The Longest National Pride 
After an absence from the local running scene for a couple of years, IPBR is back this year. It is one of the oldest and prestigious run in the country. Nobody knows what happened to IPBR for the past two years. The race director was abducted by aliens perhaps. I have marked my calendar for this event and have even applied for leave for an extended weekend in Penang. Not everyday you get to run on one of the longest bridge in the world without traffic! (Penang Bridge is the 6th longest in the world and the longest in South East Asia if you into this length thingy). Yes, they actually close the bridge just for this marathon!!!
IPBR sure brings back lots of memory. It was my very first half marathon. (a bit longer than 21km; the actual distance was 22.3km) in 2000. I earned my very first finisher medal. I remember smiling ear-to-ear walking around and showing it off. It was a big medal too, the biggest in my collection.
At that time, I was already started running with a camera, my point and shoot - Minolta Riva. It was loaded with film, not memory card. I couldn't simply snap because the film was limited to 36 exposures, unlike now - I could easily take 500 pictures with my digital camera. I am not sure where I kept my PIBR pictures now. (They should be in some shoebox somewhere in my store room). I remember watching the break of dawn while running along the bridge. Simply breath-taking.
Event : International Penang Bridge Run
Date : 30 July 2006
Distance : 42km, 21km and 10km
Tel : 04-2262959 or pick-up the form at Stadium Bandaraya at Lorong Kulit
Some of the bridge facts....
Overall Length: 13.5 km (8.4 miles)
Length Over Water: 8.4 km (5.2 miles)
Penang Island Viaduct & Approach: 1.5 km (1.0 miles)
Prai Approach: 3.6 km (2.2 miles)
Carriageway: 2 lanes per carriageway except in the central span where it is 3. Work has started to widen the entire bridge to 3 lanes a carriageway.
Height of Tower Above Water: 101.5 m
Height of Bridge Above Water: 33 m
Main Span: 225 m
End Span: 107.5 m
Other Span: 40 m
Speed limit: 80 km/h ...Marathoners, please adhere to the speed limit, OK? Heheheh!
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