Iskandar Puteri Night Marathon (IPNM) 2018

Race Review: A Hard Battle without drinking provided for 15 km along the route

Registration

On 19 September 2017, Tuesday, 9:44 pm, online register 21KM - Men Open.
My registration fee for this run is RM 72.

• Early Bird Entry Fees for 21KM = RM 80
• IPNM 2017 runners are entitled to a RM 10 discount when registering for IPNM 2018.

Iskandar Puteri Night Marathon 2018 was held in the Saturday night on 14 April 2018 at Dataran Mahkota, Iskandar Puteri (formerly known as Nusajaya), Johor. The race offered four distance categories, namely 42km Full Marathon, 21km Half Marathon, 10km and 5km.

I have participated many running events in Malaysia before, but it's one of the hardest half marathons I've ever run. I registered for 21km Half Marathon, scheduled to be flagged off at 8:30 p.m.

Getting to Iskandar Puteri

On Saturday evening, my friend and I drove from our house to Iskandar Puteri, the traffic was pretty smooth. Before having our dinner, we making our way to Dataran Mahkota to collect race kits.

Race Kit Collection

The race kit collection was held over three days.
On 12 and 13 April 2018, the race kit collection was held at Mall of Medini from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, on race day, 14 April 2018, runners could collect from race village at Dataran Mahkota, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

As we were not able to travel to Iskandar Puteri on weekdays, we choose to collect on the race day itself. The collection process was very smooth. There weren't many runners there when we collected our race kits. Inside the bag of my race kit were running T-shirt , race bib with timing chip and several sponsor's vouchers.

After collect race kit, we decided to head to Gelang Patah immediately for having dinner.

The Beginning

After having our dinner at Gelang Patah, we drive back to Iskandar Puteri.
We parked our car at Puteri Harbour and took shuttle bus provided by the organizer, to the race venue.

When the clock showed 8:20 p.m., my friend and I decided to enter the start pen.
The flag off committee has been standing on the stage beside the start line, ready to flag off 21km runners. Pacers could be easily identified as they were carrying ballons with LED lights.

At about 8:30 p.m. the countdown for flag off began, followed by fireworks.
The unique flag off ceremony surely pumped us up, but we weren't able to speed up at the beginning of the run due to slight congestion. About 1 km later, we reached the main road, Lebuh Kota Iskandar, where the road was wider.

Actually, I enjoyed the first 5 km of my run because I could feel the excitement and hear the laughter from fellow runners.

The Logistics

Lebuh Kota Iskandar has two to three lanes in each direction.
I noticed that, at certain locations, there were traffic cones separating the road shoulder and the first lane. Also, occasionally, vehicles were allowed on the outermost lane. The race guide stated that the full road closure was only for Lebuh Kota Iskandar between Puteri Harbour roundabout heading towards EcoWorld Gallery, which means that not all of the running route would have road closures. Fortunately, it was late at night, vehicles were sparse and there were many road marshals who did a good job controlling the traffic.

The race guide stated: "Distance markers are placed at every kilometre along the routes", but I didn't see a single distance marker throughout my run. At critical areas where runners need to make a turn, there were direction signages and helpful road marshals.

There was a time when volunteers were shouting to runners, "Go to the left!". I didn't quite understand why we were asked to do so, but I obliged anyway. I through probably elite runners were coming. It turned out that the checkpoint mat was located on the first lane only, instead of the full width of the road. So, all of the runners were squeezing on the first lane in order to cross the checkpoint. 

The Battle

As I reached the first hydration point at 5 km, I was shocked to find that there were no more cups.
I grabbed an opened bottle of 1.5L 100 Plus isotonic drinks, and poured the drinks into my mouth, without letting the bottle touch my mouth. Then, I put it back and continued my run.

When I reached the second hydration station at 8 km, I was again shocked to find there were no more water and isotonic drinks! I told myself that I still could run to the next water station without drinking.

At the next hydration station (11 km), there were also ran out of water and isotonic drinks.
The 11 km point was just opposite Dataran Mahkota, the race village. I could actually cross the road, walk to the finish line, collect my medal and call it a day. But I din't want to quit. At least, not yet. So, I continued. 

The next hydration station was supposed to be at 15 km, but the road from 11 km to 15 km seemed so far. I hadn't been drinking anything since 5 km and I felt very thirsty. At 13 km, I was seriously toying with the idea of giving up.

One side of me was telling me, "Don't give up. There are more hydration stations in front. Look at all of those runners in front of you, they don't quit. If they could persevere until the next station,why can't you? Don't forget why you come for run, just don't give up."

But, the other side of me was saying, "Don't be foolish. Don't torture your body. Don't run anymore, just give up. Stop running and slow down to walk. Look at the road in front of you, can you see the hydration station yet? Nope, you can't see it because it's still far away! Even if you make it to the station, I doubt there'd still be any drinks by the time you arrive there.

When I've run 14 km, I saw my friend were running on the opposite direction. He have passed my next hydration station and were on his way back to the finish line. I approached him and asked, "Is there any more water in front?" My friend answered, "No, no water in front". At that time, I was totally disappointed and angry to this event organizer.

About 3 km before finishing line, there was a lorry in the middle of the race route. From behind the lorry, the volunteers were distributing 1.5L bottles of water & 100 plus isotonic drinks to runners. I quickly grabbed a bottle of 100 plus and gulped as much drink as I could. Many runners in front of me took the bottle, drank about one-fifth of it and left it in the middle of the road. But I intended to hold my bottle until I arrive at the finish line.

The Ending

Last 500 m route to Dataran Mahkota was totally darkness, where is very dangerous.
Finally, I could see the finish line, I sprinted and crossed the finish line with a huge sense of relief.
After the finish line, I was on the way to finisher's booth to collect the finisher's entitlements.
Inside the bag of my finisher's entitlements were 21 km finisher's T-shirt & finisher's medal, bread and water.

Official Race Result!

E-Certificate
On 16 April 2018, Monday, I download my results and e-certificate at https://goo.gl/7pzWRP.

The event organiser told me that only 21km have no ranking in their results due to confusion on the running route during race day

The route is confusing? I don't think so. 

Bullshit !!! Don't blame rain again. 

I have already crossed all the checkpoints, how come don't have rankings. 

I am totally disappointed !!!

E-certificate without signature!

Event Overview

• Hydration stations ran out of water & isotonic drink for 15 km along the route
• Distance markers and safety barriers were not in place.
• Tips for future running events: bring your own water.
• The organiser of IPNM 2018 had apologize and make statement that they will not organise this kind of running event in future anymore. Which means that next year, I don't have chance to boycott their event. 

Reference:

https://www.runsociety.com/races/iskandar-puteri-night-marathon-2018-race-review-a-hard-battle/

http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/1746337/