Go! Penang Marathon 2010

By Liow Yi Fei
Photos by Liow Yi Fei


Penang: 24,000 participants enjoy in a heavy downpour at the Penang Bridge International Marathon 2010.

The PBIM (Penang Bridge International Marathon) has having 42km full marathon, 21km half marathon, fun run and this is the first year start running the 10km marathon.

There was a downpour at about 3.30am which slowed to a drizzle at 5am and stopped at 6am but a drizzle started again less than an hour later. Only a small number of participants went home due to the unpredictable weather.

Besides this, the participants showed their great determination to complete the race. They showed their gratification when crossing the finishing line although they were drenched.

This event also successfully to attract lots of foreign runners. Especially, the Kenyans continued their dominance in the run when they occupied the top nine places in the Men’s Open full marathon.

The top spot was failed to the Kenyan’s runner, Alex Melly 23 for the 42km route with a time of 2:24:30s.
Following closely behind were Robert Kilagat Kosgey and James C. Tallam, who recorded 2:27:43s and 2:27:49s to finish second and third respectively.

The Kenyans also displayed their supremacy in the Women’s Open full marathon by grabbing the top two spot.

Rose Jepkemboi Chesire, 25, clocked 2:59:14s to beat her compatriot Lucy Karimi Mugambi who was almost seven minutes behind with a time of 3:06:07s.

For the local front, the best Malaysian finisher in the Men’s full marathon is Shaharuddin Hashim 35, a policeman from Kuala Lumpur. He finished in 2:47:26s.

Clerk Ch’ng Lay Khim, 42, from Jelutong in Penang, was the best Malaysian finisher in the Women’s full marathon with a time of 3:52:08s.

The lucky participant of the day was student Chua Chong Hooi, 18, who drove home the grand prize in the lucky draw — a Proton Saga 1.3.

Around 24,000 participants were took part in PBIM 2010.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who flagged off the race, said this year’s participation of 24,000 people was a record number, eclipsing last year’s participation of 21,000.

He said participants came from 69 countries. Of the figure, about 1,600 people took part in the full marathon.

The elite runners from Kenyan.

Video created by Skyhawk.com