TRISTUPE.COM: The Pisang Relay Run 2013 Fun Report

Oh What Fun!
With a race named like this, it will be difficult not to enjoy yourself. But bear in mind, this is a serious race.

Going Banana

I found out about the race pretty late and the plan for the Team 2ndSkin was to go out and enjoy ourselves. One of our teammate, Roy Yeow was involved in the race organisation together with Frank Chong and Ben Swee. SO, a race organised by fellow runners is a race any runners must support. :)
The Format
3 runners. Relay. 6 laps. Approximately 2.7km each lap. Banana as baton for first 3 laps and two bananas on last 3 laps. The team can stragtegize to either have each runner run 2laps back to back each or alternate each lap with one runner. The organiser limit the participation to 120 teams but were nice enough to accommodate extras. I believe the total show up was close to 126 teams. There were no less than 378 runners and with the organisers/volunteers added, 400 people running about at Bukit Jalil Park!

Just a portion of the crowd

Bukit Jalil Park is the unofficial training ground for the Bukit Jalil Running Club. It is easy to see why the BJRC members are strong runners - this park has a good mix of flat and hills! One more thing worth mentioning about this run is the organiser has taken a bold step in asking the runners to bring their own bottles or cups. This not only reduce wastage but also create awareness to the runners on being sustainable. It was a nice move in my opinion.

Spot mine

The race attracted runners from all over. Most notably, a group of Japanese Expats that came really for the fun of it...and they are really fast runners. One team had a whole banana headgear and ran with them on. How is that for being awesome?

Strong Banana

The locals did not disappoint as I spotted these few that came in "uniforms".

Girls in Blue

Girls in White with Banana headband

Boys in Red and with matching earphones

Harimau Malaya!

The Rebel Campers

The Terry Fox Family (the mother was running)

The " Damn you I am cute" Family with bear headgear

The Boys in Red.

And of course, we the Team 2ndSkin. :D

Three Banana (like literally can't read/write chinese)

The Run
The initial participants were supposed to include Annie. As she signed up for Kuala Kangsar 21km and with opportunity of doing well there, she decided to go there leaving a space open for dear Eugene to join the race. We randomly chose and Jason was chosen to be the first runner. The run started with a small climb that i believe, is the complain of many people that ran that day. :D I say it is all good! The route were around the park and the participants also need to run around the other public park users.

Auntie wondering what with the bananas

And positioning myself at the transition was a good choice as I can see the determination of fellow runners during the change of ~~baton~~ bananas

The " Wait for me" Pose

The "Hey, You drop your banana" Pose

The "Reluctant" Pose

The "I Don't want to see you" Pose

The "Confused Monkey" Pose

The "Right Foot Forward" Pose

The "My Sandal Same Color As My 2ndSkin-Barefoot" Pose

The "My Sergeant Told Me To Jump Until My Partner Reach" Pose

The "Siberh Fast" Pose

The "I Shy hold your bananas" Pose

The "Speedy" Pose

The "Hey who drop his bananas" Pose

The "Determined" Pose

The "Let Me Hold Your Bananas" Pose

The "You Broke my nails" Pose

As you can see from the photos above, everyone had fun. As for me, it was a good day workout and i managed to do some sprint work. Both laps were done in sub 12minutes which in my opinion could be better if I did not take too many photos. Since it was a fun outing for me and the team, it was all good. We had to try not to be last ;-) Here is the data for the first lap. Second lap is similar and just a bit slower for me.

The organisers took effort to make sure that everyone that come go back with something. For a fun run, medals were given. Not bad.