25 November
Some 500 runners participated in the Seventh Adventure Bagan Temple Marathon held at the east gate of Htilominlo Temple on 23 November, in a bid to encourage sport tourism.
The runners included some 300 athletes from Myanmar and over 200 runners from 34 foreign countries.
Mandalay Region Minister for Planning and Finance U Myat Thu, Director-General of Hotels and Tourism U Maung Maung Kyaw and other officials opened the race.
The Bagan Temple Marathon is organized by Denmark-based Albatros Travel and Myanmar Voyages Tourism Company in Bagan in November every year. Since the first race in 2013, there have been 2000 participants from Myanmar and abroad.
In the men’s event, Naing Lin Tun from Bagan won first prize, with Kyi Soe from Bagan winning second prize. In the women’s event, Ma Cherry Khaing won first prize and Laura Zwaantje Jantina Nijburg from the Netherlands won second prize.
In the men’s Half Marathon race, Htay Ko Ko won first prize and Naung Jar won second prize. In the women’s Half Marathon race, Nicola Jane Wan Yer from Hong Kong won first prize.
In the men’s Full Marathon competition, M. Heiner Bufe of Germany won first prize and Ernesto Ciravegna from Italy won second prize.
In the women’s full marathon, Nivola Cooper won first prize.
As the youngest runner, Moe Thit Lu, aged eight years, participated for his second time, while 76-year old U Saw Maung Maung Htwe was the oldest runner for the seventh consecutive year. — Thet Lwin Toe
(Translated by Ba Htoo)
