Macau Int'l Marathon

Macau Marathon is definitely worth considering if you are in this neck of the woods. It's a nice small race (relative to marathons in Asia) and very well organised. the weather is usually pretty good and you get a nice towel if you finish. The course is a bit hilly and rather repetitive, but there are a few interesting sights along the way. I was looking forward to the new course and not having to go across the San Van Bridge 4 times. However in reality the new course is harder because there is a long tunnel with a steep decent and ascent that you need to run through 4 times. So that's six significant hills. This is not a big deal if you are prepared for it (I wasn't). The last tunnel crossing comes in around mile 25 which is just brutal. My favorite thing about this race is that they reward the top 8 or 9 finishers in each age group with a podium spot and a trophy. If you check the results from previous years you might be surprised to find that you have a shot at the podium! In my case that is about as close as I'll ever get to an elite experience. Zero fan support, but I don't care about that so much. I'd probably do it again although I wish they could improve the course.

This was my first time running the Macau marathon. It started very early at 5am, so an early night is a must as is (obviously) an early rise. Picking up the kit on the Saturday evening was straight forward and there was no one else there (at 9pm). The course itself was a bit boring as you covered the same course twice. It was basically flat, but with hills on the bridge. Hardly any spectators at all, but those who were out were supportive. I found the race quite difficult, probably because i ran too quickly, too early, but repeating the course and a lack of atmosphere didn't help much. Overall, it was well organised, but think once was enough for me.

After deciding that I wanted to take a trip to China in 2013, I started looking for a marathon that would work with my schedule, which is how I came across the Macau Marathon. The most frustrating thing about the whole experience was that they didn't update the official website until mid-August 2013 and I couldn't even register until September. This was odd to me compared to the US where often you're encouraged to sign up for next year before even running this year's race. The registration fee was a steal at only $40 USD. I did packet pickup on Friday night around 9:30pm and breezed in and out quickly, although I heard there were long lines earlier in the day. All of the signage and instructions had both Chinese and English so it was fairly easy to figure things out. I dont read Chinese, although I do speak a bit of Cantonese which helped throughout the weekend, but I think even someone who doesn't speak Cantonese could manage to do this race. Along with my race bib with timing chip attached, I got a plastic marathon-branded wristwatch, a magazine-sized booklet with race instructions/details, and a reusable drawstring bag to be used for checking stuff before the race. The race started dark and early at 5am Sunday morning. I left my hotel later than I should have but it was a quick walk over. First stop was to check my bag, which was in the same location as the packet pickup. Then I got in line to use the stadium bathroom. I think there would have been no line for the port-a-potties outside, but I preferred to wait for a real bathoom. There was a big crowd outside the baggage check area and traffic could have been better handled here. I fought my way through the crowd and over to the track for the start of the race. Details are a bit fuzzy here. There was a cap of 1000 on the marathon, but it sure didn't look like 1000 people to me at the start. Results indicate there were just under 700 finishers. There was little fanfare and I don't think I remember really hearing a countdown or starting gun. I think I just started moving when everyone else did. With such an early start, the first half of the race was run in the dark, but streetlights provided adequate lighting. It was a bit crowded at the beginning and I seem to remember an odd bottleneck in the road at one point, but then people spread out fairly quickly. The course was closed to traffic and the roads were well-kept and easy to run on with little camber. The course was well marked with cones and volunteers stationed to point us in the right direction. It wasnt a terribly scenic course, but I enjoyed the brief glimpses of the casinos and later seeing Macau Tower. The best part was running over the bridge, although at this point we were sharing the course with the half marathoners so I had to devote some of my attention to dodging them. The course is basically almost entirely flat except for crossing the bridge and back. There was one other little dip just past the bridge but it was easily conquered. If you live anywhere with hills, the bridge shouldn't be a challenge at all. I welcomed the chance to work some different leg muscles and being able to fly a bit on the downhills. I believe in the past, the course has been the same loop twice, but this year it was changed a bit so the first 'loop' was about 2/3 of the race and included the bridge, while the second 'loop' covered some of the same roads as earlier but without the bridge section. There were barely any spectators aside from the aid station volunteers. This didn't bother me, but if you rely on crowd support to keep you motivated, you're not going to find it here until you're almost at the finish. The aid stations were adequate, but slightly too far apart for me since in the US I usually look for races with water at least every two miles. Here they alternate water/sports drink with wet sponges every 2.5k. That meant I only got water once every three miles, but the cups were good-sized and there seemed to be plenty of water and volunteers. There was no fuel/food at the stations. I appreciated the sponges in the second half of the race once it got sunny. The race finished back on the track. After crossing the finish line, I was handed a medal, a nice plush towel and a too large singlet. I really liked getting the comfy towel rather than a flimsy space blanket. There was water, bananas and candy that looked somewhat like a KitKat. I think there was also sports drink and possibly other food options but I wasn't really paying attention. After leaving the finisher's area it was easy to get my bag. I wandered around a bit and saw signs for showers and a physical therapy room. I thought about going in but it looked like a bunch of students so I wasn't sure about their expertise or my ability to communicate with them. I ended up placing 2nd in my category and stuck around for the awards ceremony. It was my first (and probably only time) brushing elbows with the elites although I was too timid to actually strike up a conversation. The fanfare of the ceremony was a nice bonus and I was awarded a shiny trophy. I really enjoyed the marathon overall and thought it was well-organized and a good course. I'd recommend it as long as you're not looking for crowd support or being able to strike up conversations with other runners. I'd run it again, if not for being on the other side of the world.