ABOUT 2 weeks ago, one of my loyal fans wrote me an email, reminding me of the first anniversary of this blog. He is right—it's been a year since I posted my first article on 14 October 2007. He suggested that I do something to mark the occasion. Amongst others, he suggested a new look for this blog; some sort of competition and the likes.
I have been busy with work, Rotary activities, and preparing for the Borneo International Marathon (BIM). Although the BIM is now over, I will still continue my training as I will be running in Penang and Singapore. Maybe I will also run the the GE30 in January next year. Apart from that, I also have theSun Motor Hunt 2008 (02 November) on my calendar. There is therefore hardly any time left to organize a competition in this blog.
In December last year, I did the December Virtual Hunt; and saw the number of visitors to my blog surged to over 1,000 a day. Unfortunately, not even 5% of those visitors participated in that hunt. I suppose many were merely watching from the sidelines, and waiting for the answers and explanations.
Well, there is now a twist in theSun Motor Hunt 2008. The Clerk-of-Course inducted me to their Hall of Fame, in spite of my objection. Apparently the rationale of the promotion to the master list was due to the fact that I have clerked hunts before. Anyway, as the result of that promotion, I will probably opt out of theSun Hunt again this year as this will allow my other team mates to proceed with their plan to hunt in the Open Category.
Maybe this is a good news for my fans, because perhaps I will now find a bit of time to organize a virtual hunt in this blog after all. But I doubt that I can do it immediately. I will need to start going around to take some pictures and set some questions etc. I'm afraid I won't be able to do all those this weekend as I will be flying to KL to do the Mizuno Wave Run.
Sooner or later I will try to find the time to work on a virtual hunt. This time I will think of a prize and I will also factor in some sort of time element into the competition. Very ambitious plan and much more to do. Since time will play a role in it, I will publish a notification at least a few days before the hunt starts.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all my loyal readers. I hope to continue getting your support for a long time to come!
9 comments:
An exhausting weekend in KL; did the 10K in the Mizuno Wave Run this morning and flew home in the afternoon. Plenty to tell, but it will have to wait till tomorrow and the rest of next week.
But in a nutshell, just before I left for KL, some friends contacted me and arranged for me to have a ride with a master team in theSun Hunt. So now I am in again! It's been a roller coaster of sort, so this better be good! More on this later.
The Mizuno was different from last week's BIM. Lots of slopes which reminded me of the gruesome Jalan Istana here in KK. So I got my second running medal. Now I am truly convinced that the BIM was very, very well-organized because I'm far from impressed with the Mizuno Run. But again, more on this later!
Speaking of the BIM, I see an email from Shan, informing runners that the photos will soon be available in their website in a few days' time. I can't wait for those.
Was basically lazing around on Saturday in KL. My good friend, KK Chai, picked me up and we went to collect our running kits at Padang Merbok. Then he showed me the route for the run. In the afternoon, instead of spending my time window shopping like I had planned, I walked the Brickfields streets just to observe people. I learned quite a few things in the process. This will also come under a separate thread later.
While walking the streets, I also took the opportunity to take some pictures of signages. I can probably use those for my upcoming virtual hunt. That's the beauty of virtual hunts, it doesn't really matter where you took the pictures!
BUT! now I am dead tired!
hi..
congrats to you for getting a medal....the one who finish first today breaks the mizuno run record already...but i forget what's his timing...he is from mens veteran category...
not sure if i saw you during the run...:) i was at the water station on the first table...hahhaa.....
Hi Slasher,
My friend, Chai, told me that a foreigner (veteran) runner practically beat the entire crowd, including the men's open category the week before the Mizuno in a 12-km run. And he expected that the same veteran runner will do the same in the Mizuno run.
Yeah, I stopped at the first table for a drink. But I didn't really pay attention to who were serving those drinks.
I heard it from the grapevine that medals were given to the first 950 runners irregardless of their category (men's)in the Mizuno run. An extreme injustice to some especially the seniors who have to compete with the young. Though the medals allocation was clearly stated in the entry form that Men's open gets 500, veterans get 300,the senior veterans get 150 and the women gets 350 total 1300 pieces in all. According to my source, it was decided at the last minute to just simply reward the first 950 men who came in. Is this fair?
Hi,
The route being use for the Mizuno Wave was a double hill route....the New Balance 15KM few months back also use the route but slightly different because the run the other way round...
Actually, thats not only the not fair part where medals are simply given out to runners. The bags for non-medal winner also suppose to be give to everyone that finishes the race regardless of the time being use. But end of the race, some runners went to the counter to ask for the place where they can collect the bag but when they went to collect it, they were told that it has finish. The organiser themselves didnt know much bout that until people ask bout it. The sponsors should bring more of those bags when they already promise to give to everyone that runs but sadly, some didnt get that.
To the anynomous friend, I wouldn't waste my breath on what's fair and what's not. I am sure the organizer had what they thought was a valid reason for their system of rewarding and recognizing the runners' achievements.
Having said that, however, if indeed they had wanted to reward the top 950 runners irrespective of age category, then I do not see why bother with the categorization of runners. Why not simply throw everyone into the Open Category and let them all fight? It makes very little sense to separate the runners into different categories and then expect them to fight like there're no boundaries.
The second thing that comes to my mind is that runners came into the event with a clear-cut understanding of how they would be rewarded; and that was set out in the entry form as you have correctly stated. So I found it surprising that the organizer decided to change the rewarding system "at the last minute" by ignoring the categories.
Had the organizer informed the runners that only the top 950 runners will get a medal (ignoring the categories), I am sure some senior runners might have opted out. And even if they had joined the run anyway, they wouldn't have felt cheated if they ended up outside that 950 top runners.
I came into the event on the understanding that only 300 runners within my category would get a medal. I thought I stood a chance to at least fall within that top 300, so I signed up for the run. I would have felt cheated if, for example, at the end of the run only the top 30 runners got a medal and I'm not one of them!
Let the organizer declare their system of rewarding the runners. And since they have adopted the time chip, they should also publish the full results of the event so that runners are not kept in the dark.
slasher,
This was resulted by some greedy and selfish runners who earlier collected their goodies with the medals decided to go on and collect the other goodie bags with the shoebag in it that were meant for runners who fail to get the ones with the medal. I saw many runners happily walking away with two bags in toll. You can tell because the bigger one is the one with the shoebag which I got ):
I suppose the organisers can get away with the medals allocation decision because we have contradicting rules in the entry form. The top part gives a breakdown of medals allocation, but the in the prizes and medals ruling(11) it is stated that top 5 in each category gets product vouchers and trophies, the first 1300 finishers get the medals and LIMITED EDITION shoebags for the rest. This would also answer your question why those running categories were created.
Sad to see those that really finished their run and didnt get anything. Just because of some greedy people that went and take those bags away.....
Luckily I am just a volunteer there...got my shirt and my allowance lol.....
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