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2009 Adidas King of the Road

TBR RACE REVIEW: ADIDAS KING OF THE ROAD

Overall rating (10 highest): 8
Organizer: Rudy Biscocho

THUMBS UP:

• Organized start and finish.
• Nice singlets.
• Race started on time.
• Ample water and Gatorade stations.
• Festive race atmosphere with booths, fans, and food.

BETTER JOB NEXT TIME:
• Typical race route.
• Slow refill of water cups at stations (but no biggie!)
• Inconvenient and chaotic race packet redemption.

The Adidas King of the Road has always been one of the must-run races on most serious runners’ lists the past years. The Adidas KOTR for 2009, last Sunday, only solidified its reputation as one of the most consistent and best organized races held in Manila.

Over 8,000 runners showed up at Bonifacio High Street last Sunday, majority of whom donned the scintillating yellow Adidas singlet. Despite the large population of runners, the assembly area was void of confusion or crowding; there were clear directions for check-in, enough restrooms at BHS to accommodate everyone, and the atmosphere was festive yet organized.

The race itself was clean and simple enough for runners to simply focus on enjoying the run. Water and Gatorade were overflowing and the course was safe from traffic and pollution.

Congratulations to Adidas and Mr. Rudy Biscocho for giving runners another wonderful race. Until next year!

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- Adidas KOTR race start -

SUPER SLEEPY

I knew I wouldn’t be able to get up that morning. We arrived from Subic at 11 p.m., slept at 1 a.m. and woke up dizzily at 4 a.m. I registered for 21k but I was in no shape to run one. Yawn. By the time we arrived at Bonifacio High Street, I saw the 21k runners pass us by while we were still looking for parking. Wow, it was an amazing sight. Instantly, I was jolted out of my zombie state and was all set to run.

Hubby and I were together from beginning to end. We planned for an easy pace (not that there was any other choice given that we were tired from the run the night before.) The start of the race was vibrant and exciting. Runners cheered and counted down to the start of the 10k race.

EASY BUDDY RUN

Our run was just a pleasurable 10k run all the way. The race route was familiar so there were absolutely no surprises along the way, except for friends who we bumped into on the road, such as Toby of Runnr who startled us from behind, or Vince of Finish Line who silently crept up and ran by my side.

It was nice to see the 21k runners heading back as we 10k runners made our way towards Buendia: Ani de Leon in 3rd place and full race mode and several Subic International Marathon Finishers such as Mari, Lester, and Charlie.

STRONG, HAPPY FINISH

As we neared the finish, I increased the pace and ended the run at 59 minutes. No pressures, no rush, all fun!

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- with Ironwoman Ani de Leon -

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– with Tanya Lara, Vimz, hubby, and Bobby -

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– with Team Hardcore peeps: Margaret, Lester and Mari -

* Thanks to Paolo Sauler for the race start photo.

Posted on 10.27.09 to 02 Race Reports. Tags: . Subscribe to follow comments on this post. 24 comments. Add your thoughts or trackback from your own site.

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24 Responses to “2009 Adidas King of the Road”

  1. hi! i thought you were not there :-) i think i misread your question about the race, i thought you were asking how it went. hmmm.. and see, i didn’t realize there were more than a thousand runners there. i’m also bad at estimating :-) the shout outs were also nice, don’t you think? there were cute ones that made me smile while running :-)

    reylynne said on Oct 27 09 at 7:39 PM Reply

  2. Hello, What I’m going to say is a constructive criticism. This is my first time to join Adidas KOTR, when I registered myself i thought everything will be smooth sailing just like most of the other marathon events I have joined in the past but I was wrong! I just don’t get it, why do we have to claim our singlet somewhere else, SM Megamall why not just where we registered ourselves. It is so inconvenient that we still have to claim it in other venue, there was even Mall Sale thats going on! thats why the traffic from Valle Verde to Megamall took me almost an hour! To top it all, as I was at the entrance I was asked if I can claim my race kit & singlet the next day instead! I came from paranaque just to get my race kit & jersey then traveled almost 2 hours and then asked me to return the following day. Wow! I said to myself Adidas is well known sports brand worldwide but organizing marathon run (in claiming race kit & singlet) sucks! I really hope, next time you will do a lot better than this year in claiming race kit & singlet and next time if possible, when we registered ourselves for the run, we can already claim our singlet & race kit at the same venue & day. If not, please make it sure that there wont be any Mall Sale thats on going to lessen hassle somehow.

    Really like the single, race map, and atmosphere was festive but assemble time 4am was too early for 5k runners. See you on your next event.

    Jay said on Oct 29 09 at 9:18 AM Reply

  3. the 5k was too long ,my GPS got 6.43k. What happen?

    alaskarunner said on Oct 29 09 at 1:41 PM Reply

  4. Hi, would you know when the race results will be available? Thanks!

    gardo said on Oct 29 09 at 7:15 PM Reply

  5. hello.
    any idea where and when the results will be posted?

    dinio said on Oct 29 09 at 8:40 PM Reply

  6. It’s quite a fun event. I had a nice time with my 10K. But I would like to sympathize with other runners who spent hours in claiming the race packet. Such a waste of precious time. Anyway, everything was forgotten with a pleasing outcome. May you workout the results? Thank you pretty bullrunner.

    RUNHEC said on Oct 29 09 at 9:52 PM Reply

  7. hi, when will be the results posted?

    Orange said on Nov 01 09 at 1:12 AM Reply

  8. Still no results?? Hmm. . reg was a problem and now the results.

    Dennis said on Nov 02 09 at 10:03 AM Reply

  9. “The Adidas KOTR for 2009, last Sunday, only solidified its reputation as one of the most consistent and best organized races held in Manila.”

    > Jaymie, I agree with your thumbs up points. But with all the items you listed under ‘Better Job Next Time’, how did that solidify this race as one of the “best organized held in Manila?

    Other rantings:
    - Echoing an earlier post, the 5k run was actually 6.4k++..
    - They ran out of Medium and Large sizes for women. Now, I registered during the opening weekend. In other races, that would’ve been a guarantee for your registered size.. they just offered me a small size for Men
    - no results yet after 1week

    anyway, there’s always next year!

    Mike said on Nov 02 09 at 11:31 AM Reply

    • Mike,

      I have a lot of respect for race organizers knowing how difficult it is to put up such a grand event. I give praise when it is due them and try not to sweat the small stuff. If you notice, 2 out of 3 of my negatives were “no biggies.” Only the race redemption was the major problem. In my opinion, it was still a very well-organized event.

      thebullrunner said on Nov 04 09 at 5:09 PM Reply

  10. the 5k is actually 6.4k?? i wonder what my time would be now.. :s cant wait for the results..

    chao said on Nov 02 09 at 8:35 PM Reply

  11. I totally agree with your review. 8 out of 10 for kotr 09

    Charmaine said on Nov 03 09 at 1:07 PM Reply

  12. still waiting for the results.. :s and may i ask.. may photovendo ba nun? ..

    chao said on Nov 04 09 at 9:43 PM Reply

  13. what happened!!? pati ba nmn sa results they messed up!!? my name and my bib no. cant be found! all my friends have results sakin lng ang wala! im soo pissed!

    chao said on Nov 06 09 at 10:52 PM Reply

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