Back Track) 14th March 2010 – The Bareno Run 2010: Take a little; Give a little

Now, I’ve always heard people saying this… Win Some, Lose Some. I’ve lately also heard another phrase, Take a little; Give a little.

Well, what does this have anything to do with running?

While there are plenty of us runners out there (including myself) who is trying to break a certain record, regardless of whether it is being a personal best, the most number or races, the most number of medals or maybe even the most number of marathons ran in a year (like a certain somebody I know in Singapore), it has very much been about what we have achieved? Yes?

I guess so, that was, until before I was ‘requested’ to volunteer for Bareno Run 2010

The Bareno Run 2010 : A race by Taman Bukit Jalil Running Club

I have Mr. Ronny Yong to thank for… yet again, for it was he who called me up one fine day asking if I would be free for the Bareno Run. I did hear about it before, a 15km run, and instantly I said… “Of course!”. What shocked me after was the fact that he wasn’t inviting me to participate in this race; he was asking if I was free to volunteer! Honestly, the action is out there on the road, isn’t it? At least it was what I’d felt. I would rather be out there running a race, than to be handing out the race ribbons, filling up water, cutting up watermelons, arranging safety cones and on and on and on.

YES! I would rather be participating in a race! Anyhow, instead of telling him that I would rather be running (anyway, I think he knows), I decided to volunteer instead. It was the first time that I’d volunteered for a race, what more it was a race that is targeting 3,000 participants. That was considered a reasonably sized race actually.

In my personal assessment, I think race sizes, at least within Malaysia are categorized as the following:-

Small Race 1,000 participants and below

Medium Race 1,001 – 3,000 participants

Large Race 3,001 – 10,000 participants

Mega Race 10,001 participants and above

I will however validate this assessment with my mentor and sifu, Mr. Wan Yew Leong at a later stage. He is, after all one of the pioneers and early President of Pacesetters Athletic Club Malaysia. Almost all runners I know seem to have high regards to his knowledge, passion and talent for race organization and management. I have no doubts either.

I must say, it was a good experience. One of which I will certainly do again (very soon, as a matter of fact). I invited a friend, John to volunteer too! He, being Mr. Nice Guy obliged. We soon went for our first volunteers’ meeting. I remember it well as it was a Sunday evening, the Sunday that John and I decided to do a day trip hiking up to Gunung Nuang, the highest peak in Selangor. It was a tiring day as we have been up since 3.30am and started hiking at around 4.30am – 5.00am. It was almost an 8 hour hike, up and down and we didn’t even manage to reach the peak as we feared that we wouldn’t be able to make in back in time for the meeting. (Yes! We were that committed… *yeah right!*)

When we finally reached down from the mountains, we were tired, hot, sweaty and oh, did I mentioned tired? We rushed home to get whatever rest we could and within an hour or so, we were out again heading towards Bukit Jalil Stadium. The day was a daze, as I was feeling groggy and sleepy from the early morning. Come evening, I could hardly open my eyes and was dying to crawl into my bed and just catch some Zzzz.

At the Stadium, amidst the yawns and sleeping postures that we’d assumed, John and I managed to dig into our spare battery and do a meet and greet session. We’d met several other runners who have also decided to volunteer for Bareno. I guess, we can’t be in every race right?

The meeting went on, and we were briefed by Hee Kin about our roles and responsibilities. I’ve been told before that I will be a timer, but even being a timer, as I’ve learned has many different responsibilities. There was the person who writes the time down, the person who holds the stop watch (ME!), the person who gives out the position numbers and so on. It was eye opening, but I was feeling exciting as I was assigned the job of timing the men 15km category. I guess, as it was the main distance of the event, it would be the most exciting thing to do seeing the winner cross the finish line and it was!

The day started early as we had to be there by 5am. When I woke up, the sky was still pitch black. Waited for John to reach my place and headed over to pick up Yoke Kuan, who had also volunteered for the race. We all reached there on time at 5am… phew!

Once there, the volunteers were served breakfast. It wasn’t anything lavish; some bread, hard boiled eggs and mineral water. We’ve each got our committee T-Shirts sponsored by New Balance. Pretty decent quality with several sponsor logos stuck on it. I downed whatever my half asleep stomach can handle and decided to call it breakfast! We then quickly moved into our positions for a quick last briefing of our jobs.

We helped out, with some manual labor: carrying cones, medals, and eventually positioned ourselves to start handing out ribbons. One the participants have done their warm up, they then headed our way to check-in for the race. It was still reasonably dark, but they made their way to the starting point. Which by then, John and I had positioned ourselves eager to press the Start button on our respective stop watches. For the first time, I was right ahead of the race, ahead of all the participants as I was the one who needed to release them for the race.

It was almost time; and I’d removed the barricade preventing the runners pushing forward. Some quick speech by the VIP and bang! Off they went!

Once the Start button has been activated, the stop watch was the most crucial item in the whole race as it determines the winner and loser, the record breaker and the guide for each participant. It was an important device, and I was responsible for it. Concerned that I may screw things up, I checked the stop watch every few minutes just to ensure that it continues to be working. We then hurried over to turn around the starting line to become the finishing point. As the fastest runner was estimated to come back within 50 minutes or so, we didn’t have much time. Fortunately, the volunteers were very cooperative in helping with the turnaround and it was completed in a matter of minutes.

Now, with that out of the picture, the race timers have now positioned themselves at the finishing line. Looking far ahead; eagerly awaiting any sign of the first winner coming back.

30 minutes…

40 minutes…

50 minutes… and Mr. Tang, one of the race officials shouted “Get Ready… the first one is just around the corner!”

52 minutes and 30 seconds: The first winner of the Bareno 15KM race appeared.

That was fast. Really fast, but unfortunately the special prize that was reserved for the record breaker of a sub-50 minute runner was not achieved. It was; a tough course after all. There were plenty of ups and downs. A rolling course, as some of the runners later described. The special prize, a home jacuzzi was then given out as a lucky draw instead.

The rest of the runners started to roll in one after another, scarcely at first and more cluttered in the later stage. And one by one, we timed, and gave them their positions. All sorts of expressions were on their race. Some dismayed, some overjoyed and some, frankly, a little hard to describe. Not sure if they felt constipated or was just too tortured by a 15km race.

We stayed till the very end, and I’m glad I did as I’d witness the determination of a XXXL sized chap who pulled it together and completed the race in almost 3 hours. It was sheer determination, and for that, I respect him. 110%!

To wrap things up, we helped with some quick packing, headed over for prize giving ceremony and met a few celebrity runners like Tan Wah Sing, our barefoot runner. It was all in all, a good day… and a good race.