KUCHING: Another major event is headed for Sarawak, this time the Borneo Trail Classic which will held in October.
Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah who announced this said it is part of the Spartan Trail World Championship Series (STWC).
“SWTC has nine stops around the world, across four continents including Sarawak. Borneo Trail Classic is the only stop in the whole of Asia and out of the nine stops, one is in Sarawak,” he said.
The Borneo Trail Classic will host two world championship race categories, which are the 500km Trail and the 100km Trail Ultra with a total prize purse of over USD$18,000.
“Elite runners will battle at each of the nine stops in the world for an unprecedented prize money and collect points towards the SWTC series leader board,” he said.
It will be held in Redeems Center, Kampung Apar, here on Oct 14-16 with runners racing through jungles, hills and rivers to the finish line where the official Spartan Trail World Championship swag and medal will be earned.
Karim was speaking at a press conference on the Spartan Race Sarawak 2022 event to be held on June 11-12 at the Agriculture Institute, Sarawak and the Leadership Institute of Civil Service Sarawak.
He said the state welcomes the endurance sport event with excitement as it helps pave the way for more international events such as the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) to be held in Kuching and the Borneo Jazz Festival in Miri.
“Spartan is the world’s largest obstacle course race and endurance brand with more than 250 million events held in over 40 countries on six continents.
“It attracts more than one million participants annually across the globe across all fitness levels from beginners to the elite,” he said.
Karim also said that the Spartan Race Sarawak was hailed as the toughest Spartan race in Southeast Asia by Spartan racers after the inaugural event held in Sarawak in 2019.
“This year’s race will be no different and will feature the two most popular categories, the 5km Sprint (20 obstacles) and 10km Super (25 obstacles). The Spartan Race Sarawak was originally planned to resume in April 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race was postponed until 2022,” he said.
Karim also said every racer that completes the race will earn themselves a unique 2022 Spartan finisher shirt and medal earning the right to be called a Spartan warrior.
“As of today, the number of registered participants for the upcoming race is 1,058. The race is anticipated to attract 2,500 participants with 1,000 from outside Malaysia,” he said.
“We have hit the target and with flights introduced by the end of June and AirAsia from Singapore flying in here as well by the end of this month, we hope to attract a lot of visitors to Sarawak,” he added.
He also said the event will place Sarawak on the map as an international tourist destination as the event is expected to attract racers from around this region.
“Alongside the race, there will also be a Spartan Asia Pacific Owners and Racers Summit where race owners from this region will be attending,” he said.
Karim said those who have registered for the Spartan race Sarawak 2020, will be eligible to transfer and defer their tickets to this year’s race and email info@my.spartan.com and new registration is available at https://my.spartan.com/en.
