KUCHING: The annual Kuching Marathon is another important event that will boost the tourism sector in Sarawak.
Pointing this out yesterday, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah added the marathon attracted not only local but also international runners.
He said he was proud to see that this year’s marathon recorded the biggest participation.
“This year marks the largest number of participants at over 10,681,” he told reporters after flagging off the 2019 Kuching Marathon at Padang Merdeka at 1am yesterday.
Karim then congratulated Kuching Marathon Association (KMA) for organising the sixth edition of the marathon.
Over 1,000 of the runners came from overseas such as Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam and Yemen.
There are 7,345 runners from Sarawak, 829 from Sabah, 219 from Johor, 527 from Selangor and 366 from Kuala Lumpur. There were also runners from other states in Malaysia.
The annual marathon took runners past many of Kuching City’s iconic landmarks including the Kuching Waterfront, Fort Margherita, Astana, the cat statues, Tua Pek Kong Temple and the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) building.
The marathon started and ended at Padang Merdeka. Among the categories for this year were the men’s open (42km), women’s open (42km), national men’s open (42km), national women’s open (42km), men’s open (21km), women’s open (21km), men’s veteran open (21km), women’s veteran open (21km), men’s open (10km) and women’s open (10km).
The full marathon of 42km started at 1am while the half marathon (21km), 10km run, and 5km run started at 4am, 5.30am and 6.30am respectively.
The international road race is recognised by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS), as listed in the AIMS Race Calender.
Also present at the flagging off ceremony were Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian and Kuching North City Mayor (DBKU) Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Julai.
