While Taiwanese people are proud of the country’s covid-19 control, with cases kept to under 500, many have been feeling antsy and want to travel even with the borders closed.
Penghu is offering a great way for the travel-hungry to visit later this year, with an itinerary that takes you all over the place on foot, and sampling local delicacies.
As Taiwanese people have taken to “revenge travel” through Taiwan and its outlying islands, the island of Penghu has decided to go ahead with its annual marathon this year.
There is a lot to see in Penghu, with its cluster of 90 little islands. The marathon route will take runners across the Penghu Great Bridge that connects two of the islands and past many popular sites, like Taiwan’s oldest lighthouse, and masses of basalt columns that Penghu is well known for.
To be held in November, the marathon’s head planner this year is Kevin Lin, one of Taiwan’s record-breaking endurance runners. Like previous years, the marathon’s aid stations will be offering locally-sourced foods like fried squid balls for runners to refuel, and this year the big selling point will be lobsters.
Lin says the lobsters will be a big motivation for runners to race towards the finish line, while Candy Wang, the face of the marathon, says this is likely the only marathon ever that will refuel runners with lobsters.
Runners can sign up for three different distances: 5K, 21K and the full 42K.