By request of The Cronies®, here is some information on two Angkor marathons, either of which could make a good out-station run.
The older and bigger event is the Angkor International Half Marathon. In addition to the half marathon (21km), it offers 10km and 3km ("Family Run") runs. The only problem is that it's held this year on December 7. That might be rather too soon for most of us, while December 2015 feels an awfully long time away. Plus it's seriously high season, which could make hotels and transport more troublesome than usual. Siem Reap gets very crowded at peak season these days.
The hot new contender is the Angkor Empire Half and Full Marathon. They ran their first one just this past August, and will do it again on August 9 next year. This one seems to me to have several advantages. They do a full marathon, if any of you are up for that, as well as the half and 10km and 3km runs. The timing is better, giving us more time to prepare (or "train", if you like), plus it's low season. I've been to Angkor in August and it's just right: cloudy and cool, wet sometimes but seldom heavy rain. Finishing times for their marathon this year ranged from 2:45 to over 7 hours, so you could go pretty slowly and still not be totally humiliated. Plus it's a smaller event than the International Half, which I think is all to the good.
Air Asia does a nice package price on Hatyai-Siem Reap tickets, currently about B3,500 each way. The schedule is pretty easy: leave Hatyai at 4 pm., change planes at Don Meuang, and arrive at 9pm. Coming back the flight leaves Siem Reap at noon and arrives in Hatyai at 5:10pm.
If there's interest I can try to liase with Phnom Penh Hash. They used to go the International Half Marathon every year, though there's been a lot of turnover in their ranks and I'm not sure if they still do. I also hereby offer to organize accommodations, as I know some pretty good hotels. And I've got a few favorite restaurants and bars, and can promise we will eat well, not to mention drink some very good wine (import duty on wine: 0% in Cambodia vs. 267% in Thailand). Local transport, by remorque-moto, can easily be arranged on site.
Over to you . . . .
Done! I'm in. I'll work on the xenophobes in my household in the meantime
ReplyDeleteWell for the record, HJ and I are definitely in, especially if we go for next August.
ReplyDeleteRemember that your thii rak will need a passport, and one with at least six months remaining validity. (We had a slight problem with this at Sadao a few months ago, especially as they seemed to think that I was attempting to traffic HJ.)