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Brunei Marathon Lost In Translation
By Kartika Rahman & Za'im Zaini

Bandar Seri Begawan - The much-touted Brunei Marathon ran into stormy weather yesterday, churning some bad publicity along its route winding through Bandar Seri Begawan and the suburbs.

Even the winner of the women's full marathon of 42kms had-this criticism to offer. "No proper direction was given for our routes," said an irate Many Akor when she confided in the press.

While other runners in the 21 km (half-marathon) were also frustrated for lack of proper signage, race marshals, muddle over the importance of electronic chips or. face disqualification, face in their route, some participants ended up running more than 21 km because they strayed from their route which resulted in their times being off mark.

The prize presentation, which was estimated to take place at approximately 9:30am yesterday was delayed with technical difficulties as the judges' area and the secretariat area were swamped with runners dissatisfied with the overall organization, many of whom run marathons professionally at international levels, or as a profession.

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Furthermore, it was not just the runners who were disappointed with the management of the marathon, Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed, Director of Industrial Promotion and Tourism Development of the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, who was present to witness the marathon yesterday, when asked on the matter of the 21-km muddle said, "I don't know what was going on, I myself am trying to find out, I'm disappointed, although this happens sometimes in other marathons, but we should be better."

Pg Sharifuddin bin Pg Haji Bakar, manager for Excellence Event Management the organizing company for `Brunei Marathon 2006', told the Borneo Bulletin, "To my understanding, `yes' there seems to be technical problems, to my awareness there will be a technical meeting later on today (yesterday).

Apparently some runners were found to have gone off track, and are complaining. Official complaints will not be entertained unless formally submitted in writing, but we believe in fair play, we would not like to point the blame at anyone. But I cannot comment further, as there is an official jury board that will settle the dispute."

It was not all smiles for everyone, for some it was a major disappointment. For 21-year-old Sasha who resides in Kg. Lambak who participated in the l0km run, she was disappointed with the organizers, Said Sasha: "After coming in top ten in the 10 km run for the female category I was told. by the organizers that I was disqualified because I didn't have my ChampionChip", a device designed to capture and record time of all runners electronically, accurately and efficiently, required to be used by runners in the serious categories.

Prior to the race, Sasha, amongst other runners, were given conflicting information, they were told that it was not compulsory to use it. "When we approached the organizer about the matter, instead of resolving the matter, they instantaneously blamed us. Despite her loss she added, "The marathon was good, it brought out a lot of people out to compete and it was fun but at the end it turned out bad as some runners got lost because they were not properly shown their routes, participants-were not briefed very well."

"When I crossed the finish line, I felt like I was in heaven," exclaimed 26-year-old Wilson Chepkwony winner in the Men's 42 km Brunei Marathon yesterday at the Taman Haji Sir Muda OmarAli Saifuddin.

Meanwhile, there were others in high spirits. Wilson, who was here for his 201 Brunei Marathon, last year came in third and decided to come back to grab the first place after suffering illness last year. This year, Wilson returned with a team of five Kenyans, 1 Tanzanian, 2 Moroccans and 1 Russian. Commenting on the course he says, "Although the course is tough it was better than last year. I will come back again next year."

For 24-year-old Kipkosgei Bittok from Kenya who was runner up in his first Brunei Marathon, he said he was interested to find out more about Brunei and yesterday ran his 4th race of the year. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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