The 4th Malaysia 24 hour International Walk was held in Kuala Lumpur on the weekend of August 11-12th 2007.The venue was a 625 metre road circuit around the Sultan Ahmed building at Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square). This is one of the older parts of the city and the course was opposite the Royal Selangor Club (est.1884). The event was co-ordinated withthe celebrations for the 50th year of independence for Malaysia.

After the cool air of the Genting Highlands for the previous three Malaysian 24 hour races the athletes had to brace themselves for the tough challenge of walking in the heat, humidity and smog of the capital city. At least this was a flat road without the up and down course and differing road surfaces of the Theme Park in the Highlands.The organizers and volunteers provided a safe venue with road closure of the major thoroughfare and backed it up with adequate drink & food stations, a medical centre and showers on the course.

The overseas competitors gathered in the days prior to the race at The Grand Olympic Hotel. The hotel is comfortable and convenient to the city and to the markets and cheap eateries of Chinatown but has seen better days. It houses the offices and meeting rooms of the Olympic Committee of Malaysia. It was a great chance to catch up with competitors from previous 24 hour races and to meet new friends. Race organizer Mr. Khoo Chong Beng made himself available to see that the overseas competitors were settled and to sort out any problems. Mr. Khoo has put together an enthusiastic and hard working team of volunteers that are now very experienced in running 12 & 24 hour international walking events. They deserve a lot of praise with what they have accomplished and the friendly and efficient way they perform their roles.

The day before the race all the overseas competitors were invited to a welcome lunch at the Menara Kuala Lumpur Tower. At 421 metres it is the fourth tallest telecommunication tower in the world. Everyone enjoyed a sumptuous banquet luncheon in the revolving restaurant with spectacular views of the city especially of the Petronas Twin Towers. Members of the press from a number of daily newspapers joined competitors and race organizers at the lunch and got to interview to some of the European competitors.

Race day arrived and we had an early breakfast in the hotel restaurant of rice, noodles, eggs, melon slices, toast, cold coffee and whatever else we thought we could hold down. Maxi-taxis were hailed to take us to the race venue at 6.30am. Once there we all prepared for the start of the race and attached a microchip to one of our shoes to record our laps. There was a carnival atmosphere with many food and drink marquees, sponsors tents and hundred of competitors taking photos and relaxing before tackling the daunting task that lay ahead.

The Chairman of the race Organizing Committee the Hon. Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui, who is also Minister of Plantation Industries & Commodities, started the race at 8am. For the 294 competitors from about 16 countries there was a long, hard & hot 24 hours of walking to contemplate. It was not long before the day really heated up. During the day temperatures were 32+ C with the humidity in the eighties making it very uncomfortable for the competitors. The race was conducted on the rough rectangular circuit on the roads between Dataran Merdeka and the Klang River.It was not long before the many competitors had spread themselves out and almost everyone observed the keep left etiquette to allow passing competitors easy passage.

The two Chinese walkers Li Lee and Zhou Zulong went out a fast pace followed by a group of the Malaysian walkers and soon began lapping the field. Gradually the European walkers led by Alain Costills, Giles Beliour, Bernard Gicquel (France) Alexander Vandenhoeck (Belguim), and Adri Leermakers (Netherland) settled into a solid race pace and began climbing the leader board.

My plan seemed simple enough: Go out easy and just try and survive until the sun went down then try and maintain an even pace over the last twelve hours. The sun didn’t go down until 7.20pm so it was tough assignment to keep up the pace during a long hot day. There was no respite when the sun did go down. The temperature barely dipped below 30C and the humidity went up during the night bit no rain to offer some relief. Meals came out every three hours and were a big hit with many of the walkers. The regular intake of rice, noodles and curries seemed to be a higher priority than the actual race for many of the participants. I kept to the fluids of electroytes, juices and water supplemented by bananas, slices of apple and oranges. My only regret was missing out on the banana cake.

During the afternoon there were a number of races around the circuit conducted for the junior walkers .It was good to see the large field of kids out race walking and enjoying themselves. In the evening there was a Charity fun walk conducted around the race circuit. Jens Borello of Denmark (C52) retired from the race at the 14 hour mark. Jens looked strong early but felt that his performance was not as good as would have liked. Like many others he struggled to cover the kilometers in the heat and humidity. An hour before he retired from the race he remarked to me that he was feeling cold, even though it was 32 degrees and he was lathered in sweat .To me this seemed like he could be suffering from heat stroke so it was a wise choice to stop and assess his position rather than push on.

At the beginning of the race I had thought it strange that a majority of competitors had were not wearing hats, caps or sunglasses. I lathered myself in sunscreen before the start but didn’t see anyone else putting on sun protection. It wasn’t until the afternoon that many competitors resorted to headwear as they began to suffer from prolonged exposure to the sun. By mid-afternoon I swapped my cap for the added protection of a wide brimmed straw hat that I had purchased at the markets the day before. Those without hats resorted to wearing wet towels and t-shirts on their heads. There was 7/11 store on one side of the course and it did a good trade during the early hours of the morning selling cold drinks, slurpees and first aid items to passing competitors and their crews.

By late evening there were a large number of competitors dropping out of the race or taking extended breaks. Some resorted to sleeping on the concrete footpaths and the steps of buildings at various points around the course. Some simply had no more energy to make it back to the rest area and just lay down where they stopped. The First Aid Station was packed out and the athlete rest area looked like hospital ward from the Crimean War.The couple of mist fans and showers around the course were fairly ineffectual with most walkers preferring to stay try for fear getting their shoes wet and developing blisters. But with the constant heat and the demand of walking for 24 hours there were very few competitors who escaped developing blisters. Some of the cases were quite horrendous.

For much of the day I thought I was travelling quite steady but I had no idea of how far I had gone. Printouts were put-out regularly on the wall of the building at the Stop/Start area but I had no-one to go and check for me and I did not want to make any stops that were not absolutely necessary. So at the 12 hour mark when I did get an update I was a bit dismayed to find out that I had covered not much more than 82km. The idea of reaching 100 miles seemed seemed to be slipping away.

While I felt good (or as good as you will get after walking for 12 hours in the hot sun) maintaining my pace would be a struggle in the second 12 hours let alone trying to pick up the pace. Just before 5am, and about three hours to go I hit a rough patch where I was drained of all energy and felt like just lying down. I sat down for a rest then resumed walking albeit at a very slow pace. After doing a lap I grabbed a cup of hot, sweetened coffee from the drink station. This had an almost immediate effect and I was soon back into normal race walking stride. I had been suffering from low blood sugar and had inadvertently cured myself. This again highlighted the need to have some one crewing for you in ultra races. You really do need someone to pick up on any distress signs by the walker before it is too late. At this stage I never knew how far I had covered but thought I may fall short of reaching the 100 mile mark. After the short break, t I covered the last three hours as hard and as fast as I could push myself. This probably didn’t look very fast at all to the casual observer. I ended up doing as many laps in the last two hours as I did in the first two and this enabled me to get over the 100 mile mark.

The pace of the field quickened over the last hour with Dominique Alvernhe to the fore and being encouraged on by her French entourage. Dominique finished the race with three disqualified laps. It may have been her fast pace over the last hour that earned her the penalties that ultimately cost her a win in the race. Dominique (144.61km) finished second behind a suprising winner in Leah Jepkiru Mitei from Kenya who covered 145.86km. Kenyan ladies also filled third and fourth placings with Yap Wai Mun taking fifth place for Malaysia.The ladies race was very close and after 24 hours of hard walking there were only five laps separating 1st from 4º placing.

The race ended at 8.00am when a pistol was fired by the Deputy Minister of Youth & Sports, the Hon. Dato’ Liow Tiong Lai to the overwhelming relief of the competitors. To earn a race participation medal a male walker had to cover a minimum of 60 km and women competitors 48 km. These were richly deserved and had to be earned the hard way. There were a lot of competitors celebrating when they were given their medal.

Chairs were lined up on the road in front of the Sultan Ahmed building for the presentations for the first ten men and women placegetters and the team placegetters. This gesture was well received by the competitors who were at the stage of either sit or fall down. The placegetters all were given sponsors t-shirts to wear for the presentations. This was a good move for all concerned as we were all pretty grubby and no doubt a bit smelly. Some of the women placgetters had to be assisted in the walk up to receive their trophies. The end result was a celebration for the home country and a notice to the world that Malaysia had arrived as force in ultra walking. Malaysian walkers filled three of the top four placings in a very competitive field. The deserving winner was Mohd Hanizam bin Harun who covered 173.40km just ahead of countryman Malek bin Redone. Both are members of the Malaysian Armed Forces. In third place was the highly experienced and credentialed Alexander Vandenhoeck from Belguim. Alex, who has competed in ultra walking at the highest level including the arduous Paris – Colmar race walked 169.02km. Jagit Singh was the third Malaysian centurion finisher in the race recording 165.89km for fourth place and I was a lap behind in fifth place with 165.26km. This year the relay competition had been replaced by a team’s competition. Teams consisted of four walkers with the winner declared on the team aggregate. There were six entries in both the men’s and women’s events. In the men’s team competition the Malaysian Armed Forces were suprisingly beaten into second place by a team representing the Race Walkers Association of Malaysia.

As in other team events depth is everything. A very strong team from Hong Kong called Sahn Hahng Tai Bo won the women’s event from a Race Walking Association of Malaysia team with the Singapore Athletics Association third. Wouldn’t it be great to have an Australian Centurion team (or teams) in the 2009 event? Light rain fell in the afternoon a few hours after the race concluded. This only made the city steamy so we were probably fortunate that it never fell during the race.For the next two evenings however torrential rain was dumped on the city.Competitors were asked at the Presentations where they would prefer the next Malaysian 24 hours walk – The city or the highlands.

Despite finishing totally drained I largely escaped unscathed from any injuries. There were some small pieces of asphalt in my shoes that started to cause small blisters on the soles of my feet. But, I was not aware of this until I removed my shoes after the race. I did discover some chaffing when I hopped under the shower when back at the hotel. My recovery was fairly fast and I was back at road walk competition in Brisbane the next weekend, just a lot slower than normal. Some of the Europeans were back doing ultra walks a month later. Adri Leermakers covered 180.35km in the Roubaix 28 hour race on September 15-16th and Dominique Alvernhe walked 170km in a fast 22hrs 31 min in Vallorbe, Switzerland on Oct 6-7th. Immediately after the race had finished the general feeling was “Never want to go through that again”, “Just madness trying to race in that heat”, “It was like a never-ending nightmare” and “That would have to be the hardest race I have done”. Like most distance athletes ‘walkers memory’ syndrome soon developed. At breakfast next morning, after a hot shower, a sleep and food everyone had a more forgiving view on the conditions. Over a cup of coffee conversations were more along the lines of “It wasn’t really that bad ”, “It could have been worse”, “I had expected it to be hotter” and “Lucky we had some cloud cover at times”.

Walking around the city the day after the race and really feeling the heat and humidity made me wonder how we possibly walked for 24 hours in such conditions. I spent the morning walking around the Tun Abdul Razal Memorial, Orchid Gardens, Bird Park, and Lake Gardens area. It was a good warm down! In the afternoon I kept ducking into air-conditioned shops and buying cold drinks. I thought the Tiger beers I had with my evening meal in a market restaurant that night were well deserved.

Regards, Peter Bennett