Held on 12 July 2009, the 2009 Olympic Day Run at Dataran Merdeka saw an unprecedented 5000 participants attending the run organised by McDonald’s® and Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) in effort to promote balanced, active lifestyles.
Present at the event were the Deputy Minister of the Federal Territories, Yang Berhormat Dato’ M. Saravanan, Managing Director of McDonald’s Malaysia, Sarah Casanova, Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Business/Consumer Insights McDonald’s Malaysia, Mr. Stephen Chew, Deputy President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, Dato’ Dr. Mani Jegathesan and Honorary Secretary of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, Dato’ Sieh Kok Chi.
“McDonald’s is dedicated to promoting a balanced, active lifestyle amongst the public and this global event is a manifestation of our commitment to create a larger awareness on the importance of leading active lifestyles for the sake of our well-being,” said Sarah Casanova.
Celebrity Fitness and Ronald McDonald first conducted a warm-up session at 7.10am. Participants from all ten categories were then flagged off at 7.30am by Deputy Minister of the Federal Territories, Yang Berhormat Dato’ M. Saravanan. The five winners from each category took home attractive prizes, including cash worth RM15,800 in total, medals, certificates, and hampers. All participants bagged exclusive Olympic Day Run t-shirts and special edition McDonald’s® “Be Our Guest” coupons.
There were stage performances by Nadia AF, Puteri Khariza and children from Smart Readers Kids. For fun lovers, McDonald’s® set up various games booth and inflatables with free goodies given by Ginvera Marketing. In the meantime, Coca Cola, Ribena and Milo set up free sampling booths for everyone at the event, with other attractive prizes also supplied by sponsors.
