Date Posted: 05 Feb 2010

Kota Kinabalu: The Borneo International Marathon is back this year and will be an even more exciting event following the collaboration between Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa, Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort and Championship Sports Events Sdn Bhd.

This annual event, which is slated for May 2, this year, is the third BIM and the first time for all parties involved to work in tandem.

"We are very happy to receive support from Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa and Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort. Their involvement in this event will be an added boost to promote sports tourism in Sabah locally and internationally.

"It will be great for our participants and I am sure we can all look forward to a more interesting event this year. Last year's participation was 1,400 runners and this year, participation is expected to increase by 45 percent to 2,000 runners," said Championship Sports Events Sdn Bhd Director, Andrew Voon.

He told reporters this at a media conference at the Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa here, yesterday.

Also present were general managers of the two Shangri-La properties, Andrew Steele (Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa) and Timothy Wright (Rasa Ria), among others.

Registrations for BIM 2010 commenced yesterday to allow participants the opportunity to schedule their travel plans ahead of time. Dubbed 'the beautiful run', the marathon passes through the city and many of Kota Kinabalu's interesting tourist sights.

When asked why the marathon this year is scheduled much earlier than last years run which was held in October, Voon said, "There are few marathons scheduled around this period of time so we hope it would attract more participants".

According to Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa's Communication's Manager, Samantha Siow, who incidentally became the first person to register for the run this year, BIM has raised more than RM44,000 for local charities since its inaugural event in 2008.

She said that while 10 percent of all participation fees are donated to charity, this year a new incentive has been introduced to the mechanics of the participation to encourage runners to help raise more funds for charity.

Additional options include a choice of paying an entry fee of RM200 where the additional amount over the standard entry fee would be contributed to charity.

Runners can also get their friends and family members to pledge and sponsor them to raise additional funds for the charity of their choice.

The top three fund-raising champions would be rewarded with attractive prizes by the two Shangri-La resorts.

Nominated charities for this year are Seri Mengasih, HUTAN (Orang Utan Research and Conservation), Befrienders, Borneo Child Aid Society, Mercy Malaysia, Food For The Hungry International (Sabah) and Emmanuel Homes.

The event organisers have secured a number of sponsors to date such as River Park Rose Garden, 100Plus, Borneo Water, Power Bar, Sloan's Analgesic Rub, Provitron Multivitamins, Flavettes Vitamin C and Nestle (Milo).

For further information on sponsorship, participation or to volunteer please contact Andrew Voon at 088-218833 or email to info@borneomarathon.com.

(Source: New Sabah Times, 02 Feb 2010)