Jakarta – Central Java’s major sports tourism event, the Borobudur Marathon, was held again this year. Thousands of runners from various Indonesia crowded into the Borobudur temple area.

The Borobudur Marathon 2022 event will be held over two days, November 12-13, 2022. For the first day, 37 elite runners and 30 young national athletes competed to conquer the distance of 42.195 km and 10 km. Meanwhile, 4,552 runners will participate in the Candi Tilik category on Sunday (11/13/2022).

The Governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo, was present in person to free the participants. At 05:00 WIB, Ganjar raised the starting flag accompanied by his wife, Siti Atikoh Ganjar Pranowo, Managing Director of Bank Jateng, senior Kompas officials, Chairman of Borobudur Foundation and others.

“Ready? I see everyone’s enthusiasm. To raise the spirit of friends, who can break the national record, I will give a bonus of 50 million rupees,” Ganjar said, before releasing the runners.

Ganjar is also very happy, because in the Borobudur marathon this time there is a category of young talents. A total of 30 student-age participants from various regions were selected and had the opportunity to enter the contest this time around.

“I’m happy because there are young people coming. They can be in the same frame as our elite runners. It must be a big impression. I hope you can cheer them up. And from this event, we can give birth to new athletes. They are young, enthusiastic and have a strong motivation to become great athletes,” he explained.

The economy is squirming

The Borobudur Marathon is not just expected of runners. This annual event is also highly anticipated by the people of Magelang as they can derive abundant fortune from this event.

“The people of Magelang are looking forward to this event. Because almost every year it takes place, the economy of the Magelang people gets more and more strained,” Ganjar said.

With the presence of thousands of runners, the hotels and hostels of Magelang are filling up. Food, souvenir and other vendors are a blessing.

“I looked left and right, the host family was full. I also asked the residents, they said, all full, sir. There are even residents who rent out their homes to visitors. I am happy, because this event is able to boost the local economy,” he said.