Record Numbers

Peter Olszewski from the Phnom Penh Post wrote:

RECORD numbers of competitors braced the starting line in this year's 13th annual Angkor Wat International Half Marathon and the Angkor Wat Bike Rally held in Siem Reap over the weekend.

A field of 2,593 contested the half marathon on Sunday, with 1,407 Cambodian runners and 1,186 foreigners, compared to last year's race total of 2,150 runners.

Cambodian Hem Bunting won the half marathon this year with a time of one hour, 13 minutes, 53 seconds - well ahead of last year's winning time of 1hr, 18min, 58sec.

Brent Roeger of the US came in second at 1hr, 14min, 47sec, while the 2007 winner, Tony Seakins of Great Britain, finished third. American Melissa Todd won the women's half marathon in 1hr, 22min, 44sec. Britons Catherine Howell and Emily Woodfield came second and third, respectively.

I'd like to add: The official results haven't been put up on the website yet but Pip ran her fastest half to date with a record number of about 1:43. My flatmate put some photos up on facebook, but here's a view of Brooke's 5k dash, Bunting cruising over at the finish and me smiling as the 21.1 is nearly done.

Taekwondo

We are partnering with a group to see Taekwondo classes start in Poipet. This is totally new for me. I'm on the web doing prep so that I can at least have a conversation with the partner NGO, Khmer instructor and potential students. (Talk the talk even if I can't kick the kick...)

One of my questions today is about out target group(s). Who is this for? Street kids? Unemployed youth? Young women? High school students? Tiger Cho's Taekwondo Center in Oklahoma explains that their lessons are: "dynamic and challenging for people who are athletic, energetic, awkward, shy, bold, nice, or out of shape." Well... I guess that pretty much covers it?! (Maybe I don't have to make it so complicated to start with?!?)

Questions for Teacher

One of my students had many questions for me yesterday evening. The one-hour lesson was peppered with the following:

Teacher, can I have your phone number?
Teacher, my father wants to talk with you.
Teacher, do you have a boyfriend?
Teacher, I have a brother... he wants to meet with you... but first my father wants to talk.