Becoming The Host Of The Largest Running Event, Walkot Farhan Wants Bandung To Be The Second Runner's Home

The largest annual hybrid running activity in Indonesia took place in the city of Bandung, West Java for 2 days on 19-20 July 2025. A total of 16,000 runners ran together offline at Bandung City Hall and 30,435 runners ran simultaneously virtually from Aceh to Papua.

Muhammad Farhan, Mayor of Bandung revealed that he wanted Bandung to be known as the second home for runners and strengthen competitiveness with running events that were already in other big cities. Therefore, various improvements have been made to provide a memorable running experience in Bandung.

"Including the selection of routes, I have invited all Heads of Service to understand that this is a joint effort that must be supported by all stakeholders, including the Office of Spatial Planning, Transportation, Youth and Sports, Highways, and others," said Farhan at the POCARI SWEAT Run Indonesia 2025 press conference.

This running event not only presents a running experience, but also touches various social, environmental and economic aspects. From 2022 to 2024, 11.4 tons of garbage have been successfully recycled through the initiative of the 'Disposal Point to TPA', reflecting its commitment to organizing environmentally friendly and responsible running events.

During the two days of implementation, thousands of runners took the route in the cool atmosphere of Bandung City. In the 5K, 10K, and Kids Dash categories, 7,699 runners had their races on Saturday since 05.00, and 8,324 half marathon participants raced on Sunday with starting points from Bandung City Hall since 04.00 am.

Marketing Director of PT Amerta Indah Otsuka, Puspita Winawati, said that his party chose to hold it again in Bandung to strengthen collaboration with all stakeholders in bringing the spirit of change.

"Support from the Bandung City Government (Pemkot) and its staff is extraordinaryly intensive, which was established months earlier, of course also supported by the West Java Provincial Government (Pemprov) to the police. This is done in order to provide a different running experience from before. The selection of new routes, early start and finish times, the elimination of marathon categories, and improvements made taking into account the comfort of the people of Bandung City and runners," said the woman who is familiarly called Vienna.

This year, a new initiative was added from previous activities, namely parades by cooperating with the young Bandung community to jointly pick up trash along the route. Wina added, Runners Support System is also presented through hydration at every 1.5-2.5 km, diesel facilities at 9 points, checking points along the route, providing treatment after running from POCARI SWEAT Sport Science, to a very complete medical and centralized coordination system to monitor medical conditions in the field and rapid medical treatment.