Early on 28 November 2021 keen athletes gathered from across the
city, most taking the first ferry across to Koh Dach (Silk Island), some
having traveled from farther and others staying over to adjust to the local
conditions since the eve of the race.
With some wind but cooler and dryer conditions than recently, athletes had
warmed up and braved the 5:30 am pre-race briefing and were ready at the line
just before dawn.
The course comprised three loops - a first 5.8 km loop on the east side up
the island’s main road and a second 9.5 km loop around the bottom of the
island and up to Wat Ampor Pal on the west of the island and back, before
repeating the first loop to complete the half marathon distance and
finishing exactly where the race started.
The race set off under the dawn half-light just after the scheduled 5:40 am
start and within a few minutes the road ahead was clearly visible. Runners at
the head of the race set off at a a blistering pace with the first three all
completing the first 5.8 km section under 22 minutes (3:41-3:46 min/km pace).
The top male and female runners led their respective categories from start to
finish and the positions established early on among the main contenders at the
head of the race did not change significantly.
Race Results
In the male competition Andarge Ayal of Ethiopia, and regular PPAC athlete,
established a twenty second lead through the first section and consolidated
his position over the remaining distance, crossing the line first in 1:21:07,
1:49 ahead of second placed Cambodian athlete Viro Ma’s 1:22:56 who held off
compatriot Runn Kong who was 22 seconds further back in 1:23:18. The top three
completed the race at a pace of 3:57 min/km or under.
In the female competition Hong Kong’s Elaine Lee set off strongly and
established close to a minute gap over second placed Muyngim Eng by the end of
the first section. The pace evened out in the middle section, however, Elaine
was able to push on in the final section, as her nearest opponent slowed, and
finished first in 1:42:31, with Cambodian runner Muyngim second in 1:44:58. In
the battle for third Australia’s Megan Coull was able to stay in front of Xiao
Ju Peng with a controlled effort to finish comfortably ahead in 1:54:30.
The most combative running took place in the middle of the field with some
strong performances from athletes who set off more conservatively at the
start, as they caught and overtook those who’d set off too quickly and
struggled to maintain the pace. There were excellently crafted performances
from Japanese duo Hiroshi Ake and Daiki Watanabe, staying close throughout and
gradually building their pace to complete the final section in just over 24
minutes and finish under 1h31 for fifth and sixth place. There were similarly
well paced negative split performances from Sophors Cheang, Vannak Chan,
Fernando Martinez Tabernero and Kunthy Kann who all placed in the
top-20.
Race Analysis & Points Ranking
The consistent performers of the day were Sothya Buonhing, and French duo
Claire Thevenet and Catherine Anton in step from start to finish and barely
separable to divide up the fifth and sixth places.
On a great morning for running, 47 of 49 runners at the start line made it
to the finish, with the final athlete finishing a few minutes within the
cut-off in 2h47. Since this is the club’s first ever half marathon event,
there are no data for existing PB’s and though some will have run faster
before, many of the runners will have achieved personal bests and laid down highly
respectable markers for future races.
Out of 47 finishers, 43 scored PPAC points which is an indicator of the
overall high level of performance of participants. The top three in the
men’s race all scored over 800 points with fourteen runners scoring more
than 500 points. There were points PB’s for seven athletes who’ve previously
attended regular Sunday PPAC events with big improvements of over 50 points
for Sophors (+175!), Guanghui, Melissa and Megan. The morning’s most
impressive age-graded performances came from Hiroshi Ake and Catherine Anton
in the male and female races respectively.
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our sponsors for the race,
main event sponsor
SuSu youth running
organisation, Bong Bonlai vegan
restaurant and
The Sew Good Company,
which enabled the club to provide cash prizes to the top three male and
female finishers, as well as post-race fresh fruit for participants and new
equipment for the club’s events. Thanks also for the support from the Khmer
Amateur Athletics Federation and President HE Samheng Boros.
We’d also like to thank a large supporting cast of helpers over the weekend
who helped make this event happen, notably coach Sok Sao, Barang, Haruka,
Sok San, Sochin, Sokhav, San Mao, Chim Phan, Chantha and Bong Hong from the
para athletics team, and Seavmey, Vattey, Sreyrath, Sanket, Mon Ma, Sreypov,
the nurse Socheata, and coach Pov Sitha for the generous use of his land as
the headquarters for the event.
Thank you, as always from the PPAC Team and see you all soon for another
event! You can find all the best photos from the event on our FB page and more albums will uploaded over the next few days.
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© PPAC 2021
