Historic gathering of 20,000

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Mammoth crowd: A record of 20,000 participants surging forward after being flagged off from the century-old Birch House at Penang Time Square on Jalan datuk Keramat during Penang Starwalk 2011.

PENANG Starwalk moved back to George Town this year and celebrated the city’s heritage in the process.

Clocking in the largest number of participants in the walk’s 34-year history, some 20,000 walkers converged on Jalan Datuk Keramat at the starting line in front of Birch House.

Many Starwalk participants who were afraid of getting caught in jams in the city centre were seen arriving for the walk on Rapid Penang buses.

Rapid Penang provided 33 buses to shuttle participants from five pick-up points to Komtar or Penang Times Square yesterday.

At 6.30am, Star Publications (M) Bhd executive director Tan Sri Kamal Hashim fired the pistol to start the competition race participated by some 4,270 competition walkers.

This was followed by a 7.15am flag-off by Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas for non-competition walkers and a 7.30am 1km charity walk that featured seven charities and the corporations which adopted them.

The showers that were forecasted held up and allowed for a beautiful morning for walkers to make their way through Penang’s heritage zone.

Competition walkers, who took a 10km route, were treated to additional heritage sights compared to their non-competition counterparts who walked a 6km route.

Participant Mok Keng Yee, 63, reading The Star while taking part in the fun walk.

However, non-competition walkers arguably enjoyed the sights more as many were seen taking their time absorbing the state’s tangible history.

Technician Wan Hamzah Wan Abdullah, 37, who has participated in Penang Starwalk since 2000, said the heritage route was a good idea as he could enjoy many scenic landmarks along the way.

“Usually, I don’t really spend time to know more about the heritage site here until now,” he said.

Among heritage icons on the walk’s route were the Town Hall, City Hall and Fort Cornwallis, all located around the Esplanade, E&O Hotel built in 1885 and two historic schools — Convent Light Street, the oldest girls’ school in South-East Asia, and St Xavier’s Institution, the first La Sallian school in the country.

Many non-competition walkers were also seen stamping heritage ‘passports’ sponsored by Penang Global Tourism to redeem prizes in a lucky dip sponsored by Sunshine Wholesale Mart Sdn Bhd.

Among Starwalkers seen admiring the heritage landmarks was Christina Chan, 25, who was spotted enthusiastically taking photos in front of Kuan Yin Temple on Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling.

“I came all the way from Kuala Lumpur to take part in this Starwalk. It’s an amazing feeling when I walk around the town with another 16,000 participants,” she said.

After the walkers made their way back to the finish line, they were treated to free flows of Milo, 100Plus, Malta, Sunquick and Nestle Fitnesse whole wheat cereal while games were also available at various sponsor booths.

McDonald’s also pitched in and sponsored breakfast for 700 officials and volunteers.

After a lively variety show held at the outdoor stage, lucky draw prizes including five motorcycles, iPad 2s, handphones, air tickets and GPS devices were given away to lucky participants.

State Education Department sports unit head Lee Swee Seng presented prizes to the top three schools with the highest participation in the walk.

They were SMJK Jit Sin, SMJK Chung Ling Butterworth and SMJK Heng Ee which received RM700, RM500 and RM300 in Popular book vouchers respectively.

Aside from the 1,367 students from these schools, many other school-going children were seen participating in the walk, a number of which had received complimentary movie passes from Golden Screen Cinemas during the event’s registration drive.

Penang Starwalk 2011 was jointly organised by The Star and the Penang Amateur Athletic Association (PAAA).

Event co-chairman and PAAA president Datuk Syed Mohd Aidid Syed Murtaza, Star Publications non-executive director Datin Linda Ngiam and regional operations manager (North) Chung Chok Yin were also present.

The platinum sponsor for the event was Genneva Syariah while the other main sponsors were Equine, 100Plus, AmBank, BP Diagnostic Centre, Golden Screen Cinemas, Magnum, Malta, Maxis, Milo, Modenas, Nikon, One Community Worldwide, Pallas, Sunquick and Sunshine Wholesale Mart Sdn Bhd.

Penang Global Tourism was the supporting partner while Penang Times Square was the official venue provider. Rapid Penang was the official transport provider.