Adidas KOTR (King of the Road) 2009 will go down in history as the worst running event ever held in the Philippines! From pre-race, to race day, to post-race, it was filled with many boo-boos that runners could hardly ignore. I paid Php500 not just to get a very cool singlet, but to have a wonderful running experience. But as it sadly turned out, Adidas KOTR 2009 became one big flop. They hired Mr. Rudy Biscocho to organize the race. Rudy is well known in the running scene for always coming up with well-organized races all the time. But whatever happened to Adidas KOTR 2009? They can't give us the excuse that they've taken in more running events than they could handle. We all paid to experience a very memorable running event, and they are responsible to make this happen at all costs.
I speak for myself while knowing that most other participants echo my disappointments and complaints. We were eager to join Adidas KOTR and registered on the very first day (Sep 21, 2009). We waited excitedly for about three weeks to get the race packets. My boyfriend went to SM Megamall early to claim our race packets only to find himself in the middle of a very long queue. He had to wait for two hours (that's 120 minutes!) before he had his turn. That's more than the time it takes for us to finish our 10K runs. We were lucky that they found our race packets easily. Some suffered a worse fate. After falling in line for more than an hour, they were told that their race packets were missing or were not yet available.
Come the race day on Oct 25, 2009, Adidas KOTR still were consistent in their boo-boos. I was dismayed with the water stations. The runners had to huddle at the booths to get a cup of water. I was very particular on beating my personal record and so opted to keep running instead of hustling my way inside just to get a cup. In the other races I participated on, I would see marshals lined in the race path while extending cups to the runners, such that a runner is not disrupted of his momentum as he reaches for a cup while running.
The finish line greeted me with another queue because the race marshal was having a difficult time peeling off the barcodes from our race bibs. I knew then that it would affect the official results. There were more queues in claiming the finisher certificates and complimentary Gatorade drinks.
The week after the race was an agony of waiting for the official results to come out. Around 9 days after, Adidas finally released the results in their
Facebook page. But their page instantly rained more complaints as they only disclosed the top 50 runners from the 5K and 10K distances while revealing the complete list of the 21K event. I had a bad feeling that they botched up the results and so decided not to release it.
But the participants would not stop ranting, and so maybe out of pressure, Adidas finally released the full list 2 days after, albeit filled with inaccuracies as I correctly surmised. Their Facebook page is further bombarded with complaints which Adidas was quick to delete to save face. However, deleting comments they don't like doesn't delete the frustration from their participants who paid them to have a good time.
My official result was 1hr 1 min. I should be happy with it, only that I know it's not right. I finished 10K in 1hr 2min instead. I have friends who complained they finished faster than the official times posted. My boyfriend was not in the list at all!! And to think he was one of the early registrants!
Perhaps, we are reaching our boiling points because Adidas is keeping their mum. I expect them to issue an official statement of apology although I doubt it will pacify the runners. It will not change the things that already happened but it is naturally expected from them. If they respect the runners enough who paid their hard-earned money to join this race, then Adidas should at least issue a formal statement to explain their side.
But then I think... Adidas KOTR 2009 garnered 7,000 participants. Multiply that by Php500. What do you get? We are talking about Php3.5M!! And so I think if they are keeping mum about all this, and refuse to apologize, maybe it's because they have already pocketed this much money, and don't care about what the rest of us rant about. And so what does it make Adidas look like??? =)
I'm so glad I wore this bib at my back during the race =) :
