The WHY.
Why on earth would anyone choose to organise a free to enter running event, let alone a whole series.
I suppose the short answer is that I feel that I’d like to give something back to the sport I fell in love with nearly sixty years ago.
The fuller version is much the same but with some depth that I hope you find interesting.
It all started back in my school years, I was something of a sportaholic, I would try anything and everything.
Back then it wasn’t frowned upon to compete and therefore most sports had a school team that would compete against other schools and I found that although not very good I was above average at most sports. This became quite evident as I became part of the school team in Basketball, Handball, Badminton, Table Tennis, Swimming, Football, Cricket and Rugby.
Rugby, that was the one sport that I was a little more than above average, and we had a great school team, twice London schools’ champions, and some of us went on to represent London in the English schools’ county championships.
I can hear you saying, what has any of this got to do with running, hang in there and all will be revealed.
Every year there was the dreaded, yes dreaded, compulsory Cross-Country Run. I, along with at least half the school, hated it.
Such hard work and so unnecessary.
A group of us set off across Hackney Marsh and after a short distance nipped into some bushes and hid until the returning runners passed, we then joined back in, around the middle of the pack and trotted back. we thought we were so clever
To the tune of I was only joking by Rod Stuart
🎶Me and some boys thought we had it sussed,
lazy scumbags all of us,
our teachers said we were ridiculous,
but boy we didn’t sweat.🎶
until crossing the finish line our Rugby coach stopped me and pointed out that we had been seen and that I needed to report to him the following day.
The punishment was apt, no Rugby till the end of term. That hurt, but what hurt more was being told by someone I looked up to so much that I was a waste of space.
I told myself that I would prove him wrong. Months before the following years cross country run I began to train myself, I intended to put in as good a run as I could and make sure that he noticed it.
So run day came and off we went across the marshes, this time all three miles. To my amazement at fourteen I was not just keeping up with the sixteen-year olds I was passing them like they were standing still and by the finish I led them all home. Not only was I going to win the school cross country, but he was right there at the finish line. I made a bee-line for him, just to make sure he knew what I had done, I’ll show him. As I crossed the line just a few feet away, of course with a smug smile on my face, I clearly heard him say to another teacher “I knew he had it in him, he just needed a kick up the backside” Followed by “Willis see me in the morning, you’re on the Cross Country team”
A runner was born that day.
But far more to the point, all those who will be part of this series of events over the years to come have the late Mr. Palester, Applied Mathematics teacher, Physical Education teacher, Rugby coach and all-round inspiration to thank for it.
The HOW
How do you keep an extremely competitive old has been runner involved and active within todays running scene?
Well, the answer isn’t just for old folks like me. Let me rephrase the question to make it more relevant to what we are doing.
How can you eliminate the disadvantages of age and gender so that we are competing against each other on a significantly more even playing field?
The answer is Age and Gender Adjusted timing, AaGA.
How it works is very straight forward. A mixed group run a timed set distance, each person’s time is then compared to the ‘world best time’ for their age and gender by way of a percentage. The nearer to the world best time the higher the percentage or put another way the better your run was.
This form of accessing a run takes out much of the obvious disadvantages that, say, a young lady has against a mature man or indeed that an old man has against a lady in her prime.
Therefore, your position as you past the finish line becomes almost irrelevant, it’s all about your time, the effort you have put into your run.
There is more to it than just creating another form of winning, there comes with it the satisfaction of knowing just how all your runs compare with each distance you run, a simple way to see if you are a better 5k speedy for your age or does your latest marathon time show you to be a near world beater for your age and gender?
There is a bonus for some Age and Gender Adjusted timing very often shows that you ladies regularly beat the guys.
The NOW
Now we are at the very beginning of our journey to make the AaGA Challenge Trophy series grow into one of Malaysia’s premiere trail running events.
But what a starting point, joining up with the RunWild Events team and utilising their expertise in event management we have hijacked perhaps the very best Race Director in the business in Mike Grover a man who I am very happy to have put my trust and faith in.
The Running on Old Legs AaGA Challenge Trophy has become an additional element to RunWild Events existing run series.
Trail running has never been so rewarding.
The addition has created not just Malaysia’s only age and gender adjusted event it also adds to the unique Run Wild offering of trophies for the first three, male and female, runners past the post, trophies for first three, male and female, in each of five age-groups, a points system that awards cash prizes to the three highest points scorers, male and female, across the four race series, a special Trailmaster T-shirt for all participants who enter all four events PLUS each event also has a treasure hunt element where prizes can be won by collecting tokens hidden on the trails.
Not to forget the event tee-shirt and finishers medal.
HAPPY RUNNING
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