Abdul Karim (7th right), Dr Sim (6th right) and others in a group photo during the flagging off of Kuching Marathon 2022 today.

KUCHING, Oct 2: The international Kuching Marathon 2022 event has kicked off with the flagging off of almost 2,000 participants for the 42km category at 1am today.

Sarawak Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said despite the two-year postponement due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he was proud to announce that this year’s marathon has not lost its fans with a total participation of over 10,000 people.

“For the 42km category, there were almost 2,000 participants. We are content with that number since we have just picked up from Covid-19. InsyaAllah, the number will increase in the coming years,” he said when flagging off the event.

He further mentioned that most participants came from outside Kuching City, such as Miri, Sibu, Bintulu, and so on.

He also said there were 713 participants from foreign countries such as Indonesia (321), Brunei (170), Singapore (109), China (14), the United Kingdom (13), Kenya (12), the Philippines (7), Australia (7), Hong Kong (6), Japan (6), United States (4), India (2), Taiwan (2), Thailand (2), Germany (1), New Zealand (1), and Nigeria (1).

He also said 35 participants were from throughout the country.

Amongst those present were Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, Kuching South City Council (MBKS) Mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng, and Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) Mayor Datu Junaidi Reduan.