The Phuket Laguna Marathon as the name suggests that the race is in Phuket, Thailand. A cluster of luxurious resorts around the Laguna Area in Phuket. Phuket Laguna Marathon never fail to draw a lot of regional as well as Thai participants from other parts of Thailand.
Route
Laguna resort area is more of a family oriented area, with emphasis on holiday houses loaned to families. Naturally, this running event draws more towards family crowd and has distances from 2km Kids’ Dash to the full marathon of 42.195km. The route is generally very scenic and beautiful for the full marathon. Especially so when the route goes into Sirinat Park and Nai Yang Beach. The national park is very tranquil with casurina trees and coconut trees at the beach area. It is a windy and cooling area, making it easy for the runners to catch a breeze. The route on the whole is not difficult and does not have any serious up slopes. There were however, many turns and narrow roads. Like all Southeast Asian countries, Phuket may have many glamorous and beautiful resorts and hotels. The general roads are not as well build as the roads in the more developed countries. Be prepared to counter some put holes and bumps. For the barefooters, this is something you do not want to get yourself into. Be extra careful and just make sure you always double check before stepping into the wrong places.
The race starts at about 4 am. Which is still pretty dark in the morning in Phuket. IF you are going at a speed of 5: 45 min /km with a Heart Rate of about 150 and above. You have to be extra careful because the beginning of the course is very winding. There are portions along the road where the lighting is not very good and it might not be that visible. Which is why do bring along some portable lighting like a torch light.
Along the way, there were some water points, but not all have isotonic drinks. So you will need to check with the latest route. There are no stations with energy gels but above 25km, there were some stations with bananas.
The route although scenic, it can get quite undulating with slopes up and down. But the ending portion in the resort area is quite relaxing and easy to navigate. It is an enjoyable last stretch for all runners.
PRICE
The cost of the race is USD 75 for international runners for the full marathon. The price might change, but usually for the overseas runners it is about USD 60-75. Each runner will be given a race pack with a tee shirt and some muscle rub samples with some sporting goods purchasing coupons.
This year is the 10th anniversary for the marathon. Runners were given a run pack with tee shirt and many other vouchers and discount coupons. There is also one tube of heat rub for all the participants. All finishers were given a Finisher tee and also Finishers’ medal.
The finisher pent was also the runners’ expo, where we first collected the race pack. The ending 1 km was very scenic as runners were led to run through the woods. The finishers were given isotonic drinks and also bananas. There were also samples of various sports drinks and nutrition available. But the organizer was very thoughtful and they allowed all runners to actually stay in the aircon tent. There were some sports wear suppliers inside the tent, the most important thing was that runners get to cool themselves down from the hot sun.
Stayed at the Uzenmaya Resort near to Kamala Beach, this resort is very nice and price is reasonable
Race expo for the collection at Laguna Beach Resort Phuket.
There were not really many people participating in the full marathon.
Race preparations.
Sunset on a good day is very amazing, this was the view from Big Buddha Phuket
Finisher’s Medal
This marathon is very enjoyable because basically Phuket is a leisure island with a lot of fun and exciting activities, there are shopping and dining opportunities to tourists. At the same time, the beautiful beaches are also a main draw for visitors to Phuket. Best of all is SPA is readily available and the Thai massage is really good. Another good reason to join this marathon is just the mere fact that Phuket is very close destination to Singapore, there are many types of available flights and airline companies to Phuket. If you are a first timer to do an overseas race, this race will be a good one to start with.