Sarawak Regatta 2008

Tuesday July 15, 2008 The Star

Sarawak makes regatta a national do

KUCHING: The popular Sarawak Regatta, which offers a rich purse of RM230,000 to winners, goes national this year.
Event organising chairman Rodziah Morshidi said all the states in the peninsula and Sabah had been invited to compete in the inaugural inter-state 20-paddlers race.
She said two other new categories – inter-varsity, and government and corporate agencies (both 20 paddlers) – had also been introduced in the annual event at the Kuching Waterfront from Aug 1-3.
“Entries were received from 283 teams (comprising 5,393 participants) as of July 11,” she told reporters at the Urban Development and Tourism Ministry office at Bangunan Baitulmakmur here yesterday.
She said she expected more entries in the next few days as nearly 400 teams competed in last year’s event, which offered some RM150,000 in cash prizes.
Minister Datuk Wong Soon Koh later witnessed the handover of mock cheques from major sponsors.
Shell Bhd gave RM100,000 while Petronas Malaysia Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd RM50,000 each.
The organisers also received RM30,000 each from Ta Ann Holdings Bhd, Global Upline Sdn Bhd and Murphy Sarawak Oil.
The federal Tourism Ministry gave RM300,000 and the state Tourism Ministry RM70,000.