A sea of pink as City Walk 2023 participants stroll along Lebuh Farquhar. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star
MORE than 5,000 participants soaked up the first morning of 2023 at Penang’s Esplanade by taking part in the annual city walk.
Dressed in pink T-shirts, the adults and children were seen gathering at the Esplanade before 6am for the warm-up session.
Participants stopping for a breather to get snapshots of their time spent during the City Walk 2023 at the Esplanade in George Town.
The City Walk 2023 event, organised by Penang Island City Council (MBPP), took participants along a 5km trail in George Town’s heritage enclave.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow flagged participants off at 7.30am from City Hall.
The route took the participants along several streets with historical significance and passed landmarks including the Blue Mansion, Masjid Kapitan Keling, Goddess of Mercy temple, St George’s Church and Fort Cornwallis.
Chow said he was happy at seeing over 5,000 walkers gathering to commemorate George Town’s City Day, which marks the day the city was inscribed into Unesco’s World Heritage Sites list in 2008.
“Last year, we had to restrict the event to only 1,000 participants as set by the then National Security Council to prevent the spread of Covid 19 infections,” he said adding that this year, the participants included many from out-of-state.
He hoped 2023 would bring happiness, goals, achievements and new inspiration for all.
“I would like to wish everyone here a smooth and joyous year ahead. Happy 2023,” he said before joining the walk upon flagging off the participants.
Also present were Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying, state tourism and creative economy committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin, state youth and sports committee chairman Soon Lip Chee, state social development and non-Islamic religious committee chairman Chong Eng and state entrepreneurial development, trade and industry committee chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Hussain as well as several other assemblymen.
