During a courtesy call on Miri mayor Adam Yii are (from left) Wong, Liew, race manager Tang Swee Ming, Cr Leong, Ling, Yii and the organising committee holding the banner of Miri Marathon 2017.
MIRI: Efforts are being made to secure sanction from Malaysia Athletic Federation (MAF) for the Miri Marathon 2017 (March 19), said race director James Ling yesterday.
“We are now in the process to get the run sanctioned by MAF as well as obtaining international recognition for the run,” he stated to media when he led a team from Miri Marathon Association (MMA) to pay a courtesy call on Miri Mayor Adam Yii at his office yesterday.
Ling, who is MMA president, updated the mayor on the progress of the run as race director for the Miri Marathon, which aims to popularise a running lifestyle to the Miri community.
He said it has been many years since Miri had its last marathon event organised by Holiday Inn Hotel (known as ParkCity Everly Hotel now) in 1990s.
Then he added, Bulatan Park Runners’ Club had lighted the spark of running events with the Miri Charity Run it organised in 2015.
“We had a total of eight events in Miri, with different organisers, in 2015, namely Miri Beach Run, Miri-Sibuti Balloon Run, Run with Bomba, Miri City Day Run, 916 Malaysia Day Night Run, 12th Dynasty Charity Run and 1010 National Sport Day.
“These events normally cover a distance of 5km to 10 km with each event attracting entries in the range of 500 up to 2,000 runners.”
Following the success of staging the Imperial Run and Miri City Day Half Marathon event earlier this year, James said it was about time to organise a full marathon (42km) for the city.
“Miri has a strategic location to conduct a long distance run with scenic views along the route. The route of 42 km in the event will bring the participants to pass thorugh the city centre, sea view, villages and many others.
“Currently, we are in the process of building our association’s official website to sort out the event’s
t-shirt design, event logo, medal design and providing relevant information on the run.”
Thus, he is seeking total support from the Miri City Council (MCC) in order to make the tourism sport event a success.
He said the Miri Marathon 2017 is expected to be one of the biggest marathon events in Sarawak and Borneo, where they are targeting some 5,000 runners.
Yii affirmed MCC’s total support for the marathon.
“You (MMA) are on the right track and the council will support any effort to enhance the name of Miri as a vibrant Resort City.
“We will put this event into the MCC’s calendar of events next year.”
Also present were councillor Aries Leong, president of Kuching Marathon Association Wong Chen Yi and his secretary Liew Tang Chieh as well as the organising committee.