SPORTOURISM — The Sleman Temple Run event is a legendary sport tourism event held by the Sleman Regency Tourism Office in collaboration with Trail Runners Yogyakarta (TRY) since 2016 and had stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic. This event is the only running concept in the world that is presented by running across cultural tourism areas in the form of temples in the Kapanewon Prambanan area, Sleman Regency such as Banyunibo Temple, Ijo Temple, Barong Temple, Arca Gupala Temple, and several other ancient sites and natural tourist attractions.
Head of the Sleman Regency Tourism Office Ishadi Zayid, SH, said that the Sleman Temple Run is an international cross-country running event that has a different concept from other running events in Indonesia. In the initial stage, the Sleman Temple Run competed in three categories, namely 7K, 13K and 25K. However, over the past two years, the Sleman Temple Run has offered changes to the categories, namely 5K, 15K, and 30K for various reasons.
The determination of the 5K category is intended to open up wide opportunities for more beginner participants to be able to join this event. So that students, college students and the general public who are inexperienced can also participate starting from this relatively light category. The 13K category becomes 15K is intended to increase the capacity of middle category participants.
While 25K becomes 30K in addition to being intended to increase the capacity of participants. Now the Sleman Temple Run is a trail race that has been recommended by the Indonesian Trail Running Association (ALTI) and has met the requirements as an international scale event determined by the International Trail Running Association (ITRA).
The 2023 and 2024 Sleman Temple Run events have been officially included as international level sport tourism events, so it is hoped that the Sleman Temple Run will attract more fans and become a proud event for the people of Sleman in particular and Yogyakarta in general.
On the other hand, this event is an effective media in promoting tourism at the national and international levels which has a positive impact on increasing the number of tourist visits to Sleman Regency and DIY.
Meanwhile, the Head of Trail Runners Yogyakarta Roostian Gamananda said that the 8th Sleman Temple Run in 2023 was considered a success with almost 1,200 participants from 23 countries including Indonesia.
All participants from within and outside the country were seen enthusiastically following the exotic temple tour route including Banyunibo Temple, Ijo Temple, Barong Temple, Arca Gupala Temple, Ratu Boko Temple and Tebing Breksi. In addition to enjoying the natural atmosphere, the view of the temples from the past was also entertained with various traditional arts and cultural performances along the track.
The enthusiasm of participants in participating in the 9th Sleman Temple Run this year has also increased. This can be seen from the early bird registration data and regular registration which is still ongoing until now. The early bird registration quota of 150 registrants was almost fulfilled in less than 1 (one) hour, and until now the total number of registrants has been recorded as 792 participants from the target of 1,500 participants.
In the 8th Sleman Temple Run in 2023, foreign participants included Germany, Hungary, France, Colombia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Gambia, Malawi, Thailand, Algeria, Cambodia, Brunei, Yemen, South Korea, Belarus, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Malaysia, Russia, and Vietnam.
Therefore, those interested in participating in this event are expected to immediately register online via the slemantemplerun.comm website and will be officially closed in early August 2024 – (*)
