Runners from 17 countries to participate in Borobudur Marathon 2016

Runners from 17 countries have confirmed they will be participating in the "Borobudur Marathon 2016" in Magelang, Central Java, in November.

The head of the Central Java office of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, Budi Santoso, informed here on Monday that these athletes either registered in person or through the websites -- borobudurmarathom.com or borobudurmarathon.id.

The 17 countries whose athletes have sent in their names for participation in the event included Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, France, the US, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and the host, Indonesia.

"The champions in the international elite category in 2015, Kenedy Lilian (Kenya) in the mens event and Paninahkihen (Kenya) in the womens event, have also enrolled," he disclosed.

National level runners, including Agus Prayogo from West Java and Yulianingsih from East Java, have also confirmed their participation in the event.

"We expected 20,000 runners to take part under different categories. A large number of athletes have registered for the event. Many had registered several days before the competition," he added.

Budi Santoso said the Borobudur Marathon 2016 this year would be the first after the last one in 1989 though many competitions in 10 kilometer and in the half marathon (21 kilometer) category did take place since 2014.

This years event will include the 10-km category, the half marathon, the full marathon (42.195 km), an ultra-marathon (120km), and an ambassador and celebrity run (three kilometers), he explained.

"With regard to the celebrities and ambassadors event, we hope that foreign ambassadors and artists will be interested in participating," he stated.

The events to mark the start and the finish of these races will be attended by the Ministers of Sports and Tourism, the governor of Central Java and foreign ambassadors at the Lumbini Park in the Borobudur Temple complex.

A total of Rp4 billion in cash prizes will be offered to the champions in all the categories. "The prize money is more than in the Jakarta and Bali Marathons," he underlined. 

Agus Prayogo, the national level runner who won three gold medals in the recently held 19th National Games in West Java, has confirmed he would take part in the event.

Agus, who was born in Magelang and is an army man, pointed out that he would participate in the half-marathon as well as the full marathon. (Antara)