PHNOM PENH ATHLETICS CLUB

This week we hosted an exciting urban relay event, for something a little different. Closures to the track meant that we were unable to go ahead with our planned event, but an improvised urban track at Koh Pich City Hall Park provided a unique yet suitable location. Our urban track has been precisely measured to be a lap of 235m, making this month’s event, possibly the world’s first 4x470m relay race! Our athletes started the morning with a warm up of another improvised course of ~800m, which we used as a qualifying heat to determine the placement of athletes into balanced teams. A Snake draft order was used to place the athletes into 3 teams, based on their seedings. After announcing team placement, the athletes were given around 10 minutes to discuss strategy and practice their baton passing techniques before the race began. The first leg was hot and evenly matched, with less than 4 seconds separating the...

This week we were greeted with typical early-May conditions for our 5km road race. Warm and humid weather made things tough for our athletes out on the Sokha Loop, but that didn't stop our race winner from helping himself to an impressive time. Race Report Pre-race, Matthew made his intentions clear: declaring that today he was going to "full send it". And we saw exactly that, as he lead from the gun and finished in a blistering sub-18min time. Behind Matthew, Raphael and Paul worked together all race - flirting with that 20min barrier but not quite breaking through as they battled the heat and humidity. All our PPAC athletes were delighted to see the return of Bora this week! The ultimate clubman has been missing for the last few months but we look forward to having him back at training and races! We also saw a solid return performance from Katie , after recovering from her own injuries and making the most of her last opportunity to race with PPAC before...

Our first track race for the year was an early-April speed endurance challenge, with an early start and dry and moderate weather conditions ideal for taking on five intense laps. Race Report We were glad to hold our first track event of the year after a false start in February. We had 5 athletes taking the track for one heat of 2000m. The 2000m is a lesser raced distance, but is an excellent event, demanding both speed and endurance. In a relatively routine race, the athletes quickly found their position in the pack and the order barely changed. Congratulations to Matthew for 1st place results, after leading from wire to wire. An especially quick final lap from Matthew, suggests the potentially for an even faster time with more aggressive pacing.  Interestingly all of the athletes shared a similar pacing strategy, with slightly faster opening laps, followed by 3 steady laps and then a faster closing lap. Despite the smaller attendance this week, we want to remind the running co...

Our first 5km race for the year was a great success, with moderate weather conditions that apparently proved to be conducive for personal bests. Race Report Our men's race was led from wire to wire by Hugo , who took another big step shaving a whopping 30s off his PB and claiming another 1st place result. Behind him, the men's chase pack of Styvenn (2nd) Paul (3rd) and Simon (4th) all battled hard and exchanged places to eventually finish within arms reach of one another and all under the 20min barrier. The women's field has been taken by storm after the debut of one of PPACs latest recruits, Dorie . Dorie masterfully executed a negative split pacing strategy. Sitting 42s behind Muyngim after the first Sokha lap, she quietly went to work in the second lap to cut the margin and take the win late. Muyngim (2nd), for her part in pushing the pace of the women's race, earned herself one of her fastest results of th...

For our November 5km we had 23 athletes taking the start line for what proved to be a fast race in favorable conditions. Cooler weather has made Phnom Penh quite pleasant in the last week, and the athletes on Sunday morning made the most of it. This week we had 10 PPAC members, and 2 athletes from SheRuns participating. The race kicked off at 6:02AM, and instantly took shape, with the finishing order already mostly established by the time the athletes made it through the first checkpoint. Race Report In the men's, Craig (1st) went out with a clear goal and was consistent with his pacing. Leading from the front all race and helping himself to a healthy PB in 18:09. Hugo (2nd) was next in line and added to his run of consecutive sub-20 performances, this time with a PB. Paul (3rd), reliable as ever, rounded out the podium with a sub-20 performance of his own. We then saw a flurry of men coming through between 22 and 23 mins with Guillaum...

Our September PPAC 5K was well attended, with many new faces and regular attendees showing up to test out their fitness. 23 athletes lined up to start the race including 9 Phnom Penh Athletics Club members, and 9 first timers! The race began at 6:03am in good running conditions with a slight breeze. This week we were glad to offer pacing for some of the popular time goals. Thanks to Hugo (Sub-20min pacer), Styvenn (Sub-22min pacer) and Jack (Sub-24min pacer) for their contributions. If you are interested in hitting a specific time goal at our next 5K race, let us know and we'll do our best to find a pacer if we can! In the men's race we saw Terence get out fast, showing his unmatched speed and helping himself to an all-time road course record of 16:24. The previous record of 16:42 was set almost five years ago by Pheara Vann, so it was exciting to see the record finally fall. Terence's running is a source of inspiration for many of our athletes, ...

Last Sunday we organised a 4x400m Mixed Relay track event with the intention of bringing a diverse range of athletes together in teams. We were happy to welcome athletes from Sametra Youth Sports and Amatak Crossfit , as well as plenty of our PPAC club members. Each team of four was required to have at least 2 female or youth athletes. Some athletes had arranged pre-formed teams, while others were formed on the morning based on the available pool of individual athletes. The session started with a technical demonstration from Coach Meyjou on how to properly pass the relay baton within the exchange zone, and some general tips on racing order and how to work together most efficiently. The teams proved to be quite close, with only a handful of seconds separating each team at the finish. It was great to see not only an exciting track race, but also the camaraderie between athletes and the new friendships that we...