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On 26th October 2025 I ventured to Taiwan for the Sun Moon Lake marathon. My family adventure included exploring Taipei, and Sun Moon Lake. There was so much more to see and do in Taiwan, but we didn’t have enough time. In this blog I will focus on the Sun Moon Lake marathon, and do a travel blog for: Family adventure in Taiwan – Taipei and Sun Moon Lake.

Our adventure to Taiwan for the Sun Moon Lake marathon started over cocktails, whilst thinking where to go for October half term. Looking through the various different places we could go, nothing jumped out that we haven’t already been to. Then I extended the search a little wider, where I found Sun Moon Lake. The pictures looked amazing (although it is so much better in reality), and we both thought this would be a great adventure. Truthfully, we didn’t fully appreciate how long the flights were when we were booking, but this is how all good adventures start, with an idea that we just go with.

I contacted the race organiser, who welcomed me onto the Pace Team. Owing to the course difficulty, and the fact that I am pacing New York Marathon next weekend, I decided to go for the 5 hour pace group. The idea was to make the experience more enjoyable, and ensure I didn’t need to exhaust my body too much by pushing for sub 4. Sun Moon Lake marathon was my 175th Marathon (plus) and my 130th time as an official pacer (including 67 marathons). It was my 14th marathon of 2025, and 11th as a pacer this year.

Getting to the expo

We stayed in a lovely hotel in Shuishe, Shui Sha Lian Hotel, and had Lake Side view. The location and view from the hotel was simply magnificent. The best way to get to the Expo, which was located at Xiangshan Visitor Center, was to cycle. The cycle route around the lake has been voted as one of the most scenic bike routes in the world, and for good reason.

So shortly after arriving we dropped our bags in the hotel lobby, and went straight to hire a bike. It really is easy to hire a bike, as there are so many bike shops. We decided to get an electric bike with a double seat, which was definitely the best option. It cost 500 TWD (£12.50) for each bike for a couple of hours, which was plenty of time, and it wasn’t a strict return time.

I am so glad we decided to do the bike ride now, as originally we had planned to cycle around the whole lake on the last day. This would have taken much longer than I had thought, and you don’t need to cycle the whole lake to appreciate how beautiful it is. It was very busy on the cycle to the expo, so I think we could have travelled further and quicker on another day. It was so much quieter the day after the marathon (even the evening of the marathon).

The expo and event village was set up of tents outside the Xiangshan Visitor Center.  It was a simple set up, and I received my race pack from the organiser. As part of your entry you can get a bag for bag drop, and there were some items to purchase such as hats and tops. There may have been other things, but it was hard to understand exactly and there was nothing that I needed. We then explored and got a drink at the visitor centre, before cycling back to our hotel to check in.

Sun Moon Lake Marathon

The Sun Moon Lake Marathon has 3 event distances. The 6km takes you on a 3km out and back loop, sticking to the bike path between our hotel and the race village. The 29km is a peculiar distance for a race, but it makes sense because it is one full loop of Sun Moon Lake. The marathon (42.195km) runs alongside the 29km until around 26km, and then it goes for a 6.5km out and back, before joining up to finish.

I got my kit ready the night before, with some lovely items as part of my #flatlay. First of all it was a pretty cool pacer vest, but also the hat has pacer embroidered into the side, which was great touch. I also got a participants vest which is really nice, and the bag drop bag is a really large bag which will be great for travel.

Whilst I registered for the marathon (42km), I signed my family up for the 6km race. They also got the same participants vest which were gendered, so really good quality vests.

It was an early start on race morning as the 42km and 29km race both started at 06:30, with the 6km starting at 06:40. We got a breakfast box each from the hotel, and to be honest I didn’t sleep well, so I was eating it at around 02:00. Partly because of jetlag, but also because I was worried about not waking up. We got the bus at 04:50 outside the bus station in Shuishe, which arrived at the race start at the Xiangshan Visitor Center around 05:00. If I was not pacing we could have arrived 30 minutes, even 60 minutes later.

I arrived to the pacer tent just after 05:00. It was very dark, so hard to make out everything in the event village. When an event starts early in the dark, you know it is going to be warm. It reached 28⁰c during the race, with clear skies, but it felt even hotter. I attached my heart shaped balloon. It was gold balloons for the marathon, silver for the 29km, but there were also red balloons. I soon learned that there was a huge team of runners with red balloons who were first aiders and carried defibrillators and first aid kit. I have never seen this in a race before, and I thought it was amazing. In addition to there being first aid at all the aid stations, and bikes on course, there were runners mixed in, well placed for an immediate response.

The atmosphere around the race start was such a lovely experience. It was very different to many other events I have taken part in because I didn’t understand what was being said, and there were many cultural differences. But this is exactly why I wanted to come, for the adventure and to experience different cultures and ways of doing things. I am sure there are things that I missed, for example my wife said later that they found a table with snacks. It was dark at the start, busy and I was focused on being around the other pacers to ensure I didn’t miss any instructions. There were 3 different toilet points at the visitor centre and I was able to walk straight into a toilet early before it got busy.

When I went into the race start around 06:00, my family went to explore before their start. Pacing at different events, I am used to a certain way of doing things, I also know what good pacing looks like. There are some events that do it differently, and when you represent in different cultures it is important to adapt. Sun Moon Lake Marathon and 29km is a mass start. The pacers and the AED runners all start at the front. A few minutes before the start all pacers came to the front and turned to the runners. We all put up our right hand and took an oath to the runners. Clearly I didn’t understand any of it, but the pacer next to me translated it for me as we went. In short we said that we promise to follow the rules of the event, that we will do our best, and we will guide runners the best we can. I loved the sentiment.

What I missed was the usual motivation of runners. Rather than my long talk I had thought about what I could say simply to motivate people, but thats not how they do things. I had 6 pacers in my group, and I was told there would be 3 up front and 3 in back, and I got the sense that rather than running in a big group, it was more about having pacers run at a set time as a guide for others. The event started exactly at 06:30 and we crossed the line immediately. The pacers kept to the left so other runners could run past. It felt like a decent size race with 1000 42km runners and 4000 29km runners, but it seemed like  runners quickly joined where they wanted to be.

Sun Moon Lake Marathon is one of the most beautiful places I have ever run. It is also one of the most difficult marathons I have ever taken part in. It was hot very early, and you run around, over and even through mountains. It is not a race to set a time goal, it is one to enjoy the amazing experience.

I can not even begin to describe the beauty of the run. Each part of the lake is not the same. In one section it is much more dense with trees and wildlife, I even ran past a monkey.

Other sections were more open with deep blue lagoon, a hot spring and crisp still water as far as you can see.

We ran past various temples and other artifacts, and every step of the way was a pleasure running with my pace group.

We ran much faster than I would have at the start. To the extent that for the first 5km we were on pace for a 4:15 marathon. This is where I had to adapt and trust the local knowledge. The first section was the easier part, as we allowed for this early on.

This event was such a great experience running with fellow pacers and a number of other friendly runners. We stopped for photos and cheered everyone along the way.

The aid stations were fantastic and reminded me of Ironman aid stations. There was water and sports drinks at every station, which were around 2km apart. There was a selection of food which varied but included oranges, bananas, various breads and crackers, various different sweets and local items. At one aid station there were local eggs and meat, I was given a can of beer at one stop (it was cold and oh so good in the heat) and one stop we had ice lollies which were brilliant and definitely helped.

Many stations later on had ice for you to cool yourself. In addition to the food and drink, at all aid stations, and other points, there was cooling spray for tour legs, that volunteers helped you to put on.

I found the course very enjoyable. If I had decided to pace 4 hours or aim for a quicker time I think it would have been hard work, but also a waste.

It was great to be able to take in the surroundings, and enjoy the many beautiful sights.

Unfortunately at around 30km one of our pacers slowed slightly, I am not sure if she was struggling with heat or injury, but it was sad to see her fall behind. She did a brilliant job.

After about 26km it got particularly difficult. There had been lots of inclines before this, but this is when the hard out and back happened, and why it was so good that we had ran much faster early on. It meant we could spend time at the aid stations taking enough water. It also meant when it was particularly steep we could run slower and even walk sections.

I was calculating what we needed for our time, and it really helped that the km markers all appeared to be well placed. I slowed down a lot with the really difficult hills but this was intentional as the hard work had been done.

For the last 3km the markers started counting down. Again this was helpful to keep on track. We had split into 2 groups and as we approached 1km remaining we made sure that we were together in one group.

We finished holding hands with 04:59:40 on the official clock with 04:59:38 on my watch.

What an adventure. As far as marathons go, this is something else. It was hard, and hot, but so rewarding. I would absolutely recommend it and I would run it again.

The medals are very unique, made from glass. The simple design had a different colour and the distance (6km,29km,42km) on them. Mine was a green medal, and the rest of the family had a red ribbon with yellow colour in the glass.

At the finish we got a towel, a choice of 3 types of food (hot or cold options – I went for the local dish), and various other goodies. This is where the adventure began… I went to meet my family back at the hotel, and just 1 hour after finishing the marathon we were getting on the boat ready to start our next adventure. It involved lots of steps, 3 boat rides, lots of food markets, and a cable car ride. But I will save all of that for the adventure blog.