Dec, 06 2015 – 8,000 runners from local and overseas turned up at the starting line of the “2015 Macau Galaxy Entertainment International Marathon” this morning. Ukraine’s Vitality Shafar swept the Marathon champion title in the Male’s category in 2:14:44 whereas Olena Shurkhno from Ukraine came in the first in 2:33:24 in the Female’s category.

Titled sponsored for the twelfth year, Galaxy Entertainment Group (“GEG”) continued its staunch support for this international event and garnered up the Marathon’s Group Trophy for the eleventh consecutive year, showing GEG’s on-going commitment to support local sporting events and the enthusiastic response from its team members.

The event was kicked off with horn blasts by Mr. Alexis Tam Chon Weng, Secretary of Social Affairs and Culture, Mr. Lai Ieng Kit, Chief of Office of the Secretary of Social Affairs and Culture, Mr. José Maria da Fonseca Tavares, President of Macau Sport Development Board, Mr. Ma Iao Hang, President of Macau Athletic Association, together with Mr. Francis Lui, Vice Chairman of GEG. Mr. Francis Lui said, “GEG’s twelve-year title sponsorship of Macau International Marathon signifies our long-term commitment to fostering a sustainable sports culture within the community. Over the past decade, we have witnessed the Marathon growing into an internationally acclaimed sporting event, featuring an impressive combination of local amateur and professional running enthusiasts as well as those from overseas regions. I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the organizers of Macau International Marathon as the race has proven to be a great success in global marathon sports.”

Despite of the freezing weather, the runners started with determined and exhilarating spirit, surging ahead to the race routes. Among the GEG runners were senior executives including Mr. Francis Lui, Vice Chairman of GEG, Mr. Philip Cheng, Director of GEG and Ms. Eileen Lui, Group Director of Human Resources and Administration of GEG, who testify themselves with endurance in the long distance run and enjoy the fun with team members running side-by-side. Along the race routes accommodated GEG team members sending their cheers and voluntarily handing out drinks not only to the GEG runners but also to other athletes passing by, demonstrating GEG’s cooperative and unifying spirit. Towards the end of the event, GEG runners seized the Marathon’s Group Trophy after successfully completed the long run.

Ms. Mo Mei Ling from GEG City Clubs joined the Mini Marathon and grabbed the champion title in the Female C category. She said, “This is my fourth time to join the Mini Marathon and I am so thrilled to have won the champion title for the second time. As you may know that running in long distance need a lot of physical strength and practice, so I would like to express my sincere thanks to GEG team members who cheer for us. I would like to join the marathon next year and challenge myself to break my own record.” 

Since its inception in 1981, “2015 Macau Galaxy Entertainment International Marathon” has been embraced by the city and its citizen as its very own. Coming to the thirty-fourth year, the event has attracted 8,000 runners with 1,200 joining Full Marathon, 2,600 joining Half Marathon and 4,200 joining the Mini Marathon. In light of increasing demand from runners, the organizer has decided to raise the quota from 6,000 to 8,000 which were filled up shortly after the registration started. This year also marks Macau’s tenth anniversary of the inscription of the city’s historic center into the UNESCO World Heritage list, the race routes of Full Marathon and Half Marathon specially included the heritage-listed A Ma Temple in order to demonstrate the solidarity of sports, tourism and culture in an unprecedented way. Moreover, runners also entered the underwater tunnel in Cotai to reach the University of Macau’s Hengqin Campus and bypassed Broadway Macau™ which was opened in May for the first time.