PHNOM PENH ATHLETICS CLUB

The 3km road race is a great opportunity to gauge if you have that extra bit of speed that will help you push for strong times in longer races down the line, in addition to the aerobic endurance you'll also need to have under your belt. It's also a great chance for younger athletes to get involved and experience racing something close to a high school cross country distance. We were honoured this week to welcome for the first time H.E. Samheng Boros, the new president of the Khmer Amateur Athletic Federation, participating alongside four other new athletes. There were great performances all round in the 3km road race, including a notable performance by Andarge, becoming the second PPAC athlete to go under 10 minutes and improving on Bunthorn's club record by a margin of 2.6s with his time of 9:56. In the youth race, Piseth finished just ahead of Sreyleap, however, Sreyleap's proved to be the stronge...

August's 5km road race took place in heavy overcast and humid conditions but we were delighted to welcome five 5k first timers and a few familiar faces to make brilliant use of the day's best weather conditions! Results below are ordered by PPAC points performance and finish time. The standout performance of the morning was James setting a new PB by 2.6s as well is hitting a new points PB of 504.5 for fourth overall and going sub-20 for the first time in a PPAC 5km race. Mark and Jack ran exceptionally consistently and newcomer Somaly rounded out the top three in the consistency rankings with James and Sanket also running well-paced efforts. First timers Sanket and Simon both finished the race very strongly with their 2nd loops around Sokha over a minute quicker than their first, suggesting there is much more to come! Great to see so many new faces this week, thanks to our team of race ...

The final youth heats of the 1500m Road Race brought the Festival of Speed to a close, with fourteen young athletes racing over two heats on a relocated course. First up were the female youth athletes, setting off to complete three laps of the circuit before finishing the race back at the starting line. Senglim was first across the line followed by Sreypich, the athletes securing second and third place respectively in the overall race result behind Sreyleap who recorded the best time of 6:51.56 in the previous week's race. All athletes completed the course within 12 minutes. The second heat featured a mix of youth and senior male and female athletes, including event winners Sreyleap and Piseth. Senghong was first across the line in 7:06.52, short of Piseth's previous effort of 6:28.45, and all athletes completed the race under 10 minutes. Final standings after 3 of 3 events In the final points table for the youth competition, Sreyleap and Piseth's three wins meant they bo...

After a short delay the senior 1500m road race - the concluding event of the Festival of Speed - took place with four closely contested heats. Some youth athletes also took part and we hope the remaining youth athletes will be able to complete their event very soon (full youth event results and report will follow in a separate blog post). With a slightly later start than recent events heats were scheduled at ten minute intervals with up to five athletes contesting a heat. Starting line numbers were limited to avoid crowding from the start with three-laps to be raced around an urban course with some short stretches and tight corners. The heats went roughly in order of competition points ranking with the top male and female athletes kept together while race officials also competing were put in separate heats.  In the first heat Andarge cemented his place at the top of the rankings with a third race win, starting strongly, staying just in front and pulling away very strongly up the f...

The second event of the Festival of Speed, coinciding with PPAC's four weekly 5km Road Race, took place a week after the competition's first event, the 3km Road Race. Conditions were set fair for running with cooler temperatures as the rainy season sets in. Two separate heats were held, with a senior heat setting off before 6 am and the youth heat following around 40 minutes later. The youth event started around 10 minutes after the last senior finisher with ten young athletes on the start line - eight of whom new to the 5km road race distance. The first two finishers scored strong PBs improving on the times set in their first 5km race back in early February and all participants comfortably finished the race with the support of Elaine and a few senior athletes.  Festival of Speed standings after 2 out of 3 events We have some additional analysis in the table this week with four senior and one youth athlete achieving PPAC points PBs with a points PB for Sreyleap and a first poi...

Our first 3km road race in six weeks kicked off part 1 of 3 of the Festival of Speed, a new mini-competition that encompasses middle and long distance with a 3km, 5km and 1500m road race. Points will be awarded based on finishing position in various categories on a 20-down-to-1 points ladder rewarding the top 14 finishers, with all participants from 15th place onward receiving one point. For a chance to be ranked among the best of all, athletes will have to compete in all three events of the festival! The first event was held as separate senior and youth heats departing thirty minutes apart with 15 and 12 participants respectively in each race. The senior race saw some strong performances with twelve athletes coming in well under 13 minutes, including seven under 12 minutes and four PBs for athletes with previously recorded times including big improvements of 49 seconds and 1:18 for Hugo and Leonardo respectively. The top 10 places were shared equally among Cambodian and non-Cambodian...