The second edition of the Mandiri Bintan Marathon took place last weekend at the beautiful Bintan Island in Indonesia, with more than 3,000 runners across five categories with the oldest participant being a Singaporean aged 75 years old.

Event Organisers and Sponsors

The Marathon is organised by Bintan Resorts, PT Medianusa Permana and Singapore’s Orange Room, which has organised events in Singapore and across the region.

And Mandiri are the new title sponsors of the event, having just signed a five-year contract earlier this year.

Said Isnaeni Subekti, Mandiri Bank, Government Business Head, Regional 1, “Coming on board as the inaugural title sponsor of the Mandiri Bintan Marathon solidifies Mandiri Bank’s aim to elevate the awareness of curated healthy lifestyle habits and regular exercise for a better quality of life.” 

He also added, “This cements Mandiri Bank’s commitment to proactively be involved in the development of Indonesia’s tourism sector.”

Categories 

And in addition to the 21km Half Marathon and the 42km Full Marathon for the seasoned runners, the crowd favourite 10km made a comeback by popular demand, along with a brand new 3km Family Fun Run category for parents who wished to run with their children. 

As well, a new 42km Full Marathon Elite category was also introduced – to cater to elite runners around the region.

Taking the ferry from Singapore 

I participated in the 21km Half Marathon category, taking the 9:50am ferry out from Singapore on Saturday morning and then heading to my accommodation which was at the Bintan Lagoon Resort via shuttle bus, before then going to Plaza Lagoi for lunch and also to collect the race packs.

Lunch at Plaza Lagoi

My lunch that day was at Warung Yeah!, a popular Indonesian cafe at the nearby Lagoi Bay – where I really enjoyed the food.

I chose an Indomie Yeah for myself, which was a fried Indomie dish with meatballs, sausages and fried egg and this had turned out to be very flavourful and tasty. 

However, as the cafe had seemed to be packed with runners who were also likewise picking up their packs, the waiting time for the food turned out to be substantially longer than I had expected – and I’d been feeling pretty hungry by that point.

Race Pack Collection

The race pack collection process was fuss-free and basic, with signages at Plaza Lagoi pointing to the site of the pack collection. It was also purely a race pack collection area, with no merchandise booths for runners to browse through, unlike what I am used to seeing in Singapore.

A few informative signs depicting the race routes for the various categories were also put up on display, and I took the opportunity to pose for a photo with the 21km banner, before subsequently taking the shuttle bus back to the Bintan Lagoon Resort after that.

Race Morning

The following morning dawned bright and early for me. The flag-off time for the half marathon was scheduled to be 6:00am.

So I woke up at 4:15am for my pre-race morning rituals and then I headed to the lobby to catch the bus at 5:00am – which would take me to the race start line at Lagoi Bay.

The Bintan Lagoon Resort had actually catered a complimentary buffet breakfast from 4:00am onwards, that morning for runners who wanted to do some last minute carbo-loading for the race.

However, I opted not to go for the buffet, because I am usually not able to eat on race mornings, and I didn’t want to try anything new, and end up suffering stomach problems during my run. 21km is a long distance to run, after all.

Reaching The Race Venue

There were already hundreds of runners at the race site when I got there, but unlike at races in Singapore, it did not feel overcrowded. I spent the moments while waiting for flag-off, catching up with some running friends.

The flag-off for the earlier Full Marathon was slightly delayed – the Elite wave was supposed to have begun at 5:30am but this did not start till 5:45am.

Five minutes later though, the masses for the Full Marathon were flagged off, followed by the Half Marathon category flagging off as per scheduled at 6:00am.

Entering The Start Pen

I was at the front of the starting pen next to a couple of Kenyan runners. 

So this meant that I had to hold myself back and watch my pace for the first couple hundred metres – before then settling into a 6min/km pace which I had aimed to maintain for the remainder of the race.

Race Route

The race route, which took us around the Lagoi Bay and the Bintan Resorts area, was full of twists and turns and out-and-back paths.

I have to say that the course was definitely more hilly than the pancake-flat routes that I run regularly in Singapore’s Marina Bay area. 

But apart from one very steep hill somewhere around 7km – which was worse than Singapore’s Sheares Bridge, the other hills along the route did not pose as too much of a challenge, thanks to the hill training that I do with Coached every week.

But with the greenery and nature and all around me as I was running through the long, winding Bintan country roads, I thought that the Bintan race was very different and refreshing to run in – compared to running through Singapore’s urban landscape with all its skyscrapers.

There was only one area that I had some personal issues with. This had been running around the golf course during the latter stages of the race – and I didn’t enjoy it after a while, because this segment of the route felt boring, monotonous and never-ending.

Though the running paths had been pretty narrow, the small number of runners participating in this race meant that there were no congestion or bottleneck issues at all. In fact, there had been multiple segments during the race where I was running alone, with nobody surrounding me.

Marshals Were Good

Thankfully though, there had been marshals stationed at the key sections of the route – and they were helpful in pointing me towards the right direction so that I did not get lost.

This had been especially crucial in the last few kilometres of the run.

Roads Not Closed

The roads were not closed for the race, so as we were running, we would encounter cars and buses. 

But compared to the bustling Singapore roads, I quickly realised that the Bintan country roads are much less busy. So this was still okay, and the drivers of the vehicles seemed to be mindful of runners too.

As well, I noted that orange cones had been positioned along the roads too, as an added precaution to cordon off the runners on the route.

Less Humid Than Singapore

Also, during my run, I also quickly noticed that Bintan is substantially less humid than Singapore, so this therefore made it easier to run.

Whenever I race in Singapore, I always feel that the high amounts of humidity is sucking me dry. In contrast, the first half of the Bintan Marathon’s 21km event felt quite refreshing, with the lower humidity levels as well as the presence of a cool breeze, which I rather enjoyed.

Sun Comes Out

Unfortunately though, once the sun had come out about an hour into the race, the temperatures rose and with the heat, it began to get much hotter quickly and more difficult to run.

So as a result, my heart rate shot up and it became harder to keep my pace constant. I still managed well enough, though.

But in that regard, I think that it would have helped if the half marathon could have been flagged off slightly earlier, say at 5:30am instead of 6:00am, to avoid the morning heat.

I did realise that Bintan’s winding country roads may be quite dark and runners would not be able to see where they were going if the race had started any earlier than it did. 

But it could have helped with the darkness, if runners were provided headlamps in their race packs, and with these being a mandatory item to run.

Hydration Stations

Fortunately the drink stations, which had been spaced out every two to three kilometres along the route, were well-stocked with water and Pocari Sweat isotonic drinks. So I made sure that I had hydrated myself well.

And on most occasions, the drinks tasted cold and refreshing – which was great and helped to keep my energy levels up as I continued running. But on a couple of occasions, my Pocari Sweat was, unfortunately, lukewarm, to my dismay.

Cooling Showers

I should also comment on the wonderful cooling showers along the route of the Mandiri Bintan Marathon. We would simply run through these, in order to cool our bodies down.

And having the sprays of cold water raining down on me, felt like heaven, even if it was just for those fleeting few seconds when I was going through one.

My only gripe was that there were not enough of these. I could only count two such showers on the Half Marathon route. Especially when I was grappling with the Bintan heat, seeing more of these would definitely have been welcomed!

Kilometre Markers

And the kilometre signages along the route were accurate according to my Garmin, which had clocked in at 21.2km when I crossed the finish line.

However, even though I did notice that there had been a couple of the 21km route signages missing along the way, I would still consider them to be positioned regularly enough for runners who were running without a watch, to still be able to gauge and estimate their pace.

Finishing

I eventually finished the half marathon in a timing of 2 hours 06 minutes 20 seconds, as according to my Garmin, which is a timing which I am quite happy with.

And moments after I had finished, I also got to witness the first finisher of the Full Marathon category, a Kenyan runner, coming in.

Finisher Entitlements 

My finisher entitlements had consisted of my finisher medal and t-shirt as well as a bottle of Pocari Sweat and some water.

Coconuts!

And as well, there was a booth where we could collect our finisher coconuts.

This was the first time that I was receiving an actual whole coconut after a running a race, and the coconut water inside was deliciously refreshing.

Catching Up With Friends And Checking Out Race Village

I continued to hang around to check out the race precinct after completing my run.

There were free packets of Indomie being given out to runners and being unable to resist a freebie, I took a couple of these to bring back with me.

Following my run, I also caught up again with a friend, Rob, who is an Aussie. We chatted about how our run had went. 

Prior to the Bintan run, we’d also had a playful ‘dare’ going. If he finished the half marathon 40 minutes or more after me, he would have to write the words “Rob is a better half marathon runner than me”, and vice versa.

This timing had been based on our Sundown Marathon half marathon run earlier this year, which he had finished in 2 hours 53 minutes. However, if his completion time was within 40 minutes of mine, then I would be the one to write those words.

He finished in 2 hours 27 minutes.

So, to fulfil the conditions of the dare, I’ll say: “Rob is a better half marathon runner than me.”

Prize Presentation 

At about 10:30am, I also watched the prize giving ceremony for the Bintan Marathon’s race winners taking place. 

Unsurprisingly, most of the winners were Kenyans, but I recognised one or two from Singapore, including two-time South East Asian Games gold medallist Soh Rui Yong, who came in third place, in the Half Marathon Open category.

The main attraction for the event’s podium finishers had been attractive cash prizes totalling up to SGD 100,000 (IDR 1 billion).

Returning To My Hotel

Around 11:30am, I took a shuttle bus back to the Bintan Lagoon Resort, where I had cleaned myself up and then I headed for lunch at the resort’s in-house buffet restaurant, to replenish my energy post-run.

Race Organisers Are Happy

The event organisers are happy with how the race had went overall.

Said Abdul Wahab, PT Bintan Resort Cakrawala Group General Manager, “We are heartened to see such a great turnout for our Mandiri Bintan Marathon. This year, we wanted to expand our reach to include people across all ages. We wanted families to join also and turn this into a run-cation where they could burn some calories and enjoy quality bonding time just a 60-minutes ferry ride from Singapore.”

And he also continued, “So we are glad to see many parents signing up with their little ones, for our new 3km Family Fun Run category. We were also excited for our first-timers who challenged themselves with our popular 10km category and we hope to see many of these faces again at next year’s Marathon, too.”