Maybank

Over 300 Malaysians register for BII Maybank Bali Marathon 2013

A total of 305 Malaysians will be participating in the upcoming BII Maybank Bali Marathon 2013 to be held on 16 June 2013.

This is a 64% increase in participants from Malaysia, compared to the 186 Malaysians who participated in the inaugural event last year.

President Director of Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII), Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli said that this increase was most encouraging and reflects the greater awareness of the BII Maybank Bali Marathon, which is now in its second year.

He added that this year’s marathon will see a total of nearly 3,000 participants from 42 countries worldwide, including Malaysia. This is approximately 46 % rise from the 2,042 participants in 2012.

The event will also feature elite runners from countries such as Kenya, Australia, Austria, Brunei, China, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Vatican City State, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Portugal, Rwanda, Switzerland, Macedonia, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Netherland, Arab, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam.

“We are very excited over the tremendous response that we have received for this event and are making all efforts to ensure that it is a safe and successful marathon,” said Dato’ Khairussaleh.

“The Marathon is an exhilarating race as participants get to enjoy the unique cultural and physical beauty of Bali while running through the marathon route which passes through some of the most scenic sights in Gianyar,” he continued. “The local communities also play a great role as they come out to perform cultural dances as part of the efforts to cheer on the runners.”

The BII Maybank Bali Marathon offers total prize money of USD150,000. It features a full marathon race of 42.195 km, a “half-marathon” of 21.0975 kilometers, a 10-kilometer run as well as a Children’s Sprint category.

In addition, for the second time this year, there will be a “5-km wheelchair category” where over 40 wheelchair marathon contenders will participate together with celebrity runners.

“When we planned for this event, we wanted to ensure that we impact the community positively through our event,” explained Dato’ Khairussaleh. “We have been implementing a number of educational initiatives to help support schools along the route, organised cleanliness competitions for villages along the route, and helped build a clinic for the needy in Gianyar, run by Yaysan Bumi Sehat.”

The BII Maybank Bali Marathon route has been certified by the International Measurement Certificate number INA2012/009 for the Full marathon and Half marathon and endorsed by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).

Last year’s winner was Lilan Kennedy Kiproo of Kenya who won the marathon in a time of 02:16:54.

Updated information on the BII Maybank Bali Marthon 2013 is available at www.balimarathon.com, on facebook at www.facebook.com/BaliMarathon and twitter @BaliMarathon.