A marathon in Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) tomorrow is to feature snacks, beer and pole dancers at the rest stations along its route.
The town’s seventh annual marathon is organized by the township office and the Huwei Marathon Association.
While the event is famous for the caliber of its rest station food vendors, this year it will feature pole dancers on the start and at select rest stations, association president Chen Ke-chang (陳克昌) said.
The dancers, who have never been featured before, will make for a very interesting event, he said, adding that the organizers have requested they be somewhat more conservatively dressed than usual to suit the event.
The dancers will probably not be able to run in the marathon, although this was requested by some participants, Chen said.
The 15 rest stations will serve beef, shrimp, dumplings, rice cakes, radish cakes, stirred fried noodles and other snacks with beer, as well as souvenirs, he said.
Each year, the marathon focuses on an attraction or industry from the county, with this year’s theme showcasing cotton towel manufacturing, the organizers said.
An estimated 6,000 people have registered to run in the event’s different categories, including 2,300 in the full marathon and 1,700 in the half marathon. There are another 1,300 registered in the 10km race and 440 in the 3.5km race, he said, adding that there is even a special division for the visually impaired.
Plenty of medical volunteers and local hospital teams will patrol the route and set up aid stations to ensure participants’ safety, Chen said, adding that the organizers are aware of heat stroke risks.
“I suppose runners need to have something to wake up early in the morning for, although I do hope the organizers have not forgotten this is supposed to be marathon,” township resident Chang Wen-hua (張文華) said.
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