Brunei will be celebrating this year's Olympic Day in Belait district for the first time ever.

An Olympic Day Run is held annually to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympics on 23 June 1894 in Paris, and this year's event will see the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council (BNOC) collaborate with the Department of Youth and Sports to organise the event at Taman Persiaran in Jalan Sungai, Kuala Belait.

A mass warm-up exercise will be conducted prior to the 7:00am start, following which BNOC president His Royal Highness Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah will launch and take part in the run.

In a press release issued yesterday the Department of Youth and Sports highlighted the day's importance.

"Olympic Day is always celebrated all over the world, where thousands of people participate in sports activities," read the statement.

"This is to show that friendship, unity and peace can be achieved through sports the very core that the Olympic movement is striving for.

"In an effort to further educate and create awareness, as well as to give an opportunity for other communities to join the celebration, the Olympic Day Run this year will be held at Taman Persiaran, Jalan Sungai, Kuala Belait, away from its traditional venue Bandar Seri Begawan.

"In the future similar events will be organised in other districts," it promised.

Six categories will be contested; 2.5km for people with special needs, 10 km for men below 49 years, 5km for men below 15 years, 5km for women below 15 years, 5km for women open and 5 km for men above 50 years-old.

Free t-shirts will be given to all participants and will be distributed on a first come first serve basis.

Thousands of runners turned up at the Pedestrian Mall at the Indoor Stadium of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas for last year's event where five categories were contested with the athletes with special needs category (2km) was sub-divided into eight categories.

Courtesy from Brunei Times