An exam for marathon technical officials was held during the Asian stand up paddling, ocean racing and marathon championships.

Thanks to the enthusiastic recruitment of candidates by Miki Bando, a seminar and exam was held with candidates from Hong Kong (1), Macau (1), Japan (4) and Thailand (7), making a total of 13 who all studied diligently. All candidates successfully completed both the theoretical and practical parts of the exam.

For the development of the marathon worldwide, it is important that we have enough ITOs on all continents, who can also help grow the marathon further.

Many international marathons are planned in Asia in the coming years, and since sustainability is high on the ICF's agenda, it is also important to reduce travel so that it is not always necessary to rely on ITOs from other continents.

We thank the Thai Canoe Federation for facilitating these exams and Miki Bando for her enthusiasm, without them this would not have been possible and it is a great new group of ITOs that we look forward to seeing at international and national marathon competitions.

Ruud Heijselaar, Chair ICF Marathon Committee