Jeju Mandarin Marathon

It was the Jeju Mandarin Marathon this morning, with races of four different lengths. I did the 10k and finished in a respectable position and a reasonable time. Even better, I haven’t had to lie on the settee this afternoon feeling weedy.

The race started outside the Seogwipo World Cup stadium, in the background in the picture above. Jeju may be remote, but it did host three games from the 2002 competition. Brazil were here in the first game, beating China 4-0 in a group match. It’s now the home of Jeju United, who lost 2-1 to Daegu this afternoon.

As the name of the race suggests, it’s all about mandarins. They’re quite a sight at this time of year, on trees and packed into crates on the back of trucks. Even the crates are coloured orange. So, the goodies I got from the race were the usual T-shirt, medal and snacks and the not so usual carton of milk and 5 kg carton of mandarins.