"The fun bike is part of a series of activities to kick off Tour de Siak 2018. It is aimed at giving an opportunity to the public to participate," Wan Saiful Efendi, spokesman of the Siak district administration, remarked here, Monday.
The fun bike event started from the yard of Siak Palace and concluded at the Siak Bermada square.
The organizing committee provided a motorcycle and several mountain bikes as prizes of the fun bike.
Tour de Siak is aimed at promoting Siak at the nation and international levels, with the hopes that the number of domestic and foreign tourists visiting Siak would increase, he explained.
The sports tourism event will comprise four stages this year, as compared to three stages last year, Fauzi Asni, head of the Siak district tourism office, stated recently.
The additional stage is Siak-Sungai Apit, stretching 115.16 kilometers (km).
The four stages are Siak-Dayun, covering 154.18 km; Siak-Sungai Apit, 115.18 km; Siak-Dayun-Buatan-Siak, 161.48 km; and the final stage is Siak City, 92.06 km.
Since 2013, Siak has organized this annual event to promote tourism in the district.
So far, 13 teams, comprising eight foreign teams and five domestic teams, have confirmed their participation in the cycling race, offering a total prize worth Rp750 million.
Siak District Head Syamsuar recently expressed hope that Tour de Siak would help to increase the number of domestic and foreign tourists as well as boost the local economy.
"Hopefully, it could become a tourist attraction, so more domestic and foreign tourists would come to Siak, and the local economy would improve," he remarked.
Syamsuar is also optimistic that the local cyclist association would also be able to find local cyclists capable of competing nationally and internationally during the tour.
Reporting by Nella Marni, Fazar
Editing by Fardah
Reporter: Nella Marni, Fazar
Editor: Bustanuddin
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