The Penang Bridge International Marathon 2009

What? Penang Bridge International Marathon 2009

When? 22 Nov 2009, 3:30am Flag Off (Cinya early!)

Where? Pulau Pinang

How long? 21km (Half Marathon)

This year I carpooled with Kelvin, Steven, Lionel and Chen Kwok to Penang. Different mode of transport from the previous year - I flew AirAsia in 2007 and took the Aeroliner coach in 2008. Having a car meant more freedom to explore Penang and her makan places! :)

First makan stop! Not your usual toilet pit stop. :)

It was a reunion of sort for me with Choi and Frank. We dined at this quirky restaurant in Queensbay Mall last year. Choi and Frank arrived earlier than us. When we arrived, they were already chomping on their food served in miniature toilet bowls. :)

I ordered the noodles with chicken drumstick. Look appetising, eh? LOL!

After lunch and got our race kit sorted out at the collection centre, we went searching for the two runner statues specially commissioned for the Penang Bridge Marathon.

We managed to spot the silver coloured runners after circling around at the Jelutong Expressway. We stopped, took a couple of photographs and quickly went back to the car because it was drizzling!

I was quite worry about the weather because rain was predicted during the marathon. I hate running in the rain!

We checked in to Krystal Suite, the same place I stayed last year. Met other runners from the Pacemakers Network.

Makan time again! We took our dinner at 5:00pm because everyone wanted to catch some winks before the marathon. The marathon was scheduled to flag off at 2:30 am, half marathon at 3:30am!

I "cleaned up" a bowl of Asam Laksa and Char Koay Teow at Super Tanker Food Court. (Insert burp here)

Bread for breakfast. I walloped an egg tart for dessert. :)

We got back to our hotel and it was time to curled up like a python which had just eaten a lamb.....ZZZzzzzz

I woke up around 2:00am. Ate 2 doughnuts, washed down with a cup of 100Plus. I was ready for the Bridge. :)

We slow jogged to the start point, which was situated at Queensbay Mall, around 10 min walk from out hotel.

While waiting to flag off, these few girl asked me to take their pictures at the start point as they didn't have a camera.

No, the girl on the extreme right didn't have a broken nose. LOL! She was wearing some breath-easy nose sticker thingy....that was given away free at the marathon. I wanted to get one but the queue too long.

Sharp 3:30am, we, the half marathon men open category were flagged off by Penang Chief Minister, YAB Lim Guan Eng with a burst of confetti and the beating of Chinese drums.

I have lots of admiration and respect to YAB Lim Guan Eng, for losing sleep and waking at ungodly hours to flag off a bunch of runners. How many ministers in Malaysia are willing to do this? And he was punctual too. (Insert two thumbs up here)

The weather was very kind to us. No rain despite the rain prediction by the weather forecast. I started my run to the beat of "To Whom The Bell Tolls" by Metallica in my MP3 player! It was so so exhilarating!

We had to run through some residential area before we finally hit the bridge. It was quite dark but I'm sure you would have spotted a line of "firing squad" on a wall outside a condominium. These runners must have drank too much water or had weak bladders! :D CLICK PLAY!

I always love the run on the bridge - traffic free! I managed to spot some of my much faster friends from the other side of the road. Instead of making a U-turn at the Prai toll like the previous years, this year the half marathoners made the u-turn about 3/4 of the length of the bridge.

Bananas were distributed on the bridge but personally, I don't think it was a good idea. It pose a serious slip hazard to runners!

There was no rubbish bins provided to dispose the peels and some stupid inconsiderate runners just flung the banana peels ON the road as seen on the video below. It was a disaster waiting to happened. CLICK PLAY.

These are some of the pics I took on the bridge. Not many as it was dark and no sunrise view this year because our start time was ridiculously early. :)

Run With Perserverance - Matthew 12.1 (Click here for explanation)

He must have loved his jeans so much that he ran in it. :P

The only hot chick I saw on the bridge. Where were the rest hiding? LOL!

We ran pass the running statues....and my camera battery died on me.

I absent-mindedly left my battery charger back at home.

So, no more "swaggering to the finish line" shot! :(

I enjoyed the run even though there was no sunrise this year! I finished within the qualifying time (3Hr 30min) and received a lucky draw coupon and a gorgeous finisher medal at the end of the finishing chute.

The organiser of PBIM 2009 has outdone themselves! The last years short-comings like messy start off and shortage of water were gone! Major improvements! I'm sure Penang Bridge International Marathon will be one of the best road race not only in Malaysia but in the region in time to come!

I quickly dashed back to the hotel, took a quick shower and headed back to Queensbay Mall with my Fuji camera. As you can see the pictures are much better from here onwards. :)

The uncle (green vest/ short) is from Singapore who always comes to Malaysia for races.

Your choice....

"Yay! I made it!"

My friend, Jeff Ooi dashing to the finish.

Fun runners.

Hot chick alert!

Hot chick alert too! :) This is Julie. She recorded a PB in PBIM 2009! Congrats!

Full marathon closing time... 5:59:59.

Yikes! Please put some clothes on, mister!

Bananas, sponsored by DiGi because yellow is their corporate colour. What if Maxis, were a sponsor? Would we be getting strawberry and water melon? What about Celcom? Brinjals? :P

Penang Chief Minister, YAB Lim Guan Eng.

This is VIP food. The food was prepared behind the stage. We could only get the free smell...

What kind of footwear did the Penang CM wear? He looked pretty sporty with a pair of yellow Reebok! Sponsored by DiGi? :P

The time everyone was waiting for! The lucky draw! The main prize? A brand new Proton Saga car! Who won?

Lucky person #1

Lucky person #2!!!

Some of the top three winners!

I got bored waiting for the results of the men and women open full marathon results! They took too long! So, I left for lunch before joining back my gang at the hotel.

Here's the PBIM Half Marathon video. I ran the half marathon with the Olympus camera "attached" to my hand.

I simply love the drums in the middle of the bridge! Set the spirit soaring!

ENJOY!

Check out the speech by Penang Chief Minister, YAB Lim Guan Eng below. He ripped off borrowed the following quotes from some famous American personalities. ;)

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."

"Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars"

Do you know from whom were the quotes from? Click the comment link for answer.

Hope you enjoyed reading the blog post. Comments are welcome. Click the link below for previous year race reports.

Penang Bridge International Marathon 2008 Race Report

Penang Bridge International Marathon 2007 Race Report

I am very happy with PBIM this year! The only grouch I had was on the vest! An M size usually fits me OK but I took an "L" just in case. But when I put them on, it was too tight! Somehow Brooks screwed up the measurement!!! Is this a cost cutting plan??? Use less material? It sucked! This happened to my other runner friends as well!

The vest is too small for the size indicated on the vest! Now, the vest will become a rug in my home. I didn't bring the vest to the race kit collection centre in Penang since I didn't know that we could exchange the size. You see, I received my vest much earlier via courier. :(

Other than that, I have no major complains. I love the Facebook updates, the use of disposable Championchip and courier service for race kits.

Seeing the vast improvements in PBIM 2009, I might consider running a FULL marathon in PBIM 2010. :)