JAKARTA. More than 15,000 participants from 53 countries will join Jakarta Marathon 2015 held by the government on Sunday, Tourism Minister said.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said on Friday that 1,300 international runners like Weldon Kirui from Kenya and Andrea Sambu Sipe from Tanzania would join the race.

The annual marathon, Arief said, showed an increase in participants every year. The ministry recorded that there were 10,000 people joining the race before and that number rose to to 14,120 people in the 2014 marathon.

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"The numbers of participants give significant signals that national and world runners pay attention to the Jakarta Marathon to show off their capabilities," he said as quoted by kompas.com on Friday.

Arief also said that the event would help propel Jakarta's name as a tourist destination.

"We hope Jakarta will be seen as a destination for sports tourism as a result of this event and become one of the six big cities in the world named as a World Marathon Major, which could make Jakarta a world class city," he said.

National runners that will join the race are Agus Prayogo, Atjong Tio Purwanto, Ishari, Nikolas Albinus Sila, Sukarno, Triyaningsih, Feri Marince Subnafeu, Nyai Agita, Yulianingsih and Novita Andrayani.

Sunday's Jakarta Marathon 2015 will start and end at the southwest intersection of the National Monument with five categories, 42.2 kilometers, 21 km, 10 km and 5 km. There will also be a Maratoonz for children.

Winners could receive a total prize of Rp 2.6 billion. (rin)