Perhaps one would stumble upon newfound appreciation of metropolitan Kuala Lumpur when they aren’t traversing the urban jungle in an automotive. On foot, congested highways and traffic lights aren’t quite so frustrating, making movement about the city roads that much more appealing. It’s doubly so if its made a sport of sorts.
The recently concluded Nike We Run 21K 2016 was all about running around the capital city, all the while flaunting your inner athlete… if you don’t give up that is. For those uninitiated to the world of running, Nike’s second half marathon, with 21km of urban landscape standing between you and the finish line, would have been nothing short of a gruelling affair.
Nevertheless, a wave of 8,987 runners took over the streets of Kuala Lumpur and pushed their limits to realize the true athlete in them with new 21K personal bests when the half-marathon took place earlier on 10th April. The running event came following a specially-curated 12-week training programme that was activated both digitally and on-ground.
“We are overwhelmed by the high-level of energy and enthusiasm from the runners today as we have witnessed the training journey of many from the time they registered, their participation in the training sessions we organized and finally to them completing their race today. We are proud to be able to motivate our runners to reach new levels as an athlete and look forward to continue to inspire them to keep aiming further in their journey as a runner,” said Angelene Chong, Country Marketing Manager for Nike Malaysia during the half-marathon.
The race route started at KL Sentral and took runners through some of the city’s iconic landmarks such as the Petronas Twin Towers and Stadium Merdeka. Throughout the route, runners found motivational messages, submitted by runners themselves, inspiring them to bring out their very best all the way to the finish line.
At the Nike We Run KL Race Village, participants were treated like athletes with post-run treatments such as on-demand stretching by Physiotherapists from Universiti Malaya as well as an ice-bath for their feet in the cooling zone.
Nike also set up an innovation showcasing the Nike Free Run Flyknit from the recently launched Summer 16 collection of Nike Free footwear for running.
“The services we’ve provided at the Race Village aim to replicate some of the post-race activities that professional athletes undergo. Our goal is to constantly invigorate the running scene in Malaysia as the interest and quality of runners continues to grow and improve rapidly here. With innovation and inspiration at the forefront of Nike, we want to bring a different experience to our athletes each year for them to always look forward to,” added Chong.
Missed out on all the action? Don’t worry, there’s always next year! If the amount of kilometres to cover seem a little daunting, you’ve got a year to train!
