Nongkhai Asean Marathon

Ran this marathon last year (2018); and have entered again for the upcoming 2019 marathon so it must have been a positive experience. The full marathon started at 3am from the car park of a town center shopping mall. Once out of the small town center the road was unlit, very dark so nothing to see. No attempt to separate runners from traffic, but then there was little on the road at that time. Turn around was at 18 km, then back the way we had come. As the sun came up a few people came out of their homes to watch which was nice; the traffic also started picking up, not so nice. Approaching the town the course ran along the river walkway for about 4km: hard concrete not welcome. Then a final 2km sprint through the town center to the finish dodging the morning traffic. There really should have been an attempt to separate runners from traffic; it felt dangerous. Crowds appeared for the last 400 meters. Then it was over. Nice medal and finishers t-shirt. Plenty of free drink and food for finishers, nice atmosphere, and it was still only 7 am with the whole day to look forward to. In summary, a flat rather dull out and back course mostly run in the dark on public roads. Temperatures at the start around 27- 28 Celsius and humid, increasing as the sun came up. Good swag, and nice atmosphere at the finish. Bib had name and national flag printed, a nice touch. Recommended.

Early start : 3am!

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