Race Date: Sunday 9th March 2025

Since January, Abbie Pearce, together with fiance Dan Howarth (Hallamshire), have been touring SE Asia. After finishing second in the Ho Chi Minh City Half Marathon the pair cycled to Hanoi on their Brompton bikes. Next was a brief visit to Hong Kong before they arrived in Thailand where a broken wheel resulted in an enforced stay at Chiang Rai. As a result however Abbie was able to get some decent training done on the University track there together with other efforts such as “Another run, another temple up a hill”.

Back on two bikes, the pair then rolled into Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the look out for races with cash prizes to supplement their travelling fund. An email accompanied by a link to Power of 10 was dispatched hoping for a late entry which resulted in the generous offer of a pair of free elite race entries. The race started at 4.30am (a whole hour later than the Ho Chi Min half). Dan’s method was to stay up all night as he hates running in the morning; Abbie went to bed but had a disrupted nights sleep and neither enjoyed the 2:30am alarm call. Despite hating the start time the 25 degrees in the middle of the night beat the 35 plus degrees of the day time. Neither thought that they ran particularly well with “a classic fade” from Abbie but  the race organisers would have been pleased with their investment as they both came away with podium spots, Abbie winning by a margin of six minutes over the next woman and finishing tenth overall. (Editor: Didn’t run well?)

If you’re thinking of doing the 2026 event Abbie advises that the race was very well organised with proper toilets with loo roll and almost no queues. The race itself was an out and back but the views didn’t matter much as it was still dark! Surprisingly there were some crowds out cheering and even some bands with drums! There is also a 10k if the full distance isn’t to your liking.