SINGAPORE – JOHOR SECOND LINK BRIDGE RUN 2004 - By Lim Fang Hau (POSTED ON PM 25 BLOG ON 14/10/2004)

Recently on 10/10/2004 I participated in the Second Link Bridge Run. This was I first overseas run after taking part in 7 local runs this year. I participated in the 10km competitive category but I ended running 15km instead of 10km. Want to know why, here is the story.I took a midnight bus from KL and arrived at JB at around 4.20am. Then I took a cab to CIQ complex in Tanjung Kupang, near the Second Link. I arrived there at about 4.50 am. It was still early so I decided to walk across the Second Link rather than waiting for a bus to arrive at 6 am. I took a leisure walk across the Second Link. The distance was about 5.4km and I arrived at Tuas checkpoint at about 5.45am. When I arrived, I tried to check in at the arrival hall but I was barred from checking in. I was told by the officer from the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) that they cannot allow any visitors to arrived at the checkpoint without a vehicle (a strict procedure they had to observe). I arrived there by walking. So I was ordered to walk back to the CIQ in Johor. It was around 6.10am and with very limited time left I was forced to run 5.4km back to the CIQ in Johor with my bag. I arrived at the Johor CIQ at around 6.50am and I waited for a bus there. According to the schedule, there should be a free shuttle service to the starting point in Tuas West Road from 6 to 7am. Unfortunately there was not any bus service until 7.20am. I was considered lucky as this was the last shuttle service before 7.30am (race starting time). I took the bus and arrived at the starting point at 7.44 am. Oh! Shit!! The race had already started for the 10km competitive category. Without much delay I sprint to the starting point and I was allowed to start the run. At the same time the 10km fun run category was about to start. I started at 7.46am (16 minutes late). I had to push myself very hard to catch up with the rest of the competitive runners. I ran at a faster pace for the first 5km. I managed to overtake some of the slow pacers in the competitive category (10km , Men’s Open, Ladies Open, Men’s Veteran, Ladies Veteran, Boys and Girls ) which started at 7.30 am. The view on the Second Link bridge was magnificent and this was the first time for me running on the bridge run event. It took me 27 minutes to reach the 5km split off point. There was a refreshment station serving 100 Plus and plain water at the 5km split off point but there was not any sponging station. Something different from our local race like the Johor Marathon 10km and Addidas King of The Road 10km. After taking some refreshment at the station, my pace started to slow down. I found myself difficult to push harder. This could be due to the earlier incident at the Tuas checkpoint I encountered. At the same time some of the fun run category fast pacers started to overtake me. I kept on running at a slower pace as I found it difficult to push myself harder.The turnout for the event was around 7,000 participants for all the categories. Overall, the route was 90% flat with some uphill slope on the bridge. I finished my race in 56 minutes 7.64 seconds (my own timing). The official timing was 1 hour 12 minutes. I was almost 16 minutes late from the starting point. I managed to get a certificate and finished within the cut off time of 90 minutes (no medal, only for top 50s and no printed certificate with timing, only for top 50s). One thing I noticed from this race was the absent of distance marker. So I used the turning point at half way of the bridge as 5km distance marker. There was also some goodies to be collected after the race and I got a free 100 Plus, kitchen utensils and picnic mat.After the race I heard some of the experience runners complaining that the actual distance was shorter than 10km, actually 9.5km. Most of them had a superb timing. I knew one of the open category Men’s 10km placing for 11th position timing was around 31 minutes. I was wondering why there was no distance marker during the race. I also felt that the distance was actually shorter than 10km as I ran at a much slower pace after the split off point but I still managed to clock 56 minutes (I was expecting to clock around 65 minutes due to my slower pace after the split off point).I was glad that I managed to complete my run in the Second Link Bridge Run although I encountered some difficulties when trying to check in at Tuas checkpoint. On average my pacing per km was 5 minutes 54.48 seconds (based on the actual 9.5km distance). An improvement from my usual 6 minutes plus pacing per km. Next year, it is Malaysia turn to host the event and there will be half marathon category. I’ll be running for next year event.