Kota Kinabalu: This year’s Sabah International Dragon Boat Race is receiving overwhelming public response, said race chairman Tan Sri TC Goh.
Goh who is also Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) President and Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) President said since the programme was reactivated recently, “public response to both its main event (group participation) and the newly-added side event ‘sunset run’ has been beyond expectation.”
“The Covid-19 pandemic has reduced participation from overseas, but the response from our local participants has been very encouraging,” he said after a courtesy call on Mayor Datuk Noorliza Awang Alip, here, Tuesday.
“And so far, we have 133 teams signed up for various categories of the dragon boat race, while the ‘sunset run’ too has received participation from several hundred runners, which exceeded our target.”
The visit aimed to brief the Mayor on the progress of the preparations for the annual cultural sports event.
Also present were, City Hall director-general Junainah Abbie, FCAS Deputy President cum organising committee chairperson Datuk Susan Wong, FCAS Vice Presidents Datuk Chua Soon Ping, Kapitan Fung Chun Fatt, Ng Young Wah, and its youth chief, Chang Jeng Yung.
In her briefing, Wong touched on the need for the City Hall to ensure that public toilets located within the vicinity of the race venue are well maintained during the event, to cater to the public, tourists and the participants.
She explained that this is important because in order to save cost on lodgings, many participants from outstations will be camping on site, hence they need to use public toilets to wash up.
To this, Noorliza assured that the City Hall would do its best to provide the necessary support, especially to extend the operating hours of all the public toilets within the vicinity, besides deploying sufficient manpower to keep the venue clean during the race.
The City Hall will also be issuing public notice to inform the public of the temporary closure of the cycling lanes along the Likas Bay, during the event. She also promised to attend the finale of the dragon boat race, on July 3.
The 2022/7th FCAS International Dragon Boat Race will be held at the Likas Bay, from July 1-3, and will culminate with the final races on July 3, which will be officiated by Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.
Meanwhile, Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin will be officiating the “Sunset Beach Party” on July 1, and the inaugural “Sunset Run” will be flagged off by Sabah Youth and Sport Minister Datuk Ellron Angin, at 4pm, on July 2. And at noon of the same day, the new Chinese Consul-General in Kota Kinabalu, Huang Shifang, will be officiating the “Rice Dumpling cum Sabah Cuisines Tasting Fair”.
