Bangkok Marathon

Bangkok Marathon

Logo of Bangkok Marathon
Location Bangkok, Thailand
Distance Half and Full Marathon
Primary sponsor Standard Chartered
Official site www.bkkmarathon.com/eng/

Bangkok Marathon, officially Standard Chartered Bangkok Marathon, is the marathon held annually in Bangkok, Thailand.[1][2] The marathon is recognized by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).[3]

Organisation

Standard Chartered is the title sponsor of the marathon. The organizers of the marathon are the National Jogging Association of Thailand and local event management company Amazing Field.[4] The race is also recognized by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).[3]

Participants and events

More than 33,000 runners participated in the 2015 edition. Along with full and half marathons, 10 km and 5 km races were also held.[4]

Course

The course passes many historical landmarks of cultural and ethnic importance. The marathon starts and finishes in front of The Royal Grand Palace at Sanam Chai Road. The race course is sanctioned by The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) and the Amateur Athletic Association of Thailand (IAAF Rules).[5]

In 2013, the course of the half marathon was changed at the last minute because of concurrent Bangkok street protests which reduced the distance of the half marathon from 21.1 km (13.1 miles) to 19.7 km (12.2 miles).[6] In 2015, the half marathon was accidentally extended from 21.1 km (13.1 miles) to 27.6 km (17.1 miles). According to organisers, the increase was due to the race officials directing runners to take a turn at the wrong place which added over 3 km extra to each of the two laps.[2][4] The mistake sparked humour and outcry in the social and news media. The Guardian called it "world's longest half marathon".[1] Some comments on social media called it a "Super Half Marathon", while some called it a byproduct of "race inflation".[1] Organizers apologized for the mistake and decided to offer a T-shirt saying "Finisher of 27.6 km" to participants who completed the "half marathon".[7][8] In addition to the half-marathon error, runners in the 10 km race reported that their GPS watches measured that race's length as approximately 9.7 km.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Associated Press in Bangkok (1970-01-01). "Bangkok half-marathon becomes world's longest after wrong U-turn | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  2. 1 2 "Bangkok marathon miscalculates distance, runners kept going unaware". IBNLive. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  3. 1 2 "AIMS – Calendar of Races". Aimsworldrunning.org. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  4. 1 2 3 "Anger in Bangkok over not so half marathon". Newsweek. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "BKKMarathon.COM :".
  6. 1 2 Murray Hunter (2015-11-15). "Outcry after organizers accidentally add 7km to Bangkok half marathon". Asian Correspondent. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  7. ↑ "'Finisher of 27.6km': Bangkok's botched half-marathon offers T-shirt apology". Asian Correspondent. 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  8. ↑ Messman, Lauren (2015-11-17). "Bangkok Accidentally Held the World's Longest Half-Marathon | VICE | Canada". VICE. Retrieved 2015-11-26.
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