SMC Tower Run makes a comeback after two-year hiatus

Seated from left, Jamil, Terence, Michelle, Zaiton, Yii and Izkandar at the press conference.

SIBU (Dec 27): After a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the much anticipated Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) Tower Run is making a comeback.

Event organising chairman Yii Suok Ming said the run, which is into its 5th edition, is tentatively fixed on March 18, 2023 at 6am at the 28-storey Wisma Sanyan, Sibu’s tallest building.

“We are targeting to get about 500 runners from throughout the world but everything is still in its initial stages. We will release more details about the run when we are ready with it,” he said at the press conference this morning.

In the last edition, around 500 runners including those from United Kingdom, Singapore, Philippines and Japan took part in the run.

Malaysian World No. 1 tower runner Soh Wai Ching eventually won the Elite category with a time of 2’56” for the 627-steps 126-metre high Wisma Sanyan.

“Soh has also agreed to be the ambassador for the coming event and will be helping to promote the event widely around the world, hopefully to get as much foreigners to come to participate as possible,” he added.

Yii said the run is not only aimed at attracting people of various demographics to converge in Sibu but also to promote healthy lifestyles to everyone around.

Additionally, he said it is also in line with enhancing SMC’s sustainable development goals and vision which is towards building a livable and sustainable city by 2031.

As this is one-of-a-kind event in Sibu, Yii encouraged the people to take this opportunity to participate in the event as a stepping stone towards building a healthy lifestyle and a platform to enhance the running experience and to basically share their time and moments together.

The tournament is jointly organised by SMC Social and Community Development (SCO) Committee and Sibu Underground Runners (SUR).

Sanctioned by the International Tower Running Association, the run is certainly not for the faint hearted as it needs all the courage and strength for the runners to conquer all the 627 steps.

SUR secretary Terence Tan said the run will come with a difference this time round.

“We will introduce the local food for the runners from other countries so that when they go back, they will promote our unique food to their countries.”

He was also grateful to SMC for putting its trust in SUR to jointly co-organise the event which required lots of planning.

Meanwhile, SCO chairperson Zaiton Abdul Kader said the tower run is one of SMC’s biggest events for 2023.

“With SUR’s wide experience, we believe they can attract more participants from all over the world to come here to take part.”

She said another meeting would be called to look into the final preparatory works.

“The last edition in 2020 was a huge success and hopefully, we will continue to get as many runners as possible.”

Among those at the event included SUR president Mohd Jamil Abdul Rahim, event vice organising chairperson Michelle Law and SCO deputy chairman Mohammad Abdullah Izkandar Roseley.

from Borneo Post Online https://ift.tt/0hLiAmS
via IFTTT