MASUM BEACH GAMES

Figure 1-1

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background

This is the first year that masum beach games has been held. The 5 events contested were: beach football, beach running, beach netball, beach volleyball, and beach takraw (just put the word "beach"in front of the game and it will fit right in. XD) Basically the 3 sports that do not have well defined standards are beach running, beach takraw and beach netball. Hence the organizers were the creators of the rules.

Figure 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4

UTM Team (Clockwise from Top Left: Women's volleyball, Men's volleyball, the crazy football dudes and superstar/bus driver)

We reached Port Dickson Polytechnic on thurs at 5 something and were accommodated with the rest of the unis. Everything was arranged by utm: accom, transport, allowance, clothing, etc (A million thanks to Mr. Rizam, Mr. Idris, Kak Zul, Abang Afiq, Abang Haikal). So all we had to do was fool around on thurs and fri, then run on sat and sun, a pleasant change from rushing to the bus station and finding a decent place to spend the night!

1.2 Objective

Memperkenalkan sukan pantai kepada para pelajar IPTA dan

menggalakkan aktiviti sukan di kawasan pantai. hahaha...

2.0 Methodology

2.1 Participants

Due to Ting being unable to form a women's team (not persuasive or too shy?), utm only sent 1 men's team (Me, Wong, Zaheen and Fitkry-new dude). There were 16 teams in the men's category, among them were a couple of familiar faces UM(Amirul, Azwan and Roger) and the UPNM triathletes.

Figure 3-1

New kid on the block

2.2 Research Instruments

Legs

2.3 Research Procedure

Fastest 3 runners timing will be taken into consideration. Teams were released in 2 minute intervals, to avoid congestion at the obstacle course. The track was 80% beach and 20% road with 4 obstacles included (commando crawl 10m, 10foot wall, tires, and 10 hurdles) which was tiring like hell! Just try jumping hurdles on the beach where you can't jump off properly.... your privates will be in serious danger.. hahaha... Our "strategy"? Run the prelims all out, sleep, then run the finals all out again!

Figure 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4

3.0 Findings and Discussion

3.1 Preliminaries

Zaheen ran a 20min, me and Wong each 30s behind. Our average should have been around 20:30 but the results were 21+, this shows that there is a time displacement between the timing chip system and the starting clock. 1st in prelims... but wouldn't hold back even if I could do it again... 1st was a great confidence booster man! 1thing i learned about Zaheen from this race was that his level of confidence and competence was exceptional, while me(hurdles), Wong(wall) and Fitkry(wall) were each worried about the obstacles, he never doubted that he could complete them, and was the fastest among us too!

3.2 Finals

Regrettably, we were 3rd, behind UITM (avg19:30 mins) and USM(avg 20+mins). There was a bit of controversy, and many people were "beach"ing and making accusations. I felt like "beach"ing too.... but accusations without concrete evidence are not quite fair. Fitkry had a cold but still performed admirably even though it was his first race.

4.0 Recommendations

4.1 Recommendations Based on Findings

Train at hurdles before hand(hurdles were a "beach" for me...)

4.2 Recommendations for Future Studies

-Mass start perhaps?

-A safer wall

-Cordon off the running track so there won't be an issue of ppl running on the compact sand and on the grass.

-use a starting mat for the timing chip at the start too.

5.0 Conclusions

1. UTM did not win a gold this outing. The best performance was a silver for the women's volleyball.

2. Found out that no matter how hard I try, I'm unable to take a race with the word masum attached in front as "for fun".

3. The beach was beautiful.

"Where oceans bleed into the sky" (Linkin Park, The Catalyst)

UTM Eco Run 2011

During the flag off (picture from www.news.utm.my)

Finally, we all have the chance to race on our home ground, this has been an event that we all excitingly waited for, hehe
A week before the race, we have done a trial run to gauge our timing & strength.
Zaheen, Chow, Tareef, Fahim & Li Ting joined the 15km race while me & Kar Sing joined the 21km race,hehe
The race started a bit late and the it was already quite hot during the early stage of the run.
Since the route was all around UTM campus, we all have huge advantages as we can always plan ahead mentally on what might be expected next, hehe
There are a lot uphill n downhill for the run, which is one of UTM unique part, hehe
Zaheen finished third(just 1 minute behind the champion, hehe, just a bit more), & Li Ting 1st for 15km (walau le, congrat, hehe)
Gan who just came back from Penang Marathon & Powerman, was not fully recovered for the run, while Tareef who just bought his new Vibram, improved a lot by clocking a decent timing, hehe
Credit should be given to Gan who has been working hard to keep the team together, he also helped Amirul from UM to participate in the race. Amirul went on to finish fourth in the race.
This was a great race for me & Kar Sing as we finished 2nd & 5th respectively, hehe
After the second climb up to Kolej Perdana, i just let the downhill to carry my leg forward.
That is when my vision started to become blurry as i felt extremely tired.
I cant recall any memory after i reached the junction (before making the big loop around the stadium and enter the stadium for the last 200m on track to the finishing line), except that my leg was moving fast and a lot of people were calling my name (hehe, home court advantage)
Felt very grateful that i am still able to finished the race.
This run has taught me a great lesson, it remind me on the things that got me started running in the first place.

"You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing."
--Dale Carnegie

No steam or gas drives anything until it is confined. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
-- Harry Emerson Fosdick D. D

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.
-- Lance Armstrong

From Buddha saying
"Amidst gain and loss, fame and defame, praise and blame, happiness and pain, let us try to maintain a balanced mind"
"Like a solid rock that is not shaken by the wind they remain unmoved"