Undeterred by the COVID-19 pandemic, about 30,000 people are to participate in the Standard Chartered Taipei Marathon on Jan. 24 next year, Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) said yesterday.
The bank began accepting general registrations for the road race at 4pm yesterday.
Prior to that it had allocated 12,000 spots for early-bird entries, which were all taken within four days after registration opened on Tuesday last week, the bank said.
Photo: Screen grab from Facebook
Standard Chartered chief executive officer Anthony Lin (林遠棟) told a media conference in Taipei through a video message that he could feel the positive vibes brought by sports after this year completing his first half-marathon.
The bank invites people to join the race, which has been held annually since 2014, Lin said.
Last year, the bank launched a three-year project with Swarovski AG to honor legendary runners.
The Taipei race in January is to honor 29-year-old Japanese long-distance runner Suguru Osako, who this year set a Japanese record of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 29 seconds at the Tokyo Marathon, the bank said.
The theme for next year’s race is “never give up,” which characterizes Osako’s spirit, the bank said, adding that the slogan would be imprinted on the finishers’ medals.
In addition to 42km and 21km races, the event has 13km and 2.5km routes so that people of all ages can participate, it said.
To motivate more people to join the first marathon next year, Standard Chartered has invited Taiwanese runner Chang Chia-che (張嘉哲) and fashion blogger and model Molly Chiang (莫莉) to lead two teams to compete over 42km and 13km respectively, it said.
Chang, 37, said that the previous time he competed in Taiwan was at the 2013 National Games in Taipei.
Chang underwent surgery for a torn tibialis posterior tendon in 2014, which he said was the lowest point of his life.
He recovered and ran a personal best of 2:15:02 in last year’s Guangzhou Marathon, Chang said.
In a new feature for next year, elite runners would start three minutes ahead of the rest of the pack so that they have less crowded conditions, the Chinese Taipei Road Running Association said.
Standard Chartered has received more than NT$68 million (US$2.33 million) in donations through the marathon to help visually challenged people and young people from low and middle-income families to pursue their career goals, it said, adding that funds raised through next year’s race would supplement that total.
Standard Chartered head of corporate affairs and brand marketing Gillian Chen (陳穎勳) said that part of the registration fee would help fund Futuremakers, a Standard Chartered Group global initiative seeking to promote greater economic inclusion for young people.
People can donate to the initiative when they register for next year’s race, Chen said, adding that it raised NT$2.5 million in donations from this year’s race.
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