An individual who said he was involved in the Langkah Muar run recently went on Twitter to help clarify the allegations surrounding Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s run data in the 4-day fundraising event.
It was alleged that Syed Saddiq’s run included stretches where he was in a car.
Amir Fiqri who tweets under the handle @amir_fiqri refuted this and said the allegations were false.
Amir said they had a week to prepare for Langkah Muar and planned a route that’s approximately 190km. He said the route uses inner roads because it wasn’t safe to run on highways.
Sebagai salah seorang yang terlibat dalam larian Langkah Muar, saya terpanggil untuk memberikan penjelasan berkaitan beberapa fitnah yang mengatakan @SyedSaddiq menipu.
Ada yang terang-terangan kata SS lari sekejap dan selepas itu naik kereta.
Ini tidak benar. pic.twitter.com/yhxAfKRSAr
— Amir Fiqri (@amir_fiqri) July 11, 2024
On the first day, the team had no issues using the Muar-Telok Mas-Alor Gajah route. The morning session on the second day also had no problems using the same route and the race continued on the Alor Gajah-Rembau route.
However, in the Rembau-Seremban route, the authorities advised them to drop certain roads from the original plan due to narrow roads and traffic from heavy vehicles such as lorries at night. As such, the race was rerouted from Sungai Gadut to KTM Seremban.
Amir shared that on Monday (1 July) the race was supposed to start from Cheras-Parliament but all roads heading to the Parliament required Syed Saddiq to run on the highway, which was not allowed for safety reasons.
Upon the advice of the authorities, the start route was changed from KLCC to the Parliament.
Amir added that there were breaks every 10km in both morning and afternoon sessions. They also get to sleep and eat and were allowed to ride in a car if they needed to rest or find food elsewhere.
He shared that Syed Saddiq had to ride in a car in some road stretches for safety and orders from the authorities.
Mula lari awal pagi sampai tengah hari. Lepas tu petang akan sambung semula hingga jam 10 atau lajak hampir 11pm⁰⁰Ada tidur, ada makan, kena recovery, dan of course kena naik kereta bila berehat dan nak pergi makan. 🫡
Jack
Ketua Turus Ahli Parlimen Muar pic.twitter.com/zZtNpVffkf— Amir Fiqri (@amir_fiqri) July 11, 2024
The Strava app tells almost everything
In another tweet, user Afendi Othman (@afendiothman) said it’s easy to tell if someone rode a vehicle during a race using the run data on an app like Strava.
Afendi said the heart rate and cadence data tell all. He explained that a person’s heart rate and cadence will be high if they’re running or moving at a fast pace.
He said the cadence is measured based on a watch movement and not GPS, meaning it’s not data that can be manipulated.
https://t.co/F4FZzY8AlN
Penjelasan juga sudah dibuat di strava.
Ini tambahan data dari strava.
Ada beberapa KM yang naik kereta sebab isu keselamatan dan arahan pihak berkuasa.
Ini KM yang naik kereta:
77-79
81-83
93-95
108
130-131
154-161 pic.twitter.com/sakMgIb7JO— Amir Fiqri (@amir_fiqri) July 11, 2024
Btw nak tahu orang tu naik motor atau kereta senang je.
Pace laju Hr rendah.
Lagi satu cadence.
Kalau pace laju cadence pun biasanya tinggi. Cadence ni ko tak boleh tipu sebab dia kira berdasarkan gerakan jam bukan gps(point a to point b)
— Afendi Othman | Sport Tech (@afendiothman) July 12, 2024
This debacle also shines an interesting light on fitness and activities trackers for multisport athletes.
Some watches or tracking apps cannot detect multisport activities accurately and will usually record all activities as a single one. The individual will need to log each activity separately on their watch or app.
In Syed Saddiq’s case, Amir shared data recorded using Strava, an app many athletes use to record their physical exercise data.
According to Triathlete, Strava users are recommended not to leave the GPS on when they’re driving or after they stop exercising. This helps to keep the activity data accurate and free from irrelevant records.
