BelitongToday, Sijuk – Belitung Regency Youth and Sports Department (Dispora) successfully held Belitung Beach Run 5K on Sunday (10/9).
Belitung Beach Run 5K was opened and closed directly by the Regent of Belitung, Sahani Saleh.
The Regent of Belitung, Sahani Saleh, released the participants of the Belitung Beach Run 5K marked by raising the start flag on the coast of the Tanjung Tinggi beach area, while the finish line was in the Tanjung Kelayang beach area.
A total of 749 participants participated in the annual event of the department. Participants were not only from Belitung, but also from outside the region such as East Belitung, South Bangka, Central Bangka, and Jakarta.
The participants took a five-kilometer running route. During the run, the participants were treated to the beauty of the coastline and granite rock formations owned by Belitung which has been recognized as a Unesco Global Geopark (UGG).
The Belitung Regent hoped that the event could support Belitung tourism.
“We hoped this activity could support the progress of Belitung tourism,” he said.
The Regent considered that this kind of beach running activity could promote the beauty of Belitung’s coastline.
The reason was that Belitung was one of the regions in Indonesia that had a coastline that wass connected to each other, not cut off by rivers or anything. So this could be an asset to be promoted both to domestic and international tourists.
“Not many areas have long coastlines and uninterrupted river flows and sort of it like in Belitung, as well as the charm of beauty to be offered,” he explained.
Sahani hoped that the Belitung Beach Run event in the future will not only competeing in 5K distance category but can be increased to 10K and so on.
“The starting line can be in the Pendaunan Beach area, step back a little from this starting line (Tanjung Tinggi beach), I think it can reach 10K and the coastline is also unbroken,” he explained.