Sunday)
Time: 8.00am
Venue: Penang Youth Park
Organized by: Penang Adventurers' Club with the cooperation of MPPP
Closing date: 13-Sept-2009
Website: http://www.pac.com.my

The Future of Marathon Running: Ethiopia vs Kenya

This is an interesting article I read from The Science of Sport

Ethiopia vs. Kenya: Part I

The 1990s was full of epic duels between Gebreselassie and Tergat as those two chased each other through the ranks, besting each others WRs along the way and producing incredible racing when they met head to head (think back to the 10000 m final in Sydney!). We have written previously about the differences between the two countries systems and how currently Ethopia leads Kenya in head to head competions, and it is timely now that as these two legends begin their swansongs two younger runners are waiting in the wings to keep the rivalry alive. But before we look ahead, let's look back for one second at how Gebreselassie and Tergat stack up:

Read on....