PalawanPay Trilogy Marathon Manila: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Pasay)

A Friday on the bay

The race takes place on Friday, November 27, 2026, in Pasay City. That puts it on a working weekday, which shapes everything from traffic to who turns up to cheer.

Pasay sits on the southern edge of Manila Bay. It is the city of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the SM Mall of Asia complex and the long, flat seafront of Roxas Boulevard. Roads here are wide, reclaimed and almost level, so Metro Manila’s distance races keep coming back to them.

The title sponsor, PalawanPay, is the e-wallet of the Palawan Group, the company behind the Palawan Pawnshop branches found in almost every Philippine town.

Heat, light and the Pasay course

Late November sits in the cool, dry stretch of the amihan, the northeast monsoon. “Cool” in Manila is still tropical, though. Humidity stays high and the sun on open bay roads gets fierce by mid-morning.

That is why road races in Metro Manila traditionally start in the dark, often well before sunrise. Most runners finish before the heat builds. Things that tend to matter on a Pasay course:

• Wind off the bay. Seafront stretches can bring a headwind on one leg and a tailwind on the return.
• Little shade. Reclaimed land has young trees and wide, open asphalt.
• Flat terrain. There are few climbs beyond the odd flyover ramp, which suits pacing.

The exact route and start area come from the organiser’s own race materials. This guide names no venue that those materials don’t name.

Getting to the start line

Pasay is the easiest corner of Metro Manila for visitors to reach. NAIA’s terminals are a short drive from the bay. The southern end of Roxas Boulevard leads straight into the Mall of Asia and Bay City area.

Rail covers the district. LRT Line 1 runs down Taft Avenue with stops at Gil Puyat, Libertad and EDSA, and MRT-3 ends at Taft Avenue station beside EDSA. Trains don’t fit a pre-dawn gun time well, though. Most runners take Grab or a taxi for the race-morning trip.

Out-of-town runners usually book hotels in the Mall of Asia and Entertainment City area, so they can walk to a bayside start. Weekday rush hour on EDSA and Roxas Boulevard builds fast after sunrise, and that matters for anyone driving away after finishing.

Race morning the Manila way

Philippine road races have their own habits. These are the ones visitors tend to notice:

• Kit claiming. Bibs and shirts are usually picked up at a mall or sports store in the days before a race, not on race morning.
• Paying. Grab, convenience stores and food stalls take GCash and Maya. Small cash is still handy for taho and buko (coconut) vendors near finish areas.
• Hydration. Runners commonly carry their own electrolytes as well as using the water stations.
• Cheering. Marshals and spectators shout “Laban!” (fight) and “Kaya mo ‘yan!” (you can do it). A wave back is expected.

After the finish, runners often head for breakfast at the Mall of Asia restaurants or for silog plates (garlic rice, egg and a meat) at stalls along the bay. Anyone with time left over walks the seawall at the Mall of Asia baywalk, one of the best spots in Manila for the bay’s sunsets.