Yangon Marathon will be held on 11 of January 2014. For this edition more than 4000 runners are expected to show up. But not all will finish the race. Even so, there are plenty of reasons to take part at this edition of Yama Yangon Marathon!

1. People – Myanmar is an amazing country with awesome and friendly people. Running will be much easier when so many happy faces will smile to you, encourage and applauds you. Probably during the race you will have to say hi to them ( the word in burmese is Mingalabar!) and at the end of the race your face will be a whole smile!

2. Run during the night – How cool is that? Most of the normal marathons start around 9 in the morning. Due to the heat during the day, the Yangon Marathon will start early in the morning, before the sun to be up in the sky. Running in the dark can be a little tricky; rounds are not so perfect in Yangon, stray dogs are on the street and the people are not that familiar with this kind of event. But this small obstacles will make the Yangon Marathon even more unique and challenging!

3. Not that thought competition – Being only at it’s third edition, the run is not that popular, yet. This year at all the races will be around 4000 competitors. Mostly of the will be local and few foreign competitors will attend the Yangon Marathon.

4. Excellent Weather – the perfect weather for a long distance run is 5 degree; at this temperature the body does not eliminate any. The temperature at the departure hour ( which will be around 5 in the morning) will be around 18 degrees. Till the finish, the temperature will not rise more than 21; being the winter season in Myanmar, the humidity is not that high so that makes for the Yangon Marathon one of the perfect in South-East Asia.

5. Cool T-Shirt & Medals. The kit race will contain a t-shirt, a Race Bib, Timing Chip and other items from the official sponspors; and for the runners who manage to finish the Marathon, a well-deserved medal. Which looks very nice!

Yangon Marathon Medals

6. Brag to your friends . Berlin Marathon has 40.000 participants; New York and Boston Marathon have around 50.000 runners; probably your runners friends had already participated. Yangon Marathon being still a small and young competition, does not attract so many people. At here is your big chance to participate and to brag to your friends that you did finish it! Few people will have this opportunity!

7. Meet Other Awesome Runners – it’s your chance to connect with local runners. Because of the country being so closed for so long time, many locals runners did not have the opportunity to go abroad for a larger marathon. On there home ground it’s there only change to meet foreigner runners and make friends. So charge your phone so you can add them on Facebook; even when you are running! Remember: runnings is just the fain. And like Murakami used to say: pain is inevitable, ..is optional.

8. Amazing Views on the Road – Shwedagon Pagoda, Sule Pagoda, Inle Lake, the unique suburbs of Yangon and many more will be along the road during the 10km, 21 km or 42,5 km.

9. Greet by the monks – Myanmar is home to more than 500.000 buddhist monks. Early in the morning they perform their daily route collection the rice. So there is a big change to encounter them on the road. If you spare space in your pockets, maybe put some rice so you can donate. Where else in the world you will have the chance be applauded by the monks?

10 Be a local star – There are not so many foreigners taking part in Yangon Marathon. You can be a local start ( people will probably want to make photos with you) and if you manage to win the race you can a local star in your country!