Big Prize Money Marathon to Be Held

A marathon with the largest amount of prize money ever will be held by Britain-based Standard Chartered Bank. Prize money of $1,245,000 will be offered. This event, a series of four marathon races, will take place under four different conditions and environments: first in a high plateau, second in a hot and humid area, third in a hot and dry region, and the last among steep hills.

Starting in Nairobi, Kenya on October 24, the race will continue in Singapore on December 5; in Mumbai, India on January 15, 2005; and in Hong Kong on February 27, 2005. A team will be made up of four runners, and each member will have one specific city to run. The results of four members will be totaled to determine the rank.

Nairobi is situated at 1,600 meters above sea level, and Singapore is known for sweltering heat that goes up to 32 degrees Celsius. Mumbai is dry and is usually under the heat of 30 degrees in Celsius. The course in Hong Kong is very hilly, with many up and downhill roads.

The amount of prize money in the team race is $1 million, including $400,000 given to the first place winners. In addition, $145,000 and $100,000 are allotted to national and individual races, respectively. In total, this event offers $1,245,000 to the winners.

Kim Gun-han of the Seoul Olympic Sports Promotion Foundation, Kim Sang-woo of Korea National Sport University, Lee Bong-gyu of Konkuk University, and Kim Seok-su of Korea Electric Power Corporation will participate in this race. They have been selected by the Korea Athletic Federation. “Since this is an extremely difficult race to run, we thought it would be better to give opportunities to young athletes rather than ace runners. Our young runners will have a tremendous boost in confidence if they successfully finish the race,” said Choi Kyung-ryul of the Korea Athletic Federation.

This year, anyone over the age of 18 can participate in this event, so the race is expected to attract a number of world’s top long-distance runners. Around 70,000 people registered in last year’s race.

The organization committee of this race decided to donate $170,000 for visually impaired people, including $1,000 for every kilometer that Henry Wanyoike, a visually handicapped marathoner from Kenya, runs. Wanyoike is the world record holder for 10 km race among disabled runners.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com