Energizer Night Race 2011 Worst Race Ever! Updated!
4 min readEnergizer Night Race 2011, Worst Race Ever!
*Energizer Malaysia have refunded all the racers the participation fees as well as the goodies bags. Both items were sent in mass and we received by 27th May 2011. Hereby, Energizer Malaysia has resolved this issue. Thank you.*
The idea of night race is good, the crowd turnout is even better. However the race itself was disappointing.
Rachel and I reached there around 7pm. As we entered the grandstand area, there were no markers or even organizers cared to inform anyone where to collect the flashlights as well as how to go to the paddock. We were duly informed by foreign security guards. Fine, as we went to collect our Energizer flashlights, there were no one and the area was empty. Again, fine!
The race started as it was announced by the announcer. There were no notice boards or markers.
We started our 11km race on time. We are supposed to lap the whole circuit twice. As the race started, some participants cheated by cutting through green. Surprisingly, there was not even a marshal there. Please bear in mind, there are real runners who were really competing for the medals and they were cheated. It is a night race, imagine there was not even marshal manning the area. By chance, any injury or any health issues, good luck. It did happen eventually, on my second lap there was a guy lying down without any marshal or medical assistance.
Upon reaching the flag off area, hell break lose. I asked marshal how many laps I need to run. The marshal told everyone that the 11km run is over which in fact it was only 5.5km. I knew I could not have completed 11km within an hour, I continued.
I strained my calves on the second lap and I went to the first medical tent. There wasn’t any medical kit or first aid kit there. They asked me to go to the second tent which is another 2km away. I walked with pain with my friends and when I reached there, the sprays are gone. No more as I was told. Well, bear in mind there are still runners running on 21km and 42km. Anything happens to them will be another god bless issue. Fine, I managed finished my run over 2 hours. There, my friend told me that the spray at the medical tent is actually MOSQUITO REPELLENT AND IT IS NOT MUSCLE PAIN RELIEF SPRAY.
Well, that was not it. The announcer kept threatening the participants to disperse as the police and RELA came in the picture.
Picture taken from Facebook. Look how the organizer distributes the goodies bags.
Apparently, there was a ruckus as organizers could not handle the crowd for the goodies bags. Participants queued for almost an hour and they were told to go back and they will send the goodies bag to them.
Video on how they distribute the goodies bag.
There was no medical tent at the finishing area. I had endured my cramped legs without any medical assistance. I saw a lady who injured her palms as she fell down. She was bleeding and she told me she couldn’t find any medical assistance. We were shocked.
As we wanted to back to the grandstand area, we were asked to go the connecting tunnel.
Another picture taken from Facebook, thousands are made to queue on this narrow tunnel.
Imagine 10,000 participants are allowed to cramp into the tunnel which is stuffy and minimal ventilation. I saw a few Indian girls sitting under the stair gasping for air. The tunnel is very narrow and the organizer expects at least 5000 people to walk across. Some people walk across the road and climb to the grandstand area. Again, no marshal is manning there. Someone could fall down or something there.
Throughout the race, there is not even a race marker. I pity the 21km and 42km runners as they were running around like headless chickens. I could understand why there were so many runners so frustrated by the organizer.
One last issue, the announcer asked participants to watch Transformers at the open area but there are no chairs there so there are some people sit on the floor like beggars. Badly organized.
To be frank, if I knew the race is such life risking, I would NOT even join the race. It is hard to believe an international brand such as Energizer could hire a joker event company to manage such a huge event. I hope they pray there were no huge injuries or incidents during the race. Now, I hope they can mail my goodies bag as they announced as well as compensating my flashlights. I hope everyone that participated in good health. Thank you for reading!
Updated On 18/4/2011
The latest update, the organizer posted this on her facebook.
Did she just called us hooligans? Instead of putting together a safe event, she called us hooligans. Well, let’s see how Energizer will responds to this.
Malay Mail Online reports on the Energizer Night Run on 18th April 2011
Lastly, Energizer Night Run Page offers the olive branch on 2pm 18th April 2011.
On 21st April 2011, Energizer gives a full commitment to end the issue once and for all with the statement below:
*Energizer Malaysia have refunded all the racers the participation fees as well as the goodies bags. Both items were sent in mass and we received by 27th May 2011. Hereby, Energizer Malaysia has resolved this issue. Thank you.*
nothing to say.. just… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst… Worst…
Well, I pray everyone is fine at the end of the day.
Nicely written. Thank you for voicing it out. Maybe you can send a link to the international corporate Energizer (cc Energizer Malaysia) and see what they say.
shocking, a friend asked us to join this race sometime back, luckily we didn’t.
Didn’t expect it to be that bad seriously.
Ple cc this report attention to the Gm/CEO at corporate Hq in Malaysia and overseas. Someone’s heads must roll.
I’m new to running, my friend invited me to run on Energizer but luckily i could not make it for this round. I will be running the putrajaya run on May 29th 2011. Hopefully i will not get such a running experience for my first run eh~
Lets go for the Standard Chart run instead, its better.
yeah i agree you , i think they are no manage the even as well, and not clearly to draw down the Map And tell the runner where should they run .
i angry about that , finish are not certificate and goodies bag !!!
I am writing directly to energizer at [email protected]…..in case organizer blocks the Facebook page
Couldnt agree more. What a bad bad bad organizers. We had to que for the goodie bags longer than the time we took to finish the 5.5km. I was fuming seeing the organizers ‘threw’ the bags away while we were patiently queing. My husband said that this year was the worst.
When I saw the queue during the first round, I told myself to go home. When I finish the race, there were no water station or medic but only to announcer’s wrath towards the participants. Disappointed.
The organisers have left alot to be desired about this race. At the Nike Run, they were giving out the post-race goodies immediately after you crossed the line.
Energizer already knew they were going for the largest night race in Malaysia, and yet they were ill prepared.
Boo to Energizer and Expose for organising such a crappy race. To the sponsors, I’m not sure what you got out of this. Negative publicity is still publicity???
woooo, this is bad. Many people could get serious injuries. Badnergizer Night Race!
EVENT DETAILS
1) ALL PRIZE MONEY IS IN MALAYSIAN RINGGIT ONLY.
2) ALL WINNERS MUST BRING THE IDENTIFICATION CARD TO VERIFY YOUR GOODSELF AS THE PARTICIPANT AS REGISTERED IN THE ENERGIZER NIGHT RACE, IF NOT THE ORGANIZER HAS THE RIGHT TO TERMINATE AND LET THE NEXT IN LINE TO BE ANNOUNCE AS THE WINNING POSITION.
3) MEDALS WILL ONLY BE GIVEN TO PARTICIPANTS WHO FINISHES WITHIN THE QUALIFYING TIME.
4) PARTICIPANTS WILL RECEIVE A FINISHING T-SHIRT AND A CERTIFICATE OF PARTICIPATION FOR THE ENERGIZER NIGHT RACE 2011 UPON COMPLETION OF THE RACE (EXCEPT FOR 42KM AND 21KM CATEGORY, CERTIFICATE WILL BE POSTED OUT TO YOUR REGISTERED MAILING ADDRESS).
5) ALL FINISHING T-SHIRT ARE GIVEN BY FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS UPON COMPLETION. SIZES ARE VARY FROM M-L SIZES AND ARE GIVEN ON FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS.
6) FINISHER MEDALS AND T-SHIRT MUST BE COLLECTED AT THE FINISHER PIT UPON CHECK OUT OF THE RACE, THE ORGANIZER WILL NOT BE LIABLE IF THE PARTICIPANT DID NOT COLLECT THE FINISHING PIT WITHOUT THE SAID ITEMS.
“3) MEDALS WILL ONLY BE GIVEN TO PARTICIPANTS WHO FINISHES WITHIN THE QUALIFYING TIME.”
How the 11km and 5.5km runners claim that they qualified while they’re running without the timing chip?
i ran 21km finished alongside one of 42km runner who dissapointed to find that there were no medals or even the organizer..what a shame.
crazy!!!! I cant stop complint them since yesterday, however what u go through is more serious then me!!! A small marathon held by SGMS at klang is 100 x better then this… Let us go to RUN FOR PEACE!!
wow, sounds bad man. And a friend was actually asking me to go run wid her… luckily man if not i sure die there like a beached whale!!!
heng ar!
well said, it’s a COMPLETE disappointment.
This really sounds awful. Have this reported to their main headquarters (in the US or wherever) so they’d learn from this.
Hei that video! i was just behind u i guess bro
Hi there I am Sheila a reporter attached to NST. I am trying to get in touch with you regarding the event. It will be great if you could drop me an email at [email protected].
regards
sheila
Please update the link in your post as well
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Josephine-Huang-Justice/203929616307492
Horrible organizers. Where’s the crisis management team to fix this?
Who’s the event company?
And irresponsible respond my Josie.
couldn’t agree more. It was badly organised. I mean, if you register 10,000 runners, wouldn’t you prepare the same number of headlights,medals and certs?
To:Josie Abby, Even though my hubby and I were disappointed with some parts of the organizing of this race, we decided to keep our comments to ourselves and let it be. we both ran well and were alittle over an hour…BUT THEN, I saw your comments on your FB page that’s posted at the top of this page and you’ve actually got my blood boiling. You’ve just made it personal…..HOW DARE YOU CALL US (RUNNERS) HOOLIGANS!!!! The last time we checked we were no louts, ruffians, vandals or yobbos. This just goes to show how unprofessional you are, that’s probably why it showed on that night – unprofessional and disorganized event planning!
To: The ” marshalls” or whatever you wanna call yourselves (yes, you men in white/orangy shirts at the finish line!!!! I have a bone to pick with you)Were you guys given your job description at the briefing? Coz 3 of you were confused: You sent me further down the finish line to the wrong exit and made me queue up in the 5.5km line – Crap!!!! Found out too late and decided to give up on the goody bag coz we weren’t gonna queue up again in the 11km line. I’m glad we did coz judging by the comments and the youtube footage it was havoc. I feel for those runners who had to wait patiently in the queue.
No drinks at the finish line???? What the! I know there was a drink station 2km out from the fin line, so don’t go there….
To: All those runners who cheated and cut across the field. I use the term “runners” loosely. Shame on you. Did you think you would cheat the ones who actually ran the track and finish so you could get a goodybag. Those who cut across because they weren’t well and wanted to get to the fin line, then my 4 lines comment above is not directed at you.
AND WHAT’S WITH THE RM10 PARKING FEE????? Seriously!!!!
To all the runners who looked forward to the race, trained, and ran the race, please don’t let this damper your spirits. Hope you get your goodybags as promised. Cheers
WHAT?! what rubbish is this? they simply organized a race for $ risking lives?!
this is getting more interesting..
check out this FB note published by my friend..not sure if you guys can view it or not..
http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/jason-lee-chen-yik/energizer-night-race-malaysia-sucks/207819765908573?notif_t=note_reply
A run of more than 10,000 participants and doesn’t need sanction from Sports Commission? BS!!!
Will the organiser post the finishing medal and certificate of completion to all the qualified runners ?
huhuhu.. I was there for the run too.. flew all the way from Kuching with a Hope, but back with a disappointment 😡
Hi, I linked to this blog post.
Bro,
that was just SAD! how could they tell you to go to a medical tent 2km away??!!
Mossie repellent vs deep heat spray? Bodoh ka?
INCOMPETENCE! Josie Huang, you and your team are an incompetent, ignorant and arrogant bunch! I hope you guys NEVER manage a race again!
Here’s Josie Huang’s Twitter account. You can tell it’s her by the pictures that she’s posted up, together with the fact that her daughter’s name is Abby.
Her Facebook account also contains the name Abby in it. And she also refers to herself as Josie Abby Huang in her tweets.
http://twitter.com/josie_huang
Spread the word.
Wow – what a disaster!! Sounds like they were after some free publicity in return for little or no work!!
Hope you’ve recovered!!
I might be reading wrong but the year is 2010 right?
Hi, Great to see a new list of top travel blogs. With over 8000 uniques per month, I feel mine should be in there somewhere. Could you take a look at http://www.malaysiatourpackages.org/ ? Thanks
I rarely leave a response, however I looked at a lot of comments on this page Places and
Foods, Travel and Food Blog