Indonesia keen to make Batam Bridge Marathon annual event

JAKARTA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) - Indonesia is keen to make bridge-crossing marathon in Batam, Riau province an annual event following the recent success of initial event which attracted hundreds of people, including runners from 11 countries and regions.

Indonesia Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that the recent Batam Bridge Marathon was a bright innovative move to further boost tourism in Batam by offering a sports tourism event that gives unprecedented experiences for the runners.

"We highly appreciate the organizer's hard works to hold the marathon. We are ready to give further support. We hope this program would be designated as an annual tourism event in Batam," the minister said on Monday to hail the success of the marathon event.

The Batam Bridge Marathon that held on Sunday contended long and short haul run competitions that comprised of 42, 21 and 10 kilometers, offering total rewards of 250 million rupiah (about 18,447 U.S. Dollars).

Besides domestic runners, the competition was participated by athletes from Singapore, Malaysia, China, India, Turkey, Kenya, Japan, France, Mongolia and Finland among others.

The marathon routes were designed to pass through four landmark bridges connecting Batam, Tonton, Nipah, Setokok and Rempang islands in the Indonesia's territory close to Singapore.

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