1. Race Intro
Runner’s Aid started in 1994, Japan, to organize fund raising activities for production of artificial limbs in developing countries using a part of the marathon entry fee. In developing countries, 2 million children suffered from polio, which was brought under control in developed countries. 10% of 12 million of Hansen’s disease sufferers all over the world needs shoe shaped limbs. In Cambodia, many people lost their limbs by the anti-personnel land mines through years of internal fighting. In fact, Cambodia has been strewn with more landmines than any other country, and every month hundreds are killed or maimed. Now the 3.5 million maimed people out of 5 million from all over the world lived in Asia, and need to exchange their prosthetic limbs every 3 to 4 years. However they have to produce by their own since Japanese products are expensive. The director of Rehabilitation Center of Hyogo, Dr. Sawamura’s idea of “Asia prosthetic limbs Center” is a plan to develop factories, machinery, and human recourse. In April 1996, 3 personnels visited Cambodia to research the situation. A pledge from the authorities concerned was made and the very first Angkor Wat International Half Marathon was held. This continues until today, despite of various disturbances such as an outbreak of conflict.
2. Registration & Race Packet Pick-up
Registration cost USD$40 for the half-marathon and USD$30 for all other distance. However, Cambodian need to pay only USD$2.
Collection was at City Angkor Hotel, 14th-16th Dec 06, which was just a short drive from Siem Reap airport. Unfortunately, when we dropped by at the hotel at 9am, we were told that the champion chip has not arrived yet. So we had to make another trip in the late morning.
There wasn’t much fun-fare or any race expo exhibition but just 2 separate registration tables: 1 for the Saturday Cycling Race and 1 for the Sunday Run. This was the first year that the 40km/85km bike race was added to the event.
The race pack collection was a pretty dull and uneventful process, though we did get to test our chip at the registration counter. Just flashed the chip across the device and your bib number and name would be displayed on the notebook, which must have been the most exciting thing during the race pack collection.
