By: Natalia Trita Agnika

10K Tiger Challenge 2017

On July 29, the world will celebrate Global Tiger Day. The goal is to protect and increase tiger habitat in the wild through tiger conservation efforts. The celebration also reminds us of the critical number of tiger populations in the wild and our contribution to protecting them.

Originally, there were nine tiger subspecies (Panthera tigris) spread across Asia, from mainland Turkey to Russia and Indonesia. But today, there are only six tiger subspecies left in the world. The other three tiger subspecies are extinct. And in Indonesia, the Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is the only tiger left. Its siblings, the Bali Tiger (Panthera tigris balica) and the Java Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) are already extinct.

Did you know? Saving the tiger is the same as saving ourselves. Wow, how can that be? Our lives depend on a healthy ecosystem, meaning there is availability of clean water, air, medicine, and food. Well, the presence of tigers indicates that the ecosystem is still healthy. Saving tigers is not just about saving tigers, either. By allowing them to live in their natural habitat, namely in the forest, we have saved other animals that live in the same habitat. Saving tigers means that we are also trying to save the forests where they live and the rivers of life in their habitat.

One way to support tiger conservation is to support every effort that protects their "home". Our daily activities can also support these efforts, for example by consuming paper wisely, choosing products with environmentally friendly certifications such as FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil).

10K Tiger Challenge 2017
The #DoubleTigers campaign is one of WWF's efforts to engage the public in tiger conservation. This year, the public is invited to support the #DoubleTigers Campaign through a healthy and fun sporting activity, namely running.

In collaboration with Virtual Run Indonesia, WWF-Indonesia organizes the "10K Tiger Challenge 2017", which is a 10-kilometer run to help Sumatran Tiger conservation efforts. The tiger run will take place on July 28-30, 2017. Uniquely, the public who want to participate can run at a self-determined location and time between July 28-30, 2017.

Those of you who want to join in celebrating Global Tiger Day this year by doing the "10K Tiger Challenge 2017" can register at virtualrun.id and pay a registration fee of Rp 180,000. After that, participants must run or walk 10 kilometers, which can be done several times until they reach a minimum target of 10 kilometers on 28-30 July 2017. When running, use a running application on a smartphone with GPS facility always active. The recording results from the application are submitted to virtualrun.id.

Runners who successfully complete a minimum of 10 kilometers in that time duration and have reported their results to vitualrun.id will receive a jersey, finisher Virtual Run medal, and e-certificate which will be sent to the runner's address after all verification processes are complete. All profits from this run will be donated to WWF-Indonesia for Sumatran Tiger conservation efforts.

Celebrate Global Tiger Day 2017 by running with the message #Run4Tigers. Join the "10K Tiger Challenge 2017" (click here)!