PDRM athlete Muhamad Asyhraf bin Mohamad Zaidin finished second in the 10km at the Garmin Run Marathon Series Malaysia 2026 in Putrajaya on 1 November, clocking 33:42 and holding off the third-placed runner near the finish.

The official results put him second of 4,557 overall, second of 2,337 men and second of 1,671 in Men Open. Wearing bib MN 1010, he recorded a gun time and chip time of 33:42, an average pace of 3:22 min/km.

“For me, the third-place winner gave me intense competition when I was almost at the finish line,” Asyhraf told ToughASIA.

Asked where he faced the biggest physical challenge, he pointed to the eighth kilometre.

“Kilometre 8 really tested me mentally and physically,” he said.

He described the 10km route as quite challenging, with undulating terrain and two sharp corners that slightly disrupted his pace.

Asked how he paced the race, he credited his training.

“It is the result of consistent training built up over the years,” he said.

His coach chooses the type and distance of his training sessions and controls the intensity of each one so that he can keep training the next day.

“For me, an athlete’s recovery is important,” he said.

As a PDRM athletics athlete, he is released from his duties so he can train fully, which he said allows him to maintain and improve his performance.

He wants to fix the weaknesses in each of his training sessions and slowly increase their intensity. His next race is the KL Half Marathon on 15 November.

“My goal is to keep progressing in the world of long-distance running, and I want to represent the country one day,” he said.