SW10K 2010- official timings and some pictures

'Official' pictures from Marathon-photos.com

In my previous post I wrote about the clutter and chaos at the start of this race. With the growing number of runners the organisers must seriously think of either wave starts or have runners line up at the starting point  in groups based on their past finish times. This practice is followed in many international races with large number of participants. For this to be feasible at the SW10K a longer lead time is required between the time runners move out of the holding area and the start of the race .


However, apart from this issue I must say that from the overall organisation perspective the race was quite satisfactory.There was complete traffic control, there were aid stations every few Kms and also Km markers. I noticed portable toilets in at least one location on the route and there was even a water shower to relieve runners from the heat though I did not run through it. There were water counters   right next to the finish point and refreshment counters had streamlined queues, that is, the finish area was well managed.There was a bit of confusion and some errors when the chip timings and photos were first uploaded - even now a few runners are unsatisfied with their timings.

My official chip timing was 49:05 - pretty much what I had expected. I ranked 222 overall and 6th in my age category(50 to 59).RFL and BHUKMP runners Honda-San and Pani finished 1st and 2nd respectively in this category - kudos to these amazing runners!  BTW - this is probably the first event that I ran without a cap. I have decided that the cap is more a hindrance rather than an advantage for shorter distance events(5K/10K) where one is trying to complete at an average pace faster than 5 minutes per Km. Rahul's official chip timing was 1:18:42. Official results are available here.

Rahul, Akshay, Chandru in the holding area before the race

With Rahul and Akshay after the race

Rahul,Chandru and Akshay after the race

Countdown to the 3rd edition of Sunfeast World 10K

This year's edition of Sunfeast world 10K on 23rd May which  is less than a week away is expected to be bigger than last year's event. It is anyway by far the largest road race event in Bangalore. With more and more Bangaloreans taking up running the popularity of this event is growing.  This is the first year of the event after it was recognized as a IAAF Gold label event. There are a couple of changes from the last two years:

•  the start time for the open 10K event has been advanced to 8:10am compared to 9am the last two years - this will be a big help specially if it turns out to be a warm day
• the timing chip is compulsory for all 10K participants and the entry fee has been increased to include its cost

Surprisingly the website does not still have any information on the race route. I assume it is going to be the same as the route of last two years - despite the roads being dug up around the Chinnaswamy stadium/Cubbon road areas.

Though my training has been a mixed bag the last couple of months, after a solo 52minutes 10Km a couple of days I feel reasonably confident of at least a sub 49 minutes finish this year also. This is provided I am able to borrow a Garmin 305 for the race- else I will probably just focus on enjoying the run and be satisfied with  sub 53 minutes.  My son Rahul who has done the Majja run last two years is looking to complete his first 10K this year.

To run or not to run Nike+ Human Race on 24rth October?

The Nike 10K Human race is not an ideal one for long distance runners training for the Bangalore ultra on November 15th. Plus the race is on a Saturday afternoon and at Clark’s Exotica located quite far from the city. Therefore, it is not surprising that many RFL runners have decided to give it a miss. Nevertheless I decided to go ahead and register for it mainly because the NGO partner for the race is Dream A Dream and also a few others from my apartment community were interested in participating. The thinking was if I did a 10K in around 48 minutes , the same time as I took in Sunfeast 10K 2009, then it could serve as a good tempo run. Also I had planned my long runs in such a way that I could take it easy the weekend of 24th/25th October . The intent was to do a 4 hour/35K+ run on October 18th with a bunch of BHUKMP runners after gorging on Diwali sweets and savories on 17th. And follow this up with a 30K run on 31st October. Unfortunately, due to a massive stomach upset I could neither hog nor do my long run this weekend. For the 2nd time in less than 8 weeks I fell sick(does exercise increase or decrease immunity – a topic that needs to be researched further!). Due to this I am now in two minds about participating in this race. I am thinking maybe I will skip the 10K race and get in the 4hour/35K+ run instead. Will need to decide latest by Thursday. The irony is that I felt well enough by Sunday night to do a solo 21K/2:01 run this morning!.

Sunfeast 10K 2009

I had a great 10K run on 31st May 2009 comfortably meeting my goal of completing under 50 minutes. My finish time of 48 minutes 24 seconds gave me a 4rth place in the age category and 107th overall among those who ran with the timing chip. Details of the results are here. (The Split timings at the 4K and 8.5K mark are incorrect - these timings are actually for the 4.5K and 9K points). We(myself, my son Rahul, my brother Chandru, and his son Akshay) drove in Partha’s car and after parking at the UB city parking lot reached Kanteerva stadium by 730am. After a quick group photo, we got inside just in time to see the top elite runners enter the stadium and make a dash to the finish line. Winning time of 28:13 by Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga was slower than last year’s winning time of 27:51 set by Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadesse. The open 10K runners were let onto the track at about 8:05am. The race started on the dot at 8:10 under fairly cool conditions thanks to the showers of the previous night. I consciously started off quite fast to avoid getting stuck with the crowds. I reached the 2Km mark in just under 9:30 and the 5Km mark in about 24 minutes. Having got off to a good start and a steady rhythm I stayed focused on the run. Of course, with a lot of familiar runners on the course there was a fair bit of waving and calling out of names. But I did not chat for long with anyone. While my pace dropped a bit in the second half I was very confident of a sub 50 finish by the time I got to the 6K mark. I slowed down at water stops only a couple of times. The period between the 6K and 9K marks was the toughest. One got second wind while running through the familiar Cubbon Park territory and made a dash into Kanteerva stadium with the Garmin showing 48:39. Surprisingly, for a race that was well organised , the digital clock at the finish line was not working. My brother Chandru finished in 1:06 - he had to slow down in the last 4K due to a stomach cramp. Partha finished in 58 minutes.

Soon after finishing and exchanging Congratulations and timings with a few RFL runners I went inside the VIP invitee lounge looking for my daughter Ritika. We had nice breakfast there and were also fortunate enough to bump into Maurice Green, Milind Soman and Deepika Padukone – the last one being the brand ambassador for the event.

Rahul and Akshay finished the Majja run comfortably in under 40 minutes – the only sour note of the morning was that it took us nearly an hour to locate each other as the place got overcrowded and chaotic once the colourful and noisy Majja run participants started streaming in droves. Nevertheless, it was nice to see so many Bangaloreans pounding the streets on a Sunday morning. Running as a sport in Bangalore has certainly come a long way in the last few years.