Fun run to return to Guia Circuit for the 70th-anniversary

The commemoration of the Macau Grand Prix’s 70th anniversary this year will see the return of the fun run to the Guia Circuit, the Macau Grand Prix organizing committee announced yesterday in a press conference.

The run, comprising a 6.2 km lap of the motorsports race track, returns after being part of the 65th GP and has been well received by the public. Slots were sold quickly, as the coordinator of the MGPOC and president of the Sports Bureau, Pun Weng Kun, said yesterday on the sidelines of the launching event.

As it did five years ago, the Bank of China-Macau (BOC) will sponsor this event, which will see 4,000 runners of all ages and levels participating. The run will go out on track on Nov. 5 (Sunday) from 6:30 a.m.

All residents, non-residents and tourists over the age of 15 – born on or before 2008 – are eligible to participate through an online registration that starts 9 a.m. this Sunday (Oct. 22) and ends as soon as all available positions are taken.

To join the fun run, participants must pay a MOP50 registration fee.

The run will begin and end at the Grand Prix’s start-finish line, in front of the Macau Grand Prix Building on the Avenida da Amizade.

During the press conference, the BOC’s representative, Ip Sio Kai, stated the institution’s long-term commitment and support of sports events, noting that BOC has been holding charity runs for 11 consecutive years.

Ip also recalled the BOC headquarters tower stair climbing event, adding that the institution has also established several scholarship programs dedicated to local sports and education sectors.

At the same opportunity, Pun expressed his hopes that the series of family-oriented events conducted concurrently with the GP can attract more tourists to Macau during this season and entice them to stay longer, thus contributing to the region’s economic recovery plan that began when the borders reopened earlier this year.

GP circuit construction on schedule, full details soon

The construction of circuit barriers and other preparatory works for the racing event are on schedule, Pun told the media on the sidelines of the press conference that launched the GP fun run this year.

Questioned on the details about the event that officially starts on Nov. 11, the GP coordinator said full details about participants’ entries as well as the full racing program will be unveiled in the second half of this month.

When they unveiled the event in mid-July, organizers said the 70th Macau Grand Prix would run across two weekends with five races presented on the first weekend (Nov. 11 and 12) and another six on the second (Nov. 16 to 19). However, only four races from the first weekend’s five have been announced, including the Macau Asia Formula 4, the Greater Bay Area GT Cup, the TCR Asia Challenge and the Macau Roadsport Challenge with organizers leaving one last event to be unveiled.