25,500 runners expected for Jakarta 10K

25,500 runners expected for Jakarta 10K

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The race organizer for the Jakarta International 10K has met
its goal of surpassing last year's figure of 23,000 participants.

"The number of runners for the race has reached over 25,000,"
Taufik Yudi Mulyanto, the head of the Jakarta youth and sports
affairs agency (Disorda), who is organizing the race, said after
a press conference on Thursday.

Event organizer Kendilima showed data from Disorda that 25,500
runners were registered for Sunday.

The organizer also confirmed that the Rp 600 million
(US$66,000) race would have a total of 32 international runners
in the field. They include athletes from Kenya, Tanzania,
Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

A total of 19 national runners, many of them preparing for the
Southeast Asian Games later this year, will also compete on
Sunday.

The race will start at 6:30 a.m., with a route from the
National Monument in the center of the city, leading along the
main streets of Jl. Thamrin and Sudirman to the Semanggi
cloverleaf, and back to the monument.

The winners in the international men's and women's categories
will receive US$11,000 respectively, while national winners in
men's and women's division will take home prize money of Rp 15
million each.

Although a bonus was available in the past for a world record,
it will not be on offer this year.

"We will not give such an incentive for a world record
breaker, but probably next year," Taufik said.

At the same event, the chief of the Athletics Association of
Indonesia, Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, awarded a certificate from the
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to the
city for its organization of the race.

"The Jakarta 10K (organizing committee) has fulfilled a number
of requirements set by the IAAF, such as good measurement of the
distance and the arrangement of doping tests after the race.
Therefore, the IAAF awards the certificate to the race," Hasan
said.

Business tycoon and former minister Hasan was instrumental in
setting up the first international 10K race in Bali in 1987.