The event was a fun, family oriented affair open for all ages and the general public. 1,200 runners joined the race which started and finished at JW Marriott Phuket’s parking‘s lot and encompassed the surrounding beauty of the Mai Khao village.
There were two distances: 4.5km fun run and a 10.5km mini marathon on a new improved route with
spectacular view of Andaman Sea. For both, overall fun run 4.5km and 10.5Km - male and female category, trophies and cash prizes were awarded for 1st to 5th place finishers.
The annual Turtle Fun Run and Mini Marathon – while also aiming to encourage in people a healthy lifestyle – is a collaborative effort by the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation and its partners to raise funds and awareness of the conservation work done by the Phuket Marine Biological Center and its “The Injured Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Program” to rescue, rehabilitate and release [recovered] injured turtles, dolphins, whales and dugongs.
Phuket’s endangered sea turtles – which use Mai Khao Beach as a nesting ground – are facing multiple threats, their numbers having severely depleted in recent years. Commercial fishing kills thousands of them every year, while many more die from eating or becoming trapped in plastic debris littering the ocean.