KUCHING: The organisers of the Spartan Race and Spartan Asia Pacific have been asked to consider other areas within Sarawak for their future events.
This was said by Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah during the press conference of the Spartan Race Sarawak 2022 yesterday.
“Apart from Kuching, I hope that they will also have a look at other areas like in Miri or Bintulu as long as it fits the theme of their events.
“By doing so, they can help us to promote more destinations in Sarawak, not only to athletes around the world but also to leisure visitors worldwide.
“I can assure you that my ministry will always provide the support for these events,” he added.
He pointed out that the two-day event held at the Leadership Institute of Civil Service has attracted around 2,000 racers from foreign countries namely Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, Maldives, Australia and the United Kingdom.
The ministry has also agreed to support another two events under the Spartan brand which will be held in Sarawak this year.
The Borneo Trail Classic, a part of the Spartan Trail World Championship Series and the seventh stop out of the nine stops worldwide, will be held from October 14 to 16 at the Redeems Centre, Kampung Apar, Kuching.
This trail race will host two of the world championship race categories, the 50km Trail and 100km Trail Ultra, with a total price purse of over US$ 18,000.
He also confirmed that Sarawak will host the first ever DEKA Fit event in Southeast Asia in November.
“The DEKA Fit is the decathlon of functional fitness, debuted from Spartan in 2020 with the ultimate goal of creating a fitness benchmark that could be tested in a controlled environment not influenced by ability, location and terrain,” he explained.
Meanwhile, he added that since the border has just been opened on April 1, he is pretty happy with the number of participations so far even though it fell a little short of the expected number, be it for the Spartan Race or the Rainforest World Music Festival.
“From what I have been told the number of participation is pretty good for both of the events and since our borders have just been opened, we cannot expect too much from it but instead be realistic with the numbers.
“Like for our previous Spartan Race before the pandemic, we managed to bring in around 2,800 participants but this time it is around 2,000 and I agree, of course, we would like to hit the same number but we have to be realistic.
“The fear of travelling is still there and you have to understand that there are also people who may be anti-vax that are being prohibited from travelling in some countries, so yes, we have to be realistic with the numbers and hopefully we will get back the numbers we are expecting next year, whether it be Rainforest or the Spartan Race,” he reiterated.
Meanwhile, he acknowledged that the ministry has been working hard to get more direct flights to fly into Sarawak in order to attract more tourists.
“Apart from Scoot, AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines coming in from Singapore, there will also be more direct flights from Brunei, Singapore, Penang and we are also waiting for the Kuching-Pontianak sector.
“With the opening of Sarawak’s borders and more inbound flights, Sarawak could achieve its target of 1.2 million tourists this year,” he concluded.
