The Borobudur Marathon is hoped to become a world-class competition, with improvements encompassing road infrastructure, accommodations and a ballot system for participants.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Borobudur Marathon is hoped to become a world-class competition and part of the World Marathon Majors. To achieve this, the race’s quality must continuously be improved.
“Our dream is that the Borobudur Marathon be included in the World Marathon Majors. Improvement is inevitable,” Kompas deputy chief Budiman Tanuredjo told a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday (18/6/2019), which marked 150 days until the marathon in November 2019.
The Borobudur Marathon is organized by the Central Java administration, Kompas and Bank Jateng regional development bank. This year’s event will be its third iteration, with starting and finish points at the Lumbini Park Complex at Borobudur temple in Magelang.
Attending the event were Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, the Youth and Sports Ministry’s undersecretary for sports culture, Raden Isnanta, Bank Jateng president director Supriyanto and actress Sigi Wimala as Borobudur Marathon ambassador.
The number of Borobudur Marathon runners has increased year after year. This year’s run will employ a random-drawing system. Some 17,020 domestic and foreign runners had registered from May 1-31. The Borobudur area has a capacity of between 10,000 and 11,000 participants. The list of participants who passed the selection process will be published on June 19-25.
Equal opportunity
In the ballot selection method, all registrants have equal opportunity to be selected for participation. The system is commonly used in world marathons.
To ensure the Borobudur Marathon’s qualification as an international marathon destination, Budiman said several factors should be improved, including the road width on the event’s route, the availability of comfortable accommodation, the number of participants, the amount of prizes and live TV broadcast.
Currently, six marathons are included on the World Marathon Majors list, namely Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. The Tokyo Marathon can have up to 20,000 participants. To increase the Borobudur Marathon’s number of runners, road infrastructure must be widened and the number of accommodations increased.
Regarding infrastructure improvement, Ganjar said his administration would talk with Borobudur temple complex management to widen roads surrounding the complex. However, the width of roads in the surrounding villages will remain the same, as this will boost the locales’ attractiveness. “We hope that the Borobudur Marathon will be the best marathon in Indonesia,” he said.
To ensure accommodation availability, locals around the temple complex are urged to set up their houses as homestays. If locals wish to renovate their homes and turn them into accommodations, Bank Jateng will provide credit loans with low interest rates. (AYU)