A New Route For Larian Bersama Bomba This Year

I've joined Larian Bersama Bomba in 2012, 2014 and 2017. In all three, I entered the 10K in Women Open category because the Women Veteran category only has a 7K.

In all three races, I managed to bag the limited medals given out to runners. Larian Bersama Bomba has always been a no-frills race but one that is generous with podium prize and for its limited medals (except for 2018 when they started giving out medals to all finishers).

Larian Bersama Bomba is also just that - members of public running alongside our brave firefighters. Apart from 10K, 7K, 3K Fun Run & Family categories open to public, there were also Firefighters categories.

This year, instead of being held at Dataran Merdeka, it was held in Cyberjaya. There was a bit of issue when the originally scheduled night run on 17 August (a new format for Larian Bersama Bomba) had to be postponed to Sunday morning on the 18th.

Fortunately, I didn't have any race scheduled on Sunday so despite the postponement,  I still managed to join the run.

Weather was good and overcast so it wasn't an issue for a 7:30 am flag-off.

10K category was flagged-off first at around 7:37 am, followed by 7K category about 5 minutes later and then the 3K Fun Run category. The VIP category was flagged-off last.

I caught up with the slower 10K runners as we were approaching KM1 mark. 10K runners had to run straight and 7K runners had to turn left and run uphill. Overheard at this point was some runners who said "kita nak lari terus ke, nak ikut 7K?" which I supposed came from 10K runners. Uh-oh.

A few officials from SAAA were stationed here to direct runners and make sure we follow correct route.

I had unintentionally ran faster than I wanted to for the first kilometer. With the uphill section along KM2, I slowed down to a more comfortable pace thereafter.

The first water station (WS) was located at around KM2.5 and manned by these three chirpy Abam Bomba who happily posed for my camera.

I stopped here for a bit, to drink, take some photos and also selfie with a runner (which I don't do often).

We merged with 10K runners as 7K runners approached KM4 and we also ran passing by the Balai Bomba & Penyelamat Cyberjaya. I saw firefighters standing in front of the Balai Bomba and I wanted to take their photos.

Although it was located at the other side of the main road, I decided to cross the road to meet them and they offered to take my photo.

So it was generally wasting more time taking photos again. The firefighters were all so sporting and even posed freestyle with me.

KM5 saw another uphill section and I did a walk break here. I stopped at the second WS and took a cup of cold 100-Plus. It was a  downhill section and it was nice to just run in a controlled pace. It was a flat section after that all the way to the finish line.

The 7K route was well marked with cones and junctions were manned by Bomba officers and traffic police. Traffic was almost non-existent so it was nice to run with no cars zooming beside us.

I was a bit mystified though when traffic police made runners stop at a junction to let traffic pass as we were approaching KM3. I was about 50m behind at that time, running downhill towards the junction.

With me running an average pace of 7 min/km, those in front of me would surely be running faster and I bet they weren't pleased to be stopped. Anyhoo, I was fortunate as runners could continue their run just as I arrived to that junction.

There were no distance markers seen along the route but route markers were prominent and placed at junctions so that we don't stray elsewhere. Actually, I don't think I've seen distance markers placed at any Larian Bersama Bomba that I joined previously. Just run until you see the finish line lah... Firefighters are not weak people, right? Follow their lead.

Hubby joined the 3K Fun Run and had finished way earlier than me so he took photos of runners approaching the finish line, including mine!

Alas, I wasn't fast enough to bag one of the 100 limited medal (100 each for 10K & 7K categories, if I'm not wrong) because I finished 128 overall. So many runners (male & female) in front of me!

The top 100 bagged the "helmet" medal as bragging rights.

Finishers received this medal.

I crossed the finish line, got my medal, a mineral water and banana and head to where hubby was waiting.

Much later, we walked past the 3K finish line and the crew there offered us some chocolate buns and soy drinks.  Syioklah, breakfast settled.

At the race site, there were also Bomba exhibitions and runners stopped by to learn more about Bomba. A popular booth was where kids could take photos dressed in mini-Bomba uniforms. So cute!

There were lucky draws too with plenty of prizes but we didn't manage to win anything.

A note of thanks to the organizer, crew and Bomba officers who helped out at the run today.

Photos taken by us has been uploaded and can be viewed at our Facebook page Cik Arnab & En Kura-Kura.

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