REVIEW: 2011(12) BANGKOK MARATHON, THAILAND.

2011(12) Standard Chartered Bangkok Marathon (10km – Men’s)
OVERALL MARK: 60.0%
(CONSIDER)
HELD: February 12th.


IN BRIEF: The 2011 event was postponed due to the floods in Bangkok and re-run in February of 2012. As well as a full marathon and half-marathon a 10k and 5k category were run around the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand.

COST: Paid 900 Baht (little less than $40 Sing) for the 10k fun run. Foreigners pay triple the price to Thai residents. A running t-shirt, finisher’s medallion, muscle rub cream sample and free McDonald’s at the completion of the race (WTF?) was included in that price. Not bad but I shouldn’t have to pay triple price and my race wasn’t being timed (no championchip). 8/10.


RACE TRACK: Completely sealed road race, wide highways and relatively flat surface. Sounds great but most of the course was done on highway overpasses making for some of the most boring scenery I have ever encountered in a race. Surface was ideal though with a few minor rises and drops. Two major issues were the grossly inaccurate kilometre markers and the final stages of the race which saw our event running across traffic. It was extremely dangerous as runners dodged cars at full speed. 95% of the course was closed to traffic so why not the last 500 metres? And it’s 2012 – surely we can get the race distances and kilometre markers right? The finish for the 10k also confused me as it wasn’t clearly marked and I was stopped thinking I had another 400 metres to run. Could have easily been an 8 if everything had been in order, but endangering runners and failing on such an important issue such as race distance is inexcusable. Lost big points on those. 5.5/10. 


AND WE’RE RACING!: What a disaster. Maybe the other categories were different but I walked the first few minutes at the start because you simply could not move. After 1k I was able to get around some runners to try make up time but it wasn’t until the U-turn at around 3ks that I finally got some clear air. By that time any hope of a good time is dashed. I did love the German person waving their flag cheering people on and the Thai school kids cheering everyone on at the end. Lost 30% of my race due to traffic, good for fun runners out for a jog, not for people trying to clock a PB (that’s me!). 5.5/10.      

PITSTOPS: They were possibly every 2-3k’s, kind of hard to remember as was trying to make up lost time. Ice chips in the water were a winner. Think there may have been watermelon and bananas too (not 100% sure on that as I didn’t take any). If something went right in the race it was definitely the hydration stations.  9/10.

ORGANISATION (PRE-RACE DAY): Race pack pick-up seemed miles from anywhere. Bangkok’s brilliant train service wasn’t able to get us anywhere near the place. When we arrived the whole thing seemed a little unorganized but eventually we sorted it out. Was harder than it needed to be. 6/10.


ORGANISATION (RACE DAY): Pre-race entertainment was nice touch. Races went off without a hitch, toilets were located a fair walk (5-10min) from start line and weren’t enough to service the amount of people. The finishers medallion was handed out at race pack collection. That was a big letdown. Set-up was reasonable without being anything special, lost extra points for the medallion farce. 6.5/10. 

TIMING: Only marathon and half-marathon were timed, not my 10k. That said as far as my race is concerned I have to give a zero. 0/10.



RACE KIT: A pink t-shirt!! Aaaah! No! I hate running in t-shirts so we’re off to a bad start. The medallion was a reasonable design, both of which said 2011 on them (You could buy a 2012 version t-shirt if you wanted). The floods were the reason why they were using last year’s gear so that is completely acceptable. Little tube of muscle ache rub rounded out the pack. I think the marathon and half-marathon runners received shoe bags – not my race though. T-shirt and medallion for $40 is about par for the course, so I’ll bump it up to a 7.5/10.

SUMMARY: Was looking forward to this race but had a terrible run due to the overcrowding in the early stages. The irregular kilometre markers and fact I was required to halt traffic to be able to cross a busy road just to finish left a bitter taste in my mouth. Maybe in time I’ll revisit the Bangkok Marathon, perhaps to do the half-marathon, but I won’t be rushing to do it and it won’t be any time soon.