Selling Wheels

I decided to write the field report or a post mortem of the Mizuno Wave Run 2007 @ Bedok Reservoir only today; more than 24 hours after the run.

For once, I feel a need to ‘cool down’ from completing a 10k run.

Yesterday’s Mizuno Wave Run could be a very enjoying run for many. The temperature is right. It rained early at 4am and that helps keeps the morning cool.

However, such blessings do not last. The first sign of trouble appeared when the DJ announced that there will be baggage deposit for the runners. Ladies will use one truck while the gentlemen will put their belongings into another. All these were announced only less than half an hour to the start time.

As I start moving down to the track for warm up, I saw the second sign of trouble appeared. Running routes were pasted at the stadium with a new route and the finishing point at Bedok Reservoir, not Temasek Poly! This is the first time that I have ’seen’ organisers changing routes after promotional materials have been printed and especially the ‘Finishing Point’.

The third sign of trouble. VIPs for the flag-off were late! My apologies to the organisers and VIPs. But, comparing the time of runners (in the thousands) compared to the VIPs (at most a handful), more time has been wasted in this run even before it started. And more time is wasted after the run (to be covered further down). Runners joined a running event to run. To us, we want to start on time and take advantage of the wonderful weather. That is why most people do exercises early in the morning.

The fourth sign of trouble. Bottlenecks at start of the running route. Less than 300m into the run, the first bottleneck is the gate of out Temasek Poly. Second bottleneck is the narrow path from Temasek Poly gate to Bedok Reservoir. Easily around 3 minutes was wasted just moving from the start point to the reservoir with hardly any running.

The fifth sign of trouble. No markings. What distance are we at along the route? Sure, there are markings like S38 etc which means nothing to runners. Runners need to know the distance that we are at to pace ourselves well. It act as a reality check for us ; are we hitting the right pace?

The sixth sign of trouble. Finishing line! For a race, the finishing line is always the MOST important. Runners plot their finishing around the finishing point. Do we need to pick up pace…should we start sprinting and more? Without the end in mind, we are running a blind race. Many runners on that day do not know where is the Finishing line. Even as we ran through the ‘Mizuno Arch’, we heard people telling us that the Finishing line is further up….where? Many of us still do not know.

The seventh sign of trouble. Clash with people from ‘the other walk event’. Given that the path along the reservoir is narrow, add to that a walk event, it only spells troubles as runners try to avoid clashing onto the walkers (most of whom are senior citizens). And even running into the ‘Finished line’, I see some people leisurely strolling across the path. A sure way to get someone injured.

The eight sign of trouble. Huge queue for the goodies bag collection. My time for the run is less than my time in the queue.

The ninth sign of trouble. Those who have deposited their bags will find it on the grass patch. People cramped around the trucks, while the lack of manpower and organisation made it difficult to process all the bags in an efficient manner. I am sure there will be items missing (if not bags).

This run has definitely leave a very bad after taste of Mizuno runs on me. Mizuno Wave Run had never been a well organised run. But this year’s run definitely is the worst that one can expect. If there is a role model to learn from, Mizuno or VGO should learn from the Saucony-100 Plus Passion Run.

It’s an inaugural run for the Saucony-100 Plus Passion Run, but the planning involved and experience that runners gets from it is so much better than what we got from the Mizuno Wave Run. And the Mizuno Wave Run is easily into its 3 year or so.

I will be boycotting Mizuno Runs (and its product) for 1 year because of this bad experience. VGO has the duty to ensure better planning and management of events. For me, it’s a total disappointment that the Mizuno brand is associated with such quality runs. I have been using Mizuno since 1991. And it is sad, that I have to take a stand against bad management of a running event.