Taipei City Government

Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-Je attended the 2019 Taipei Marathon in the early hours of 12/15 to root for the 28,000 runners both domestic and from abroad.

Ko commented that Taipei Marathon has become an important sports event of the Taipei City Government, as well as an iconic occasion for promoting city tourism and marketing in Taipei. In particular, Taipei Marathon has obtained IAAF Bronze Label Road Race certification this year, and the city government will continue to strive for Gold Label certification in the future.

According to Ko, this year’s Taipei Marathon sees the participation of athletes from 61 countries, making it the most fruitful year in the history of the event in terms of the number of participating countries. With 28,000 runners, this year’s event also sets an all-time high record in terms of the number of participants. He hopes for each runner to take home with them the beauty and diversity of Taipei City so as to attract more runners from their countries to join the next Taipei Marathon. This concept involves ‘marketing Taiwan to the global community, introducing international perspectives to Taiwan, and increasing Taiwan’s presence on the world stage’.

Lastly, Ko wished that all the runners could appreciate the metropolitan glamor of Taipei by running and that the culture of sports will be popularized. During the post-event media interview, Ko remarked that the city government is striving to attain the Gold Label certification for the Taipei Marathon by 2022. He also extended his welcome to runners from across the globe to visit Taipei to experience the beauty of the city.