Cambodia's Next Top Runner - Event 3 - 400m

photos courtesy of Tom Vosters & Martin Kendrik

PPAC invite guests to compete in special heat, 23 people in Cambodia race 400m!

CNTR Competitors and guests cool down after 3 exciting heats

In the small Cambodian running community that's dominated by long distance and ultra running, we weren’t sure we would ever see any track races but today this is exactly what was on offer and we were really impressed to see 23 people turn up and test themselves over a one lap sprint around the track. The competition boasted 13 CNTR 2020 athletes as well as 10 guest runners who came to get involved and see what all the fuss is about. It was an overcast morning in the city so the conditions were ideal for some high energy sprinting. With the 400m being the longest pure sprint event we were sure it would test the athletes’ anaerobic capacity to the limit.

We had thirteen participants spread over two heats grouped by their overall CNTR 2020 standings after the first two events. The current top seven were slated for Heat 2, with the remaining six athletes in Heat 1. A further 10 people raced in the guest heat.

Watch the full video of how the event went down here

You can also watch the guest heat here

To see all the photos from the event check out our Facebook page

Cambodia’s reigning 800 m champion and national record holder, Bunthorn Chhun crossed the line in 52.24s, 6.72s ahead of second place – a commanding performance over the one-lap distance leaving the rest of the field trailing in his wake. A strong 2nd place for Neil with a surprising sub-60s performance has enabled him to extend his lead at the top of the standings while Loup could only manage 6th place, 6.3 seconds back and 13 seconds behind the event winner, Chhun. We had strong performances all round, with two athletes under 60 seconds and a further seven coming in under 70 seconds. It looks like a few of our athletes hit the accelerator a bit early, running out of steam in the second half - this will surely improve with more practice, and is precisely one of the reasons we want to get athletes racing in a competitive context on a much more regular basis.

The current CNTR leaders are ready to race in the 2nd heat 

After three events a few close rivalries have started to form. At the top of the points standings we have three athletes reaching 2000 points and dominating proceedings: Neil, Loup, and Bunthorn who gained three places with a stunning victory after missing last week’s 10 km road race. We are seeing a see-saw battle among the top two with Loup and Neil trading blows - Loup coming out on top in the 10 km road race, but being edged out in the two track events.

10 athletes charge round the first bend in the guest heat

Seanghai and Leanghak are in a very close head-to-head battle in 4th and 5th positions. They are separated by just 19 points in the overall standings and have also traded places over the first three events, with Seanghai having overturned a 13 point deficit from the previous event. This week Seanghai had the edge, as before at the track, but with a much closer finish than the 800 m where he finished 13.48s ahead of his rival. This time, running in lanes 6 and 3 they were less than a second apart finishing in 60.98 and 61.93s respectively – all to play for between these two young Cambodian athletes. Further down the table young international athletes Jacob and Mason are separated by only 1 point and are starting to build a gap over Meyjou and Martin who are only 48 points apart. The closest finish of the day was between Smey and Paul. Side-by-side in lanes 5 and 6 in Heat 1, Smey managed to cling onto 10th place in 1:10.16, just 0.38 seconds ahead of Paul whose strong finish was not quite enough. In a similarly close finish but across separate heats, Loup edged out Martin by 0.65s in 1:05.27 for 6th position. What a great effort by these four.

100m specialist Kenya Abe powers down the home straight to win the guest heat

22-year-old Kenya Abe of Japan has been a regular volunteer so far in the CNTR competition, and as well as helping train Cambodia’s paralympic athletes during the week, he is also an athlete with track pedigree. As a former competitive sprinter with a sub-11 second personal best in the 100 m, Kenya took part in our guest heat, cruising to a comfortable victory in 55.76s in what was the second fastest time of the day. Despite Kenya admitting to us that he is slightly out of practice, we were impressed with his performance and are pleased to have more high quality performances on show.

Here are the final results of CNTR competitors including 200m split times

Here's the overall standings after 3 events

All these athletes still have the 5 km event coming up which could be among the closest contests of the whole competition. Along with the 3 km, this event will be an equaliser between the long-distance and track specialists and will be favoured by the middle distance experts. With only 24 points separating 3rd and 5th places and the top two starting stretch away, a strong performance by Bunthorn in the next event could see him make significant inroads into their advantage. Watch this space!

Here are the overall results from everyone who competed

Finally, a brief footnote regarding participation...twenty-three runners had a fantastic time at this week’s event but we would really like more people to get involved. We hope that giving people the chance to try out competitive athletics on the track and short road race distances will encourage more participation and interest in athletics. A key pillar to improving athletics at the elite level is to widen the number of participants at the base of the pyramid. More athletes must be training effectively and participating in meaningful competitions on a regular basis to push each other to the highest level, driving up the standard of those who will represent Cambodia in future international events.