JAKARTA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's capital of Jakarta would resume its annual international event, the Jakarta Marathon, with over 16,000 people having registered, of which 1,585 were runners from 50 foreign countries and regions.
The event, themed "Never Give Up", was scheduled to be held on Oct. 29, consisting races with routes of 42.195km, 21km, 10km, 5km for professional athletes and for amateur ones.
A race for children, called Maratoonz, would also be contended.
The organizers said on Wednesday that the marathon event this year would provide total rewards of 774 million rupiah (about 57,200 U.S. dollars).
To start from Jakarta's landmark square of Monas, the fifth marathon event would use the routes applied last year which passed over Jakarta's iconic and landmark places.
"The Jakarta Marathon routes have received grade A certifications issued by Association of International Marathon and Distance Races (AIMS) and International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)," head of Jakarta Marathon Organizing Committee Sapta Nirwandar said.
The event was expected to make Jakarta Marathon par with the ones held in Boston, Paris, Berlin and Tokyo, he said, adding such a sports tourism event gives huge potentialities to expand tourism sector.
He added the organizers would provide live-streaming coverage over the whole process that can be accessed worldwide.
Indonesia Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the event has significant contribution in the development of tourism in the capital city, thus would help the government in coping with the target of 15 million foreign tourist arrivals this year.
