Heritage Race 2018.

THE THIRD TIME’S A CHARM and the Kuching Heritage Race in 2018 is at its most charming. Away from the hot, sweaty tarmac, this year’s route discovers the cool reprieve of the city’s parks and gardens under our 2018 theme of culture meets nature. Our urban green spaces will cast light and shade on how Sarawak’s glorious natural bounty has shaped its culture and also on the imprint our communities have made on this incredible landscape. Discover the close ties between land and people in Kuching that are so intimately Sarawak through the third edition of this event that aims to create a love of our Sarawak story while giving back to a good cause.

The theme may change from year to year but the best of the rest remains in this race where participants, in teams of 2 to 6, complete a series of exciting challenges, each based on Sarawak’s unique culture and heritage, with generous cash prizes for our fastest teams. Our brainy quiz returns for a second year to test your heritage wits and knock minutes off your time, balancing brains with legs and heart. As with the two previous years, the proceeds from the race will be going to worthy but underfunded causes.

• Pusat Pemulihan Dalam Komuniti (PDK) or Community Rehab- ilitation centre, a day care centre for underprivileged and handi- capped children;
• Persatuan Orang Kurang Upaya (House of Joy), a care centre enabling individuals to live out dignified lives by advancing independent life skills through education and advocating social awareness. Handicraft, baking skills and computer classes are taught by volunteers on a daily basis;
• Catama Borneo, a social enterprise that collaborates with rural artisans to preserve and promote local handicrafts and design and provides income earning possibilities through the sales of these crafts.

Once again, our sponsors will get the unique opportunity to participate in a collective artwork. For each donation of RM500, the sponsor will be given a square to paint – a small part of a larger picture – and when these are put together, the results are a fascinating, abstract interpretation of the original, collaboratively created.

Every year, the race builds on the last, responding to the feedback of participants to both maintain and improve. But the goals remain the same: to provide a fun-filled morning for families, friends and colleagues in a lively competition; to raise money for our most needy; and, most importantly, to create a love for the great city that we live in. For some, the idea of ‘heritage’ can seem distant, costly and reserved for just a few aficionados who have the luxury and privilege to care about such things. However, this race aims to show our heritage in a new light. It is our collective story, printed on the places that we live in, the practices that we have developed, the objects that we have used. It is the lives of the people of Kuching, woven together to tell a story of the way our ancestors lived and how that has shaped the Kuching of today. Join the Kuching Heritage Race 2018 on 27 January, and discover that story with your hands, head, feet and heart!