The inaugural Silverman Duathlon and Half Marathon set the town of Lumut, its outskirts, and the district of Manjung abuzz, as close to 1000 participants from 12 countries converged there over the weekend.
“We are truly thrilled by the success of the event, as the interest and support that it has received has been very inspiring,” said Rashid Salleh, CEO of Warriors Quest, organiser of the Silverman race. “The responses from participants have been very positive and encouraging. Lumut and the district of Manjung are no strangers to events of this nature, with the district being very warm and welcoming hosts!” he added.
The Silverman race was initiated to offer more competitive opportunities for amateur athletes. With the race’s name inspired by the origins of the State’s name, the inaugural Silverman Series incidentally coincides with ‘Visit Perak Year 2017’.
“The district of Manjung is truly honoured to be the venue of the inaugural Silverman Series, as it highlights our district’s capability of hosting an event of this size,” said Tuan Mohammad Fariz b. Mohamad Hanip, District Officer for Manjung and head of the Manjung Municipal Council. “The various departments have worked very closely with the event organisers and are proud of the smooth running of the duathlon and half marathon, as the Silverman race is yet another initiative in promoting Perak and ‘Visit Perak Year 2017’,” he added.
Perak State Exco for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dato’ Nolee Ashilin Mohd. Radzi, flagged off the 980 participants for the two events from Marina Hall on Marina Island, Lumut. Apart from receiving strong local support, the duathlon and half-marathon also saw 21 international entrants from 12 other countries participate, with athletes hailing from Bahrain, Brazil, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Myanmar, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and USA. The events were both divided into five age categories; Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Men’s Junior Masters, Women’s Masters and Men’s Masters.
The duathlon involved two 11km runs with a 61km bicycle ride in between. Commencing from Marina Island, participants passed through Teluk Batik, Lumut and the Royal Malaysian Naval Base in Lumut, before ending back on the island. Similarly, the 21km half-marathon route started and ended at Marina Island, but saw runners heading to Teluk Batik and back, twice.
For the finale, Dato’ Rashidi bin Ibrahim, ADUN for Pasir Panjang, was also on hand at the event and recognised the winners of the various categories.
In the duathlon, Jason Loh Chwan Chyin won the Men’s Open category in blistering time of 3:15:22s with Chin Mei See winning the Women’s Open category with a time of 3:49:13s. In the Men’s Junior Master’s category, Briton Chris Wright showed no signs of jetlag, coming in first with a time of 3:21:52s, with Veronica Uhen taking the Women’s Masters category (3:52:34s) and Calvin Tan winning the Men’s Senior Masters category (3:21:10s).
For the half-marathon, Men’s Open category favourite, Azwan bin Bunjing won with a time of 1:16:55s, with Ong Sue Ming taking the Women’s Open crown with a time of 1:45:01s. Usri bin M. Wahi won the Men’s Junior Master’s category in 1:27:14s, with Fanny Tian Huey Ni winning the Women’s Master’s category (1:2:19s) and Davendran A/L V. Nagaratnam winning the Men’s Masters category (1:26:02s).
”Sports tourism is growing in Malaysia, and Perak has successfully hosted a number of international sporting events this year. We sincerely look forward to building Silverman and adding it to that list, helping build Perak as a preferred venue for more sporting events,” said Rashid Salleh.
