Over 4000 participants, including 1500 international runners from approximately 40 countries are expected to take part in this year’s event.
Since the inaugural event in 2006 there has been an impressive one hundred per cent increase in entries from 2038 in 2006 to an anticipated 4450 in 2009. The organisers Go Adventure Asia are also delighted that the level of entries forecast for this year is up ten percent from last year. Despite the global economic crisis and the slowdown in international tourism, the increase in athlete numbers demonstrates that participatory events targeting international audiences are an effective mechanism to drive tourism in these complex times. Raimund Wellenhofer, Race Director of the Laguna Phuket International Marathon strongly believes in long term, sustainable growth. “When we envisioned a marathon in Phuket as early as 2004 we knew that success would not happen overnight. We have worked continuously over the last five years to promote the event to a worldwide audience. We have established relationships with travel agents around the world, regularly attend major international marathon expos to promote our event and use emarketing to communicate with our target market. We are excited to see that this hard work is now starting to pay off.” She continues “We feel certain that experiences gained from this marathon will help all runners push back their limit in running. And to offer runners an experience of our innovations, Nike will showcase the ‘Nike Free 5.0’, a training shoe that allows natural, barefoot-like movement while offering protection and traction of a lightweight performance shoe at the Laguna Phuket International Marathon two -day expo. We will make it available for runners to try at the expo.
Nike hopes very much that our support for this marathon will inspire more and more Thai people to stay healthy and strong through regular exercise.”