Khon Kaen International Marathon Race Day

The running of the 8th annual Khon Kaen International Marathon took place today, 23 January 2011, in Khon Kaen, Thailand.

Spent the night at my buddy Tom’s place (Isaan-Live) so that we could head out and watch the Khon Kaen International Marathon that started at 0415.

Start and stop of the international marathon was at Khon Kaen University (KKU), but we wanted to avoid the traffic and mass of humanity, so we went a little closer to Tom’s home  – Wat Nong Wang.

Khon Kaen International Marathon Wat Nong Wang

Wat Nong Wang was the 12 kilometer mark for the run and a beautiful place for us to sit and watch the runners.

Arriving at about 0430, we watched as the first aid and water stations  were set up.  Everything, including the “Welcome to Khon Kaen City” arch, was to the left of the temple entrance as you faced the temple.  We didn’t think anything of it at the time, but once the first group of runners showed up, we realized that the Khon Kaen International Marathon planners had done a piss poor job.

All the ladies that had the “pah yen”, little cool towels, and the ladies with the sealed plastic cups of water (yes, sealed), were to the left, and the runners’ natural instinct upon arriving at the temple was to hug the right side of the road since they had just turned right to get in.  So, most didn’t get to take advantage of the cool towels and the closed cups of water.  Was kinda funny watching the runners that did get water try to puncture the top of the cup with the straw while also trying to run.

There was no sign or BIG arrow to indicate to the runners which way to go once they were inside the temple grounds.  Some, seeing the Welcome to Khon Kaen City Arch on the left, thought that you run through and keep going left.  Wrong.  They eventually posted a human to point out the correct direction (right), but the ladies with the water never moved from the left side of the entrance even though Tom pointed out the error of their ways.  In typical Thai fashion, they just smiled and laughed and did it their way – the wrong way.

Welcome to Khon Kaen City Arch

They also had a sound system set up and were playing some nice Isaan music, but then the idiots decided to get on the microphone and give speeches.  Yes, speeches.  Not encouragement to the runners, but speeches in Thai over the sound of the music.  After about 30 minutes of speeches that no one listened to, one of the ladies grabbed the microphone and actually cheered the runners on.  They would have been better off just playing the music or not using it at all.

Initially, there was one Thai policeman directing traffic outside of the temple and a second showed up just before the runners did.  Yes, traffic was allowed on the streets along with the runners at O-Dark-Thirty.  The two cops were doing a crappy job of holding up traffic as runners had to stop and wait to cross the street numerous times and enter the temple grounds while dodging cars, trucks, and motorcycles.

The first group of speedy runners made it to Wat Nong Wang at about 0500 and it was a black pack of about 25 runners that I am guessing come from somewhere in South Africa.  Way behind them, was the rest of the pack.

Khon Kaen International Marathon Runners

By 0530, the average runners were straggling in and feeling the pain of the first 12 kilometers and they still had 30 more to go.  Some made pit stops at the toilet area in the rear of the temple grounds and others shuffled along, obviously in pain.

We moved around the side of the temple to get a little better light and watched for about another 1/2 hour and then headed out.

Khon Kaen Marathon Runners

As we neared the back entrance/exit of the temple, we saw this sign and the unmanned post:

Khon Kaen International Marathon Twelve Kilometer Mark

I’m not a marathon expert, but I would think that for an official, sanctioned, international marathon, that there would be someone checking personnel and their running numbers and keeping track so that no one can cheat.  Maybe I am wrong, but it sounds logical.

Here is a bit of video showing the poor set-up and the first group of runners:

Anyhow, it was something different to watch and I had a decent time.  Yesterday was better and I will post about that later.

So, Congratulations to the winner and all the other runners that completed the 42 kilometer run at the Khon Kaen International Marathon.

Tags: khon kaen khon kaen international marathon khon kaen university khonkaen kku thailand