Grand
finale of the adidas King of the Road 2013
held in Malaysia last October 20,
2013
Passion and determination filled the air when 11,000 runners came together in Malaysia to participate in the last leg of this year’s adidas King of the Road. Held along the New Pantai Expressway Highway, the run marks the 15th edition which was officially flagged off by Y. Bhg. Dato' Mohd Shafiq B. Abdullah of the Ministry of Works.
The top two reigning champions from the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia came together to compete for this year’s Regional adidas KOTR run, with the crown going to Sgt Boonthung Srisung of Thailand who completed the 16.8K SEA men’s category run in 52 minutes and 35 seconds and Delos Santos of the Philippines for the women’s category.
Delos Santos earned her ticket to the finals by being the defending champion of last year’s adidas KOTR Southeast Asia in Singapore. Fellow Filipinos Eduardo Buenavista and Mary Joy Tabal also joined her in the 16.8K run by being the first place finishers in their respective categories in the Philippine leg of the KOTR this year. Tabal finished strong, only a minute behind Delos Santos.
adidas has a long standing history in running and athletics dating back to 1928 when its founder, Adi Dassler, supplied Una Radke with a handmade pair of spikes to wear during the Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Many more heroes of athletics have followed including Jesse Owens, Emil Ziltopek, Al Oerter, Bob Beamon, Daley Thompson, Grete Waitz, Heike Henkel and Haile Gebrselassie.