News

Last weekend the JPA Running Club once again competed in the annual Angkor Wat International Half Marathon. Students ran with runners from all over the world, competing in 10 km and 21 km races. The first JPA runner to complete the 21 km race was, Sothea ’21 while our first 10 km runner over the line was Khemara ’22.

Running Club lead teacher, Mr. Kahan, said, “Students trained three times a week. They maintained a running log and participated in timed runs to track their progress and improve their total running time.”

Sothea ’21, the fastest JPA student in the 21km race, said, “I was only jogging for the first 3 kilometers, conserving my energy. When a man overtook me, I was impressed at how swiftly he ran. I thought that he was going to be the winner of the entire race, so I decided to follow him, but he was too fast. Then my muscles began to hurt, so I realized that I needed to slow down. “Halfway through the race I was fatigued and I worried that I wouldn’t finish the race. I told myself to push forward, but my body failed me. I made a great effort to run, ignoring my pain and fatigue. As I neared the finish line, the JPA supporters cheered and I tried to run fast during the last five-hundred meters, yet it felt like I was running slowly. I made it and spent the rest of the day eating to recover.”

Alisa ’21, the fastest JPA girl in the 10km race, said, “This was my third Angkor Wat Half Marathon. Last year I finished the 10km race in 1 hour and 15 minutes, so this year during running club training I set myself a goal of 1 hour and 5 minutes. I was so happy to run under 1 hour and 2 minutes. The training that I did really helped me throughout my run. This was such an exciting event, and I plan to train even harder so I can beat my personal best time next year.”

Khemara ’22, the fastest JPA boy in the 10km race, said, “This was my fourth Angkor Wat Half Marathon. My focus this year was not beating last year’s time but to run for the entire race without stopping. “At the start I felt energetic, ready to dash off as soon as the clock started. However, being in the middle of the huge crowd of competitors meant that I had to walk for about three minutes before I could actually start running. Although I felt that I was going quickly, there were still many runners ahead of me and around me, which made it challenging to run at my own pace. One of the lessons I have learned is to go at my own pace and not be influenced by the pace of others. After a kilometer, gaps slowly began to open up around me so I could keep my focus on my own speed. I wanted to run each kilometer in around 5 minutes, and I reached the halfway point in about twenty-seven minutes. As I had held myself back and saved energy, I ran much faster in the last half and was pleased with my time.”

Thanks to Mr. Kahan, teachers and staff for organizing the JPA Running Club throughout the year. Congratulations to all the runners.