Inaugural Tropical Rainforest Run on Sept 28

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Christina (fifth left) and other invited guests with the official poster for the run.

KOTA KINABALU: Members of the public are welcomed to participate in the inaugural Tropical Rainforest Run 2019, a one-of-a-kind run that will take place on the Mount Lucia trail at the Tawau Hill Park.

Deputy Chief Minister cum Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew said that the trail run marked a total of 21 kilometres with an elevation of up to 800 metres.

“The run is now open for registration. There are four categories, namely Men Open, Women Open, Men Veteran 40 Above and Women Veteran 35 Above,” she told reporters during a press conference at her office yesterday.

The participants of the run will have the chance to experience the natural beauty of the 1,189-metre Mount Lucia, which is famous for being among the three main peaks in the form of extinct volcanos.

“Tawau Hills Park is home to some of the tallest tropical trees in the world. Along the trail, runners will enjoy the panoramic view of the rainforest with few tall tropical trees along the way,” said Christina, who is also Tawau Member of Parliament (MP).

The run will be held on September 28 at 7 am and the closing for registration is on September 20.

“The fee was supposed to be RM200 per person but in conjunction with the Malaysia Day Month, we are currently offering a special price of RM110 (per individual) and RM200 (for groups of two),” added Christina.

All runners will receive a t-shirt and those who finish within the cut-off time will also receive a finisher’s medal (the cut-off time for the Men Open and Men Veteran categories is four hours and thirty minutes while the cut-off time for the two remaining categories is five hours and thirty minutes).

To maintain the natural state of the park, the maximum number of participants is set at 300.

It is understood that, as of Friday, a total of 115 runners had signed up for the run.

“We hope to promote a healthy lifestyle among the community. This is also an opportunity for them to appreciate the magnificent resources of nature that we have in Sabah.

“At the same time, we want to create awareness on the potential tourism products in Tawau. We are creating new destination packages like the Pangolin Sanctuary and Wildlife Park to woo more domestic and international tourist to this East Coast town,” added Christina, who is also expected to flag-off the run.

Those who are interested may visit ww.hellosabah.my for more information.