Penang Bridge Run 2013: Milking the Cows

By the end of this year, I had run the total of 10 runs. In a year that I supposed to cut the number of runs compared to last year, ironically I had run the same number of runs as last year. This is the case where 'less is better' because when I had reached in my last running event, I felt so relived that it will finally over for this year.

I wasn't even supposed to run in the Penang Bridge Run this year. After taking part in the 10km event last year, I realized how hot it was running in the northern part of Malaysia. Even though the we started off early at 6.30am, the air felt so hot & dry. Plus it didn't helped that the drink stall had been set up only at 7km mark. But the time I completed the run, my sweat smells really funny - a very pungently one. So I thought this year I'm not going to run in the event anymore.

But then Azam, my brother in law recently had taken interest in running - so in part of supporting him, Iqbal & myself registered ourselves in this year's Penng Bridge Run. What harm that we could have done? Many it seems....

The first issue that I faced was the running fee. Since the decision to run was quite late - we're actually in the additional runners quota when the original quota had been filled. Last year when we joined the run, the total fee that I need to pay was about RM75, and that covered the running kits & certs will be posted to our homes. This year? I need to fork out an exorbitant RM80 and we're still need to pick up our running kits as it the delivery option had been closed. Retrospectively after completing the run, it was a lot of fulus considering what the runners are getting in the event.

The day that we want to collect is when we had realized that we had made a mistake in joining the run this year. In our pack, only Azam had received his running kits while the other 5 of us need to pick it up ourselves. Since we'll go to Penang together with our families, we sent Iqbal & Rosman to collect the kits for us. And it was a disaster. A horrendous experience for both of them.

They had went to Queensbay Mall early at 2.00pm to collect the kits. What usually is a normal 15 minutes event had turned into a 3 hours ordeal. Rosman had to lined up until 5.00pm and making it worse our dad's old Corolla car somehow had its power window failure - it cannot come down. So instead of Iqbal & Rosman could take turns for the queuing, Iqbal needed to guard the car while Rosman was alone by himself. Both of them only had their lunch late in the evening. That was the sign number one.

So the next morning, all the 6 of us departed from the hotel at 5.30am. We had located a mosque to pray Suboh on the way to the starting point - Queensbay Mall. The roads were empty early in the morning, so we arrived at the mosque quite comfortably.

But after that we had to walk/run about 1km to the mall. It was the same problem as last year. Since there was a lot of runners for the event, the parking spot was inadequate. During the small runs toward the starting line, I discovered the second mistake that I had made into this run. I found myself to be unexpectedly panting running to the starting line. I guess it was too early to run another 10k after running a run last week in JB 10K.

When we're lining up in front of the start point, it was apparent that this run have a lot of runners. In fact the runners can't properly line up & some of us actually started off from the sides of the main line. When the horn blown to signal the start of the 10k run, unsurprisingly it was a long delay to the starting line.. 

The problem with the number of runners rear its ugly head early in the run. That was my third mistake joining in this run. From the start, I had the difficulty of to navigate through the crowd. Believe it or not, most of the time it was I had to run through a middle of two runners - within shoulder distance. With the smell & sweats, it was not a great experience.

I discovered my forth mistake quite early in the run - specifically after running 2km into the run. I found that my left knee can't take the pressure anymore. I did gave my all during the last week JB 10K last week, so I guess I had strained my knees too much. I also had some episodes of hurting my left knee, so I was half-expecting the knee to be hurting during the runs.  I had tried to stop twice to adjust my knee guard to stop the pain but to no avail.

It was the final nail to the coffin to this run. After that I decided to treat this run as a fun run for me. Much to my surprise, this run becoming better because by slowing down I being able to appreciate the beautiful scene of the Penang Bridge. 

Appreciating the beauty of a 28 years old bridge

The only day you can do this on the bridge

On my way back

After the opening of the Penang Bridge in 1985, this bridge still didn't lost its glory. Up until 2008, there were only 4 lanes of the road before it had been expanded to 6 lanes to accommodate the drivers going in & out of the Penang island. It was the vital catalyst that propelled Penang into the industrial as it is today.

I still remember in the olden days when the drivers could stop in the middle of the bridge to experience the beauty of the sea & the bridge. It was a really long time ago. Drivers have been prohibited to stop on the bridge as some lunatics had been using the bridge as their suicide location. As with today, since the widening project of the bridge to 6 lanes, rendering stopping in the middle of the bridge virtually impossible.

I was very disappointed with how the organizer of this run treats their runners. They are very proud with the fact that there are 40,000 runners that joined their event - smashing the Malaysian Book of Record. But in doing so, they had disregard the runners. Since there are so many runners, running through the packed road were virtually almost impossible. I had not seen so many runners walking instead of running.

And what's up with the volunteers? Can't they get some decent ones? Same as last year, the volunteers for the event were the scouts from the schools in the island. Since all of them are kids, you can throw out professionalism out of the window. When I'm running past them, most of them had tired faces. How are that suppose to cheer up the runners?

The volunteer's idea of cheering the runners

Kids manning the roads

Compared to other major running events that I had joined - The Standard Chartered KL Marathon & the BSN Night Run, the energy & passion level in this event is abysmal. In both of the events, the organizer event had some cheer groups along the roads. Pathetically, the runners had to cheer among themselves when they arrived at the finish line. It was worse for the 10k Fun Run. The finish line gateway had been bring down even when there are still a lot of the runners still not finished the run.


It was confusing when an organizer of a major annual event like this can do a lot of screw ups. From the kit retrieving process, the number of runners, & also the energy behind the program -  that was a lot of slip ups. And its not like the fee was small. Iqbal & myself had to forked out RM80 to join this event. By comparison, it was RM70 for SCKLM & RM65 for BSN NR. And both of them had our kit couriered out to us.

What I had felt with the organizer is that they only saw us as their milk cows. They'll gather us all around and scream, "Milk! Milk! Milk!". That was what I felt when I passed the drink stops (all 3 of them!) and found out that there are no isotonic drinks - only mineral waters.

Runners with lost cause

Apparently we can only have mineral water

Taken from the Malay Mail - so many walkers in a running event

It was a lousy ending for me in 2013. Nothing much for me to say except I'll not be here anymore after this.

Even the medal had been sponsored. Where does our fee money goes to?

My last Penang Bridge Run.

RUN RATINGS - PENANG BRIDGE RUN 2013
Organizer - 2/5
Nothing spectacular had been prepared by the organizer. The only special thing was the Penang Bridge itself - and the organizer don't even have a hand in it.
Kit & Goodies - 2/5
Kit collection - failed. Drink stops - failed. Need to say anymore?
Route - 4/5
Even after nearly 3 decades, the Penang Bridge still doesn't lost its glory.
Overall Experience - 1/5

This is the only run that I have the conviction that I'll never join it in the foreseeable future.