Malaysian Runner Sets New National Half Marathon Record

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(Facebook pic)KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s long-distance runner K Prabudass broke the national half marathon record after clocking 1′:07.29s at the 41st Gold Coast Marathon in Australia today
The 29-year-old Negeri Sembilan-born finished 29th among 4,198 runners in the men’s event, while host runner Jack Rayner won the 21km race held at the Gold Coast in Queensland with 1′:02:30s, according to the tournament’s official website
The feat saw the Royal Malaysian Navy member erasing the 15-year-old national record of 1′:07:59s held by former national runner M Arul Thevar since July 4, 2004
Prabudass now has a good chance to win the 5,000m event gold medal at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines in November
For the record, the 2017 SEA Games 5,000m silver medallist clocked his personal best of 14:33.10s in the second series of the Nippon Sport Science University’s athletics event in Kenshidai, Japan, in May to become the all-time second best Malaysian in the event
“I’m feeling good and proud. I was expecting to run my personal best but the weather was not so good this morning. The rain was quite heavy, but I still managed to keep my pace and break the record
“For now, I have no plans until the next event, maybe in September. After this I will be going back to track competitions to prepare for the SEA Games, focusing on the 5,000m, which is my favourite event
“Road is different from track; we can’t compare them. But this performance has surely given me some boost to prepare for the SEA Games,” he told Bernama when contacted at the Gold Coast
Meanwhile, in the full marathon (42km), another national runner, Muhaizar Mohamad, finished in 35th place after recording 2′:26:42s, as former Japanese national record holder Yuta Shitara emerged victorious by setting a new race record with 2′:7:50s, almost one minute faster than the previous record set by Kenyan Kenneth Mungara in 2015
Muhaizar became the first Malaysian to win a SEA Games medal in the marathon, after bagging a bronze in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur edition. - FMT

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