Around 400 runners out of a total of 2,750 participants in the "Suroboyo 10K" running race reached the finish line with a time of under 45 minutes in the event, which was held for the first time in Surabaya.
"The runners' track is quite sterile because the streets of Surabaya are wide enough to share space with motorists and other road users," Satyo Haryo Wibisono, Chairman of the Road Race Commission of the Indonesian Athletics Association (PB PASI), told reporters in Surabaya on Sunday.
Satyo assessed that the level of sterilization of the runners' track in this event, which reached 95 percent, was one of the factors that enabled 400 athletes to record times under 45 minutes.
"Hopefully, this news will reach all runners, not only in Indonesia but also abroad. It shows that Surabaya has a 10-kilometer track where you can run fast," he said.
Satyo is optimistic that in the following years, many international runners will participate in this event in order to improve their recorded times.
