LETTERS
"Excellent job done!" | 3rd
PACM Track Meet
Dear Mr. President,
Thank you very much for the Nike Pacesetters 15k run certificate. My congratulatory
e-mail may be a bit late but it is always better than never sending to
you and the committee members. Recalling back on the morning of 25/5/2003,
from the start of the race, I knew it was going to be a well-organised
and fun race. Indeed it was. Yesterday (14/07/03), I was again very impressed
with the quality of the certificate and the information the committee
members have meticulously and painstakingly put in the certificate, i.e.
showing my time, position in my race category, overall position in men’s
category and even my position in the overall race. This shows that you
guys have put in a lot of effort and sacrifices in ensuring that a public
race of such quality is put on the race calendar.
Although I have only run in 4 public races, I can see the many differences
already in terms of race logistics and post race events (such as food
for hungry and thirsty runners). What I only do as an ordinary member
of PACM is to give words of encouragement to the ever hard working committee
members. I have really enjoyed myself ever since I joined as a member.
I remember very clearly how my runs were before I joined the club. Those
lonely runs in the morning but now it is totally different. You can talk
and get advice from veteran and seasoned runners who are most willing
to offer their invaluable advice to new runners like me.
I would like to congratulate you and the committee members again for an
Excellent job done and Many, many thanks.
Lay Hoi Cheong
The President replies:
Thanks for your words of encouragement. We certainly did put lots of thoughts
into what constitute a good event and we don't just want to talk about
it but actually try to achieve it. We hope with our example here, runners
are more aware of what can be expected, and race organizers will strive
to meet those standards. For example, if we have never travelled to Europe
or Australia, we do not understand what clean toilets or punctuality of
public transport mean. Once we have, we expect similar standards in the
country and would push towards having these standards as customers. Same
with us as runners, we have to know the standards by running in overseas
events and we bring back our expectations, and more importantly the technology.
Munning, our editor, who is behind all the pain in generating the certificates
is one such runner from our club. We modelled our certificate on the one
from the Honolulu Marathon that he went to with a small group from the
club. Perhaps we could save enough to make one such trip in future? A
nearer option would be Hatyai or Songkhla Run.
Wan Yew Leong
President, PACM
Ps. The crowd's biggest applause always goes to the slowest runner because they can now all go home.
3rd PACM Track Meet
Dear PACM President,
I have participated in all three track meets and immediately noticed some changes, good and bad, in the recent one. Below I would like to share with you, some views on the differences that I have compiled from the conversations that I had with the participants. The comments mainly come from some loyal members of PACM and it does not represent the views of any area group or the the club.
First of all, I would like to congratulate you and the organizing committee of the recently concluded 3rd PACM track meet for an other event well organized. The stadium was a good choice as before, and the weather was excellent. Among the changes that are deemed improvement, the route for Fun Run was well marked with signboards positioned at strategic places. The souvenir (Umbrella) was pratical and proven useful when the sun was up. The sumptuous and delicious breakfast and goodie beg made everyone hungry for more. There were more race officials and race marshals this time compare to the previous track meets and the races generally went smoothly except for certain events which, have problem getting people to run, like the family relay. Participants have shown better cooperation with the race marshals that contributed to the smooth flowing of the whole event.
On the negative changes, I think most of the participants will agree with me, is that there was no St.John ambulance at the venue that day and no trained first-aider to tend to the runner who collapsed after completed her race. Luckily nothing serious happened to her or to other participants. There was no distinction between the groups and one hardly felt the area group spirit. Except maybe for Permaisuri for your effort. Also the area group banners uniform running vest. Well done! PERMAISURI!!!!! for your effort. Also the area group banners for some area groups were no where to be observed at the venue. And the most worrying of all is that, there was a significant drop in the number of participants this year compared to previous years, particularly from the senior runners above 30 years of age. After talking to many of the participants that day, the following conclusions can be made for their lost of interest.
The main reason for their withdrawal from the track meet is that they feel very much neglected. First of all, on their opinion, the number of events was reduced to accommodate events for the school children, kids and family. These “children events” were scheduled in the middle between individual events and relays. Although the purpose can be understood, i.e., to allow the runners to rest. But the waiting time have bored them and they find their morale low after their body had cooled down. When this happens, one questions the objective of having this Pacesetters Track Meet when the children events also flow into it, if not dominate. Isn’t there the “little athlete track meet” for the kids and family and the “pacesetters youth track challenge” that caters for secondary school children? We find that these three track meets should not have overlapping categories/vents in order to benefit the spectrum of ages of the club members.
The senior’s reaction is quite normal, after all they are the majority of PACM member. Clearly, you and your committee knew about this fact and it has been one of the main objectives of the vlub to attract more young blood in recent years. But the interest of the club’s senior members should be not be over looked.
Chen Yong Wen
President replies:
Thank you for your feedback and I think I ought to reply this promptly
:
- St John Ambulance – we did arrange for it via FTAAA, but they did not turn up. We acknowledge this shortcoming.
We noted the rest of your comments and would like to clarify. This year’s programme is exactly identical to last year’s one. We made no change to it. We are a grass root athletic club. We have prided ourselves in the fact that our track meet caters for members from under 6 to over 60, as the age group of our members span from 4 to 71. We did not favour any age group nor exclude any age group. The youth has a wider age grouping so as to ensure fair competition. You would agree that under 12 and under 9 have a lot of difference in capabilities. Youth development is the club’s community project, and we have two centres, MPSJ stadium and Kampung Pandan on-going with a third at Selayang stadium trying to get started. Therefore, having an internal event like our track meet to cater for the youth is a natural extension. Today we have more than 150 youth members. The families play an important role in grass root activities and we need to cater for that. We also have the Nike Pacesetters 15km and it does not cater for under 16, but with senior veteran categories for both men and women, eventhough we knew the number would not exceed 35 in the case of the women.
Slotting the children events between 9.00am and 10.15am was intentional and we did not want to run the children’s events too early or too late. In 1001, we ran the family relay in the end, under the hot mid day sun, and it was too much for the under 12 children to bear.
The total number of participants did not drop. We had more than 260 registered participants. As for whether the number of adults dropped, we have to analyse this. I actually expected the participation to improve except for two factors :
- Our June Footloose went out late and some may not be aware of the
meet
- We had two outstation races back to back (Ipoh and Seremban), and
members were committed to those events. We wanted to hold the event
the next Sunday just like last year, but the Paya Indah is having their
run on that day.
I hope I have answered all your queries except for the area group spirit part, which is not appropriate for me to answer without asking the area group leaders and the members.
The exco will meet soon and see how we can get it organised better next year.
Wan Yew Leong
President, PACM