The Good Points
Participation – The Penang Bridge Marathon was a huge success in term of number of runners participating in this event. I saw in the official website that the total numbers exceeded 16,000 runners. That could surpass the participation record in Kuala Lumpur International Marathon (KLIM). Penang Boleh !!
Start swiftly – With the roar of the lion dance, within the next few minutes, the race was flagged off. There were no unnecessary reminders; no "don’t do this or that". It was better than KLIM where runners get a lot of lectures from a middle-aged matron (women) announcer while waiting for the race to start.
Start in front of a shopping mall – Yes, definitely a great idea. The runners could shop around before or after the run, thus boosting the economic activities of Penang. However, I believe the runners would not shop till they drop dead as they still have to run (before the event) or legs could be in pain (after the event).
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Room for Improvement
Water Station – The management of water station required a lot of improvement: unreliable and unpredictable. I think most Malaysian runners (not including foreign runners from Thailand and Kenya… if only we could understand their language) would have something to say. According to AB Tan who ran in the full marathon, he said there was no water left for the full marathon runners at 17.5km, 20km, 22.5km, 27.5km, 32.5km, 37.5km, 40km and very limited at 30km.
The organizer should avoid using big buckets to store drinking water. The runners were not convinced that the source of water was reliable. I presume that was not of international standards.
Method of drinking – That was the most amusing part. I saw there was one big bottle of chilled 100-Plus which was already opened. So each runner held up the bottle and gulped down a few mouthfuls and passed it to the next runner, much like those bruders (brothers) in triads. On a lighter note, we can save a lot of paper cups, which is good for the environment.
Okay, this one was even more hilarious: at certain stations, I saw the runners were helping themselves drinking water directly from those 5-litre plastic bottles. It was not easy to drink with the 5-litre bottle as it was heavy and the mouth of the bottle was big. After running for many kilometers, one would actually sway when holding the huge bottles and drink. And that action looked like those Chinese kung fu drunken master in action.
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Baggage Station – There was no baggage station. My runner friends were shock to see that the bags that they brought along have no where to be deposited. So with a quick thinking, he put his bag in one corner of the Medical Station. But for those runners that brought along good backpack, they have no choice but to carry and run the whole course, or risk being stolen.
Distance Marker – The distance markers that I saw (for half marathon) were for the full marathon category. So it was quite confusing that after running a few kilometers, the sign post said that I have done much, much more.
Cheerleading Team – There wasn’t any cheerleading team at all save other than two small Indian boys (I think less than five years old) at the far end (mainland) of the water station. And they gave me a high-five each and said, “Yes! You can do it!” Gosh! I do not know how long these underage boys could continue considering there were a few thousands runners. So for the 1,000 or less full marathon runners, they must be very lonely running alone most of the time, possibly counting the number of streetlights.
Barricading the runners away from the starting line – That must be a unique way of registering the runners and having them performed aerobic exercise in a crowded and limited space. And the most horrifying sight was to see runners jumping out of the fencing of the barricades. Luckily, there wasn’t any incident of casualty caused by stampede!!
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Overall Assessment
Overall, it was a great event for the Penang Bridge Marathon. With the fine-tuning of those areas that need improvement, I am sure the standards of the next Penang Bridge Marathon would be much higher.
Congratulations to the organizer and kudos to all the volunteers whom I am sure would have spent countless hours in making the event a huge success. See you in the next Penang Bridge Marathon. BRAVO !!
Dory informed me that the Penang Bridge Marathon next year may be scheduled on Sunday 20 September 2009, and that date looks and sounds good - 20092009.
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To be continued ... click here
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Written by KC
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2 comments:
I ran full marathon in PBIM, and I would rather running alone all the way :-P. Before I went, I was looking forward to a great run on the bridge with lots of breeze...just like those nice photos in running magazine, hair flying...but those walkers really spoilt my expectations. I did enjoy the breeze but it will be better if there were less ppl.
When hydration and refueling stations are not given critical planning / implementation attention to ensure that each runner is properly hydrated with clean water along the route, it is irresponsible (rather then "amusing") because the organisors had inadvertently place runners at high risk of dehydration and diarohea. Unfortunately, this appears to be a common problem held especially by Malaysian establishments who have a careless attitude for running. As runners, not much we can complain to the organisors as they have a take it or leave it attitude. So my advise is to bring your own hydration pack / bottle for any runs you wish to join here for your own safety. It is not worth the risk.
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