Tuesday, November 18, 2008

PBIM'08 Dissapointments

Perhaps today the world is about getting the numbers, the bottomline, balance your cheque book, economy of mass but I digress here.

You (YES! You the organizers), have gotten it upside down again. To get your numbers you forgot your target audience and treating them right. I am talking about logistics of runtime management. Many unfortunate runners who were not so fast (but this is not the excuse one should give it to them as even the last runner should be treated well) have again found out that refreshing stations ran out of drinking water - again and again, year in and year out!

How dissapointing! Last year I experienced it and this year I was a little fortunate because I was one of the early starters of half-marathoners so this did not serve a problem to me but my plight goes to the runners behind me (their complaints reached me). Their dehydration is a serious matter which the organizers have (blatantly?) overlooked again. It was fortunate that no fatal incidents occurred due to dehydration but don't stretch your luck too long.

Tell me, RACE DIRECTOR, why was it that difficult to supply adequate drinking water for every runner? This is a basic prerequisite that you must provide and you overlooked it again and again, and all you ever trumpeted about is getting the HUGE NUMBERS.

And then there were more, like there were only 4 toilets serving the needs of 16,000 participants, where in the race-guide brochure there were hints of adequate relief portals. I am very unhappy with this blatant disregard for human needs.

Of all races I've been to in major cities around Malaysia, Penang (the island part) has the least desired basic-amenities-for-race, during my entire experience of running. Especially when it comes to the one managed by the usual suspects (revelation from senior runners). If you are participants from abroad or out-of-town, you might want to weigh in the inconvenience factor of stepping into Penang Island for races - until the usual suspects retired from insidious activities

I would have given you the finger, but I believe this could be your first time organizing a PBIM race. I will call for a boycott of future PBIM runs, if you don't get your basics right.

Do Not Neglect Your Supporters, RACE DIRECTOR.

p/s. previous govt., this is not about you doing a good job the last time around

2 comments:

Shaun said...

Hey Theo, refreshments were served at a slow pace and I even had to stand there to wait for the water to be poured out. I was fortunate that there were still supplies but my friend who took part in the full-m complained that it had ran out by the time he was at the mid-span of the bridge. Improvement required!!!

theo said...

Hey Shaun, thx for dropping in and comments. We hope to get the serious grievances reach the right authorities.