Standard Chartered KL Virtual Marathon 2017 Pre-Race Preparation #Brunei

“This virtual race is brought to you by the official SCKLM and 42Race. You can now run anytime, anywhere, with anyone on 21 May 2017 to earn the exclusive Standard Chartered KL Virtual Marathon medal. First 1,999 Entries will be awarded with Free Running Bandana (worth S$9.90, posted with finisher medal).” — 42Race.com

You can forget about the free running bandana offer. At the time of this posting, 2078 runners have signed up for the virtual run. You can also forget about the Free Medal Engraving because the offer was valid till 16 Apr 2017. Good news is you can still register for the run which closes a minute before midnight 16th May 2017, and earn yourself an official SCKLM (Virtual) 5K, 10K, 21K or 42K Finisher Medal and Certificate. Head over to 42Race.com to sign up if you haven’t already done so.

Finisher medals images from 42race.com

Here in Brunei, I have a small group of participants comprising of family members and friends that have registered for the half marathon distance and we’re going to accomplish the mission using the 21km route that I’ve mapped, taking us on a Padang Arena Seria to Panaga roundabout to Mumong roundabout loop with specific turns on the return leg as detailed on the map provided below.

Yesterday, on 23 April 2017, we had a route familiarization practice run to experience the route first hand and we had a great time and along the way learned a thing or two that morning about our route, parking venue, hydration needs among other little things such as sun protection. We welcome anyone who wishes to join us on 21 May regardless of whether you signed up for the race event or not.

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A post shared by Jan Shim (@janshim)

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A post shared by Jan Shim (@janshim)

Photographing My Daughter in Athletics

Ever since my daughter Jewel started running in school events slightly over a year ago, I have always made sure to be there for her not just for support but more importantly, I’m the guy who always had her spare inhaler in my pocket. Even as she packs one in her bag, I would still carry a spare in my pocket, for good reason. In the unlikely event of breathing difficulties, I would be her closest access to the device as I stood on the synthetic track, photographing her run. These images are from the July 7th 2013 Sukan Kebangsaan Brunei Darussalam meet at Belapan Sports Complex.

All dressed, packed and ready to hit the road — an hour’s drive to Belapan Sports Complex in BSB.

Quick S3 snap with Jewel after her 400m finals in the morning. Also on Facebook.

It is at events like this that my EOS 5D Mark III gets pushed to its limits — 6 fps, 41 cross-type AF sensors and everything else that matter. On the track, lens choice is pretty much the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS. This lens has been with me for 8 years or so and it still every bit as heavy as the day I started using it.

Runners gather for registration before their event. Here, Jewel acknowledges name call by race official for 4 x 400m event.

Jewel putting on her spikes for 400m run against 2012 Olympian Maziah for the second time along with other more seasoned, nimble runners several years her senior.

Setting up the starting block.

Warm up take offs — Maziah, Jewel (R)

Pictures with fellow sprinters after 400m event …

Jewel first ran against her at the 22nd Panaga Highland Games 2013 and finished with a silver medal. The day — June 22, 2013 — also marked Jewel’s one year anniversary of track training with the Belait Athletics Team.

Jewel and her team mates representing the Belait Athletics team finished third in the 4x400m Women’s Relay adding another medal tally to her growing collection of athletic achievements.

Jewel finishes 22nd Panaga Highland Games with a 400m Silver medal

Click on image to see large version (approximately 1MB)

EOS 5D Mark III + EF 50mm f/1.4 at ISO 12800 for Sports Photography?

Which is more inappropriate to use for sports photography? A 50mm f/1.4 lens or ISO 12800 or the odd combination of the two? I’ve always held the notion that given access to an arsenal of capable equipment, you exercise the right to use whatever gets the job done. I recently tested the EOS 5D Mark III with an original EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS and shared an incredible ISO 12800 unedited photo.  Two days later I returned to the same badminton hall to catch the inter-school tournament and since I was allowed to plant myself very near the players, I was thrilled to use the 50mm f/1.4 lens instead just to give stress the camera’s AI Servo motors a bit.

With this much exposure headroom from the large aperture lens, there was really no real need to bump ISO to 12800 but I did so to reiterate a point I had already made earlier — ISO 12800 is just so clean! Nobody really shoots fast action sports at f/1.4 aperture either so doing so would seriously test the sensitivity and responsiveness of the Mark III’s Digic 5+ processor (single instead of the EOS-1D X which features Dual 5+ among other incredible technology). AI Servo on the 5D Mark III is furiously fast and I suspect the 50mm f/1.4 had difficulty catching up.

These images are post-processed. See unedited version at ISO 12800 f/1.4 1/2500 sec here

Chung Hua Middle School KB contestant Edward 50mm at ISO 12800, f/2.5, 1/1250 sec

CHMS vs CHMS: Both photographs at 50mm ISO 12800 f/2.5 1/1250 sec

Edward makes a dive to retrieve a net shot played by opponent Nicholas. A portion of the shuttlecock is captured in the frame at ISO 12800, f/1.4, 1/3200 sec. Perhaps the EOS-1D X's 14fps would be better suited 🙂

Another shot of Edward approaching a shot at ISO 12800, f/2, 1/1250 sec