The Penang Bridge Marathon is always well attended by the regional runners. Took part in the 2012 and 2013 races, which both ran the same old Penang Bridge.
The Route
To many they found the route to be rather monotonous and boring. However, running this route can be rather therapeutic if you just enjoy running in the dark and stillness of it all. The whole route actually follows that of a T Shape. Runners start and end from the Queensbay Mall which is near the sea. The 80 % of the route is along the bridge itself making at turn at the toll plaza.
There are many sufficient water stations along the way. However, most only serve water, the water stations are quite well planned and are rather long, so you need not have to squeeze with the rest of the runners. They are rather spaced out. In fact it is possible not to bring any hydration pack etc. and run the full marathon. Energy gels will be given out during the last stretch.
Overall the whole course can be rather undulating with many ups and downs across the main road, but on the bridge itself, there will be just undulating slope up and down near the 12km area.
It is not an easy course because of the up bridge and down bridges. Also the sea tends to be more humid and stale at night. Doing it the second time can really kill your mojo about running this marathon. Also starting at about 2 am make it even not that conducive to run, it is like the Sundown Marathon in Singapore, where your body clock need to adjust to the night portion.
For me it is really not that easy because I get really sleeping from the period 2 am to 6 am and had to struggle to keep awake more.
The Crowd
Most of the runners are Malaysian participants. Can really see a lot of our Malaysian long distance runners in this race and they are quite cohesive. There are also participants from other ASEAN region like Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Really like the Southeast Asian scene in this one. Of course elite runners from Africa will never fail to show up for this race too as the prize money is rather high.
Accomodation
One good thing about Penang is there is always many good food, many nice and boutique places to crash. But during the marathon, good accomodation can get snapped up pretty fast. I decided to try their home run hostels for the first time in 2013 and was surprised that the price is actually not very high with breakfast. Furthermore, the staff gave me a ” Morning” call for to wake up to go for the race. There are many of such hostels available around Georgetown area. Usually they are build on the old shop houses. I stayed at the Nam Hua Hostel along Muntri Road in the 2013 race. It is actually converted from one of the shop houses, although the toilet has to be shared, the hostel is very functional and provides really good hot shower and nice comfy clean rooms.
There are shuttle bus from the Komtar towers to bring you to the start point, which is at the Queensbay Mall. The race pack collection expo is also at Queensbay Mall. There are many vendors selling sporting items and also energy and nutritional items at the expo itself.
Race Support
Overall the race support is strong. There were really adequate hydration points, therefore you need not have to carry your own hydration. However, free energy gel is only available from 30 km onwards.
After the race, participants are treated to full breakfast. They usually have some sponsors to give pasta and drinks and of course MILO trucks with ice cold MILO is definitely a must. Participants are also given the finisher’s tee. The only bad thing is being that after the race, you will need to walk about 1 to 2 km to reach the bus station to ferry participants back to the Komtar Towers. That itself can be quite painful. As the race usually start about 2 or 3 am. By the time you run back. You should be able to catch some parts of the sunrise.
All in all, the race is something interesting with a fair mix of people from around the world. But being mostly dominated by the Malaysian and Singaporean runners, it doesn’t make you feel alienated and strange. In fact , you should feel rather comfortable with the usual accent and speech style.
One good thing about Penang is the good food that awaits you at the end of the race and also the street hawker food like Asam Laksa, it is really delicious. So beware of the aftermath!
left: At the race after finishing Right: The Penang Bridge
the medals
