PHNOM PENH ATHLETICS CLUB

Trail running is not a speciality of Phnom Penh Athletics Club, however, ten daring athletes lined up for a first-of-its-kind 5km urban trail event along the muddy banks of Koh Pich island. The course took in the southern curve and the full length of the sheltered west bank of the island for a 2x2.5 km out-and-back route. The trail event poses some different challenges from a road event, both for participants and the organisers. One of the great advantages is being able to run completely free of road traffic. The PPAC team headed out early to mark the start line and faced off the menacing challenge of a fisherman's eager guard dog when setting out the turnaround point just as dawn was breaking. From the start Hugo, with the course experience, took responsibility for pushing the pace early leading the front group to the turnaround point. Jack, Patt and Neil followed closely behind at halfway, however, the order was flipped completely over the next few kilometres as Neil and Patt pus...

  PPAC welcomed back athletes for the regular monthly 5km road race. Luckily overnight rain was relatively light and the course was clear and dry. Racing conditions were slightly warmer and more humid than desirable with a slight southerly wind. Nine athletes lined up at for the start including two first timers, and there was over 50% female participation for the event. We saw another fine 5km performance from Andarge, leading from the front and finishing strongly with back-to-back 7:30 laps and a score of well over 800 points. The top three was rounded out by two top Cambodian athletes Meyjou and Muyngim. Meyjou returning to form with a time of 21:15 and Muyngim maintining a good run of performances clocking a time just 0.5 seconds outside her recent PB. Matt secured another 5k and Points PB combo, knocking a further 36 seconds off the time set just four weeks ago to duck under the 21-minute barrier. Three athletes also completed their first PPAC 5km event - well done! Four out o...

For PPAC's 4 th urban relay race the format was modified to a medley relay and two teams of four athletes took part in our first event of its kind . In three consecutive rounds, four team members must run legs of varying distances (1 lap, 2 laps or 3 laps) , including two team laps where all but one of the team must run together. Before the start of the race teams must choose the best strategy for the order the athletes will run their legs. T he athletes must all run one leg every round and can not run the same distance in the first and second rounds. The team order is submitted to the race officials before the start of the race and must be adhered to . A key idea behind the medley relay is to enable teams composed of runners across a range of running abilities, as well as mixed F / M teams, to race together while maintaining a competitive and exciting racing scenario. With many possible permutations of leg order, a team that may look slightly less strong on paper can explo...

PPAC's third endurance elimination race took place in warm conditions and with a few more tweaks to the rules since the last outing. It was the biggest participation yet for this event with eleven athletes joining in. For the first seven rounds athletes are eliminated in Laps 2 to 6 before the final one-on-one showdown in Lap 7 to determine the winner of the round. With eleven athletes in the field, each of Laps 3 to 6 sees two athletes being eliminated. Round 8 is the last-person-standing round, with one athlete being eliminated every lap until the final showdown - this final and most important round is worth double points. Athletes build up their score by eliminating other competitors and completing laps. An additional point is awarded for winning the round, and this time two bonus points were available for the first athlete to cross the finish line for Laps 2 to 6 in Round 4 only (sprint bonus round). The winner is the athlete with the highest points total after eight rounds. A...

For the first time in just over two months the 3km road race is back. We welcomed seven first timers, including several members of a local youth running group for some great early Sunday racing action. From seventeen athletes at the start line we had fifteen finishers, eight of whom recorded their first 3km time at a PPAC event. There were PBs for Andarge, Matt and Simon, with Matt continuing an excellent run of form after a 5km PB at the previous event. Just behind Matt, Paul came agonisingly close, missing out on a new personal best by just 0.1s! Consistent running again formed a solid base for some of the top performances, with the top five finishers taking the top five consistency ratings, albeit in a slightly different order. Simon and Bora both recorded a Sokha best lap, knocking off a respective 1:10 and 1:44 from their previous best efforts. All seventeen starters recorded a time for the Park Lap section (approximately 860 metres) and we'd really like to encourage the runn...