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f embracing a new day running through a tranquil, mountainous area filled with fascinating cultural activities, including sipping legendary coffee, sounds like your kind of sport, then participating in the upcoming Toraja Marathon should be at the top of your to-do list.

The Toraja Marathon, which will be held on Aug. 13 and is jointly organized by professionals and a Toraja diaspora group, is aimed at those who already have an affinity for running.

'€œSports tourism is the key word. We want to promote local areas through a sports event that can be handled by not only professional runners, but also the entire family,'€ Sakti Parantean, head of the organizing committee said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The annual event aims to see 1,000 runners, both locals and foreign, participating over the four categories, namely the 5-kilometer, 10-km, 21-km half marathon and 42-km full marathon.

The event will provide two registration categories; '€œopen and close'€. Open means that everyone is welcome to register, while close will be only for those who want to participate on the 5 km and 10 km categories.

'€œWe'€™ll be opening the registration period starting March 20,'€ he said.

The committee has provided several traveling packages so that those who are interested can choose one that is suitable for their needs.

The runners will pass at least two types of track; road running and semi trail, across two regencies, Tana Toraja and North Toraja.

'€œYou will run with great landscapes around you. The Tongkonan horn-shaped traditional houses and various cultural events will likely be unforgettable accompaniments,'€ he said.

Regarding accommodation, Sakti made assurances that there would be more than enough hotels and homestays to accommodate participants. He said that an estimated 100,000 people came to Toraja during the commemoration of 100 years of the bible entering Toraja in 2013.

'€œWe don'€™t have a problem with accommodation,'€ he said.

There will be awards and money for the victors, but Sakti didn'€™t elaborate further on how much or what they would be.

Early social media and mouth-to-mouth promotional campaigns have already been launched. Sakti added that several runners who participated in the recent Tokyo Marathon wore shirts bearing the logo of the Toraja marathon.

Riko Pribadi, a professional runner, said that many of his peers wanted to join the event.

'€œI'€™ve received text messages, calls from friends, both local and abroad, who are enthusiastic about this event,'€ he said.

However, in order to realize their grand plans, the committee must put in a lot of work. Nefo Ginting, the event organizer, said that given the absence of direct flights to and from Toraja, the committee was now involved in serious discussions with the local administration regarding transport availability.

'€œWe have been receiving great support from the local administration. They are providing enough buses to take the participants to and from the event,'€ said Nefo, a veteran organizer who has sucessfully organized similar events in Samosir, North Sumatra and Rinjani, West Nusa Tenggara.

According to the committee, there will be 256 busses serving the route from Makassar to Toraja during the event. In fact, a group of luxurious buses will also be deployed to serve the route.

Markus Nari, member of the House of Representatives'€™ commission II overseeing home affairs and regional autonomy, who is originally from Toraja, said that an international airport was also on the cards.

'€œAs much as Rp 1.5 trillion has been allocated to build the airport, but we are not seeing any progress at present. We urge the government to continue construction,'€ he said.