Parit Buntar Kampung Run

Running between a canal and the sea

When I spotted a marathon running event so close to my home town I did not give it a second thought and immediately registered for the run. The running event was held at the seaside of Tanjung Piandang called Bun Pecah. I had been to the place before and it stretches for almost 10 km from Tanjung Piadang to Kuala Kurau, my hometown. I registered for four persons but only three of us turned up because my wife was out of sync with running after a long lay-off. So I only have the company of my sister, Lan and her teenage daughter, qian but they only run for 5 km whereas I am running 12 km. Lan's house is less than 1 km from the starting venue and that is the reason I invited her to take part in the event.

Trail Run with the canal on your side

Tanjung Piandang is a sleeping hollow and not many runners know about the place.  But I am quite surprise it managed to attract about 1500 runners with some of them coming from Kuala Lumpur and Penang. The 12 km category started 10 minutes late and we at first ran through a Chinese fishing village before we turned into the seaside trail. We ran along the raised embankment covered with harden soil and gravel with the sea on our right and the paddy field on our left. The scenery was really breathtaking and most of the runners seemed to forget about running and stopped to enjoy the scenery and snapped photo. The side of the embankment facing the sea were full of concrete pillars piled into the soil to prevent sea erosion and those endless pillars really made the seaside more intriguing. We did not run the whole stretch of the seaside or else we  would have run until my hometown, Kuala Kurau. After few kilometers on the embankment we turned into the paddy field tracks. The harvesting season was over now and there was no paddy plants to be seen. After a few kilometres in the paddy field track we finally turned into the tarred road which leads us to the finishing line hardly 200 metres away. There are gifts for lucky draw and my sister, Lan stayed back after the run hoping to lay her hand on at least one of the prizes but luck was not with her even though she had four lucky draw tickets.

Concrete pillars serving to protect the shore from sea erosion

Running through paddy field

After 12 km

We ran almost fully on village trail and hardly any cars to bother us. The only setback is the earthed trail along the seaside which totally dusted my running shoes. I hope I did not inhale too much dust from running along the trail.This is a very enjoyable run because I have the opportunity to really appreciate the beauty of a place so near to my hometown and at the same time enjoying my morning run. I was wearing a GPS watch but I did not even set the watch to measure my running pace because speed is not my main concern of taking part in a marathon run. I was pushing myself a bit harder this time but my time for  12 km is still roughly a miserable 1 hour 25 minutes. Since I hardly improve on my speed perhaps it is better for me to just run at my leisure speed in my next marathon run.

Lan and the trophies for the winners