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Date: | late November |
Location: | Penang, Malaysia |
Type: | Road (mostly on a bridge) |
Distance: | Marathon |
Record: | Men: 2:19:47.1 (2014) Alex Melly Women: 2:46:44.9 (2017) Margaret Wangui |
Participants: | 25,000 (all races) (2019)[1] |
The Penang Bridge International Marathon (Malay: Maraton Antarabangsa Jambatan Pulau Pinang) or Penang Bridge Marathon is an annual marathon event held at Penang Bridge in Penang, Malaysia, since 1984. It is organised by Penang State Tourism Development office (PETACH) and fully supported by the Penang State Government. It is known as the biggest run in the country. During the competition, participants run over the bridge and along a scenic coastal highway.[2]
The event started in 1984 as a road race from Esplanade to Gurney Drive. With the completion of Penang Bridge in 1985, it is usually held there in late November annually since 1986 with the exception of 2014, when the event was held at Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge which is also known as the Penang Second Bridge.
In 2006, after a break for a number of years, the Penang Bridge International Marathon was revived as "a combination" of the Penang International Marathon, which was last held in 1999, and the Penang Bridge Run, which had been held from 1992 to 2003.[3]
In 2020, the competition was rebranded with the introduction of the new logo as well as the tagline "The Asian Challenge", reflecting the vision of making it into an internationally acknowledged marathon run event.[4]
In 2016, the event was rescheduled in order to accommodate requests from the parents of schoolchildren, causing trouble for runners who had already booked flights for the race.
In 2017, there were a number of issues, including issuing shirts of incorrect sizes, running out of water, handing out expired chocolate bars, delaying the reporting of results, and denying some podium finishers an onstage presentation.[5] [6] [7] In addition, some runners waited for two hours for finisher medals, and over three hours for food.
In 2018, the 10k race was cancelled for the first time "due to heavy rain and lightning", with all registered runners given finisher medals as a consolation.[8]
The 2020 in-person edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all entries automatically transferred to 2021, and all registrants given the option of transferring their entry to another runner.[9] [10]
The current version of the marathon runs on a loop course that begins and ends at the outdoor car park of the Queensbay Mall.[11] [12]
The course first enters Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway, which runs along the eastern coast of Penang Island, with runners first running south and then back up north before turning back south to cross the bridge. Shortly after crossing the bridge, runners turn around and run across the bridge again, before heading south to finish back at the Queensbay Mall.
The Penang Bridge International Marathon also incorporates a half-marathon event and a 10-km run event. The competition also had an 8 km fun run event, but it was removed in 2018 as part of rebranding exercise.[13] The organiser originally planned to remove the 10-km run competition as well by 2020, but chose to continue due to popular demand.[14]
Key: Course record
Ed. -- unreliable numbering due to lack of data and merging of two races into one --> | Year | Men's winner | Time | Women's winner | Time | Rf. | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1984 | 2:29:59 | 3:02:43 | |||||||||
1985 | 2:27:52 | 3:01:08 | |||||||||
1986 | 2:28:14 | 2:58:00 | |||||||||
1987 | < | -- arrs apparently spells name as "delaTorre" --> | 2:29:52 | 2:54:58 | |||||||
1988 | 2:29:40 | 3:10:24 | |||||||||
1989 | 2:35:09 | 3:03:02 | |||||||||
1990 | 2:34:13 | 3:00:56 | |||||||||
1991 | 2:29:29 | 3:01:29 | |||||||||
1992 | 2:31:15 | 2:55:06 | |||||||||
1993 | 2:26:12 | 2:55:12 | |||||||||
1994 | 2:28:59 | 2:56:49 | |||||||||
not held from 1995 to 2002< | -- arrs notes that data was not available in 1995 (instead of noting that the race was not held), and lists a date of 1995.10.01 --> | ||||||||||
2003 | 2:29:56 | 3:09:19 | [15] | 13 | 2004 | 2:29:56 | result unavailable-- this likely never took place, as the data that arrs has for the male winner is the same as that of the previous year (including the finish time) and there is no information on the female winner. In addition, a local reliable source (The Star) stated in 2006 that the Penang Bridge run was last held in 2003.--> | ||||
not held from 2004 to 2005 | |||||||||||
2006 | 2:37:11 | 3:21:02 | |||||||||
2007 | 2:26:00 | 3:16:02 | |||||||||
2008 | 2:24:50 | 3:14:04 | |||||||||
2009 | 2:23:55 | 3:08:37 | |||||||||
2010 | 2:24:30 | 2:59:14 | |||||||||
2011 | 2:21:56.9 | 3:06:38.6 | |||||||||
2012 | 2:31:02 | 3:25:10 | |||||||||
2013 | 2:24:42.8 | 2:53:03.7 | |||||||||
2014 | 2:19:47.1 | < | -- arrs appears to have the incorrect person as winner --> | 3:04:09.6 | [16] | ||||||
2015 | 2:22:04.9 | 2:47:46.2 | [17] | ||||||||
2016 | 2:27:42.0 | 2:53:07.3 | |||||||||
2017 | 2:23:30.2 | 2:46:44.9 | [18] [19] | ||||||||
2018 | 2:24:22.0 | 2:46:52.9 | [20] | ||||||||
2019 | 2:20:05 | 2:51:50 | [21] | ||||||||
2020 | cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic |