INTRODUCTION
Before the North-South was built in the 1980's, Bidor was a familiar stop for KL-lites travelling from KL to Ipoh via the old trunkline road. Nowadays, it's just one of many small towns in Perak. It's current claim to fame is the Chicken biscuit and wantan noddles. Other than that, most people speed by Bidor on the way to Tapah which is starting point to Cameron Highlands.
The Bidor run is organised by the Bidor Kaki Runners for charity. This year's run is to contribute funds towards the Choong Hua High School in Bidor. The run distance is 7 and 14 km. I registered for the 14 km distance.
THE TRIP
My trip to Bidor started at 2.00 pm on a hot Saturday afternoon. From Klang I entered the NKVE at the Bukit Raja toll plaza. Traffic was fairly heavy on the NKVE due to people driving from work. The drive to Bidor was uneventful with me driving at the illegal speed of 130-150 km/hr. (The speed limit is 110 km/hr). Fortunately I sighted no police around - perhaps the hot temperature have induced them to stay indoors.
BIDOR
One a half hours later, at the Highway exit I turned towards Bidor. I was looking for a tailor shop. "Tukang Jahit Mexico" to collect the bibs, T-shirt and reporting card. At the Esso petrol station, I asked the attendant the direction to the shop. He gave me directions and I drove around to look for the shop. But I failed to find the shop and decided to park and walk. A second query from a guy in camera shop proved fruitful. He said "tepi" (corner). The tailor shop was just 20 m away around the corner.
In the small shop, there were about 5-6 people inside waiting to hand out the race goods. Here I meet Thomas and Pacesetters KL runners. They were staying in Tapah at N.H. Hotel. I walked to the main road to buy a bunch of Petai for my father. I made a second stop to buy two packets of chicken biscuits for Rm 4 - for my friend in KL.
TAPAH
From Bidor, it was a 12 km drive to Tapah. It took some time to locate Hotel Utara. Checking in at the 2nd floor reception desk,I was given a room on the 3rd floor. The room had a big double bed, TV and amenities desk. The bathroom was simple and functional. I can't complain much about the simple facilities as it was very cheap - RM 38 per night. However it was spotlessly clean.
By now, it was 5.00 pm, I decided to see anything if there was anything interesting to see in Tapah. I walked around and concluded there isn't much on interest except for the pasar malam. So retuned to my room to rest for 1 hr. After the rest, I went out again, driving to the Tapah rest house. The rest house located on a hill consisted of a series of buildings with rooms. The rest house has a fairly large restaurant. A large Chinese family was about to move into some of rooms as I drove down towards Tapah pasar malam.
The pasar malam consisted of about 40 stall sellings various goods such as vegetables, watches, food, shoes, etc. I bought a cob of corn for RM 0.60. Next stop was dinner at a stall near a river. For dinner I had nasi goreng kampung, sayur campur and 100 Plus. Cost was RM 6.50 - very cheap.
After dinner, I spent some more time driving around Tapah. The town was starting to become deserted, so I returned to my hotel. I prepared the stuff for next morning's race and spent the night watching TV. Turned in to sleep at 11.00 pm.
RACE DAY
The race day was on Sunday morning. I woke up at 5.30 am, had the usual breakfast of a mixture of oatmeal Nestum and raisins. At 6.05 am, I started my drive to Bidor. The road was fairly deserted with less than a half dozen vehicles heading towards Bidor. In the opposite lane, there were more vehicles heading towards Tapah.
I reached Bidor 10 minutes and promptly got lost trying trying to find Dewan Muhibbah (starting place). I had not idea where it was located. At one point I drove a few km along a road only to realise there was no Dewan Muhibbah to be found. I turned back and headed to the tailor shop hoping to ask someone. Bad news - it was closed. Fortunately there was a woman there and I asked her where Dewan Muhibbah was - it was only 50 m away.
RACE START
Walking towards the Dewan, I saw some tents setup for various functions; registration. food, prizes, VIP area etc. While looking for the registration counter, I spotted three Klang Pacer runners; Ah Keong, David and one other guy whom I had not met before. I joined them for a drink of hot Milo. They had driven from Klang that morning.
During the chat, an announcement was made for the runners to enter the Dewan compound. Near the Dewan gates, I handed over my reporting card before moving into the compound. Did some warm-up, stretching and chatted with severals indian Klang pacer runners. They were staying at See Foh hotel in Bidor - just 100 feet from the Dewan. The See Foh hotel rate was RM 50.
At 7.10 am, we went out from another gate towards the starting line. The 14 km runners line-up in front with the 7 km runners lined-up 10 m behind.
THE RUN
The run started a bit late - at 7.20 am a guy shoot conffeti into the air through a tube. We were off !. I started at slow pace and began to pick-up pace as I reached the main road. Some folks who standing near the shophouses gave us a cheer as we ran along the main road in town.
A short distance later, I turned left on side road and so began the run along a series of inclined roads . The road initially pass along some vilages - they seemed to orang asli villages. The first 3 km was along a combination and of flat and gently upward sloping roads. The area seemed to have a large population of cows. I had to keep watch so as not to step on patches of dried cow dung.
THE HILLS
The steeper sections came at about the 4 km distance. The steepest section (estimated 20 degree gradient) was about 400m long - I had the urge to walk here but did not succumb; continued the slog ever upwards. I counted about six upward incline sections. By 30 minutes. some of the 14 km runners were already on their way back on the opposite lane.
The route came to small side road where I ran downwards for about 500 m. At the end , there were some chairs connected with plastic strips to form a "circle" . This was the turning point for the route back to Bidor. I had two cups of water and walked for a while - my legs were a bit sore. As I passed by one of the volunteers. he said something in Chinese. It must have beeen some encouraging words - did I looked exhausted?
SECOND WIND
Anyway, it was back to the task at hand - ran slowly up the 500 m slope to the main road. On the main road I continued running but was beginning to feel a bit tired. At one point (50 minutes_ , I stopped to walk for about 100 m. The short walk did the trick - I felt better and ran at a faster pace and managed to overtake some runners. Along the section lined with the palm oil estates, one poor guy was limping badly and in pain- he had a heavily bandaged left knee. Later I saw him on the back of one of the volunteers motorcycle.
THIRD WIND
At around 60 minutes, the scenery changed - I was running along some shophouses; it must be near to town. The last stretch was along a housing area - here I walked for about 100 m. A malay runner whom I had ran besides for some time went ahead of me. He must have be a local guy - he wore a vest with Bidor Kaki Runner a the back of the vest. Not wanting to be left behind too far, I started runing again. Surprisingly I felt energised and was able to catch up with the Malay runner who was 100 m ahead. I maintained my brisk pace and just before a right turn, I suddenly realised it was near the finishing line. I shift to another gear and sprinted about 100 m to finish the run.
Position no: 92 (cat B) . time : 1 hr 15 minutes 19 sec.
POST RACE
I met the Klang Pacer runners sitting on a kerb eating nasi lemak and eggs. They had run very well; their finishing times were ; David (1 hr 08 min. - 51st), Ah Keong (55 min - 3rd) and ??? (58 min.). The tent with the F & B had a lot a food - bananas, watemelon, papaya, kuih, nasi lemak etc. A welcomed change from the usual situation where food was reserved for the VIPs. The organiser really knows how to take care of runners.
Highlights :
Well organised, good post race food and relaxed race atmosphere and attractive medal
Lowlights :
Staying in Tapah - kind of boring. Signing up for the 10 km Ipoh race on 17 Oct . RM 25 -expensive!
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