Sefli scores in 100, too

RUN Sefli, run!

Brunei's half-marathon man Sefli Ahar was pushed to the limit in a 100km race, but managed to outdo himself to finish second in the Men's Open of the Sundown Ultra Marathon 2011 in Singapore.

Sefli won the mental battle to cross the line with a time of 8.23:55.31 behind Morocco's Ahmad Lamchannak, who finished at 8.11:02.16.

Local boy Ewin Teo took the bronze finishing further behind at 9.11:49.26.

It was a result that the 36-year-old Bruneian never expected as he had only tried a 50-kilometre run with his SEF (Speed Endurance Fitness) team prior to departure for the competition.

"I didn't believe that I could do it (do a 100km race). I started to feel the pain in my legs and shoulders after the 50th kilometre," said Sefli upon arrival at the Brunei International Airport in Berakas last night.

"I got blisters on my feet after 60 kilometres and I kept asking myself whether I could do it or not. I kept praying while running and just pushed myself till the end," he added.

"The fans kept pushing me and I'm surprised that I made it till the end. I'm also very happy with the way the marshals did things to guide me to the finish line," he continued.

Sefli also mentioned that he got lost along the way with no proper signages placed at several locations along the route.

"I'm not happy with that, but I knew that I couldn't give up on the race. I really didn't expect the results especially not getting any warm up before the start," said Sefli.

The policeman, who has been constantly training, is still hopeful to be sent to represent the country in the full-marathon event at the upcoming 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games to be held in Indonesia in November.

Besides Sefli, two other runners from the Sultanate Pg Muda Abdul Mu'min and Mastani Mohd Yussop also completed the race with times of 16:42:32.

More than 800 runners ran the race and over 200 decided not to continue midway through.

It was the first time that a race of this distance has been contested in the region. The tournament is held for the fourth time and the distance for the past three years was set at 84km.

The list of achievements continue for Sefli after he had his best year in 2010 celebrating the 20th anniversary of his running career with a gold at the 2010 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon and capturing the gold in the Master 1 division of the half-marathon event at the 2010 Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon.The Brunei Times