Abebe, Skah to arrive here today
Abebe, Skah to arrive here today
JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Addis Abebe of Kenya and
Olympic gold medalist Khalid Skah of Morroco are slated to arrive
here this evening for the Bob Hasan 10-kilometer road race here
on Sunday.
Other well known participants of the US$250,000 annual event,
American Shannon Butler and compatriot Ann Marie Letko, will land
at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport this morning.
Abebe, who clocked the world's best time of 27 minutes and 40
seconds last year, and Skah, the Olympic's 10,000-meter track
gold medalist, are vying for the whopping bonus of $500,000 set
aside by the organizers. Abebe earned the enormous sum of money
for his new world record to add to his winner's $25,000 check.
China's rising stars Wang Jungxia, the 10,000m and 3,000m
world record holder, Qu Yunxia, 1,500m world record holder and
the 3,000m world champion, and the 3,000m world junior record
setter Ma Ningning will highlight the women's division. Ma's Army
squad is expected to arrive on Friday.
Other foreign runners who have confirmed their entries are
Garry Staines of England and P. Jayanthi of Malaysia. The 10km
loop course will serve as the warm-up meet for the international
marathon in London a week later.
Chairman of the committee B. Chaidir said yesterday at least
7,500 runners, most of them students, would join the race which
was dubbed the world's richest run.
"We will limit the number of entrants to 10,000," Chaidir
said.
Indonesia will bank on Asia Marathon runner-up Eduardus
Nabunome, Ethel Hudson, Suyono and Nuraimin in the men's category
and Suryati and Ruliyati in the women's event.
"We expect to feature more runners who join training camps in
their respective province," Chaidir added. "We are looking
forward to hearing their confirmation from their coaches."
The race was inaugurated in Bali in 1987 and was staged there
three times before being moved to the vicinity of the ancient
Buddhist temple Borobudur for the next three years. Jakarta has
been playing host to the event since last year. (amd)