450-kilometre "Tour to Timor" to kick off Monday

450-kilometre "Tour to Timor" to kick off Monday Dili - "Tour de Timor," an effort of President Jose Ramos Horta's to promote tourism, sport and peace in East Timor, will kick off Monday with a 75,000 prize promised for the winner of the five-day 450 kilometre bicycle race, organizers said Saturday.

About 300 participants, local and international, will compete in the race which will take them past pristine beaches, through jungles and coffee plantations, up hills and mountains, and include three overnight stops in remote spots such as Baucau, Loihunu, and Natarbora, the race's chief organizer Michael Stone said.

"From the very start it would be the most challenging mountain race in the world, with the prize pool of 75 thousand dollars," Stone told the German Press Agency dpa.

The event starts Monday at the presidential palace in Dili and finishes on Friday at the same place.

"There are up to 280 international athletes that coming from China, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Portugal and some of African representatives, and more that 25 East Timor athletes are coming to participate in the first race of Tour de Timor," Stone said.

The race, the first to be held in East Timor, is designed to attract tourist attention to the new nation, a former Portugese colony that was once part of the Indonesian archipelago.

"Timor Leste is on the last frontier," Stone said. "There is an incredible opportunity for tourism here, as many people in the world now are seeking for places to come where they can see pristine, untouched, unspoiled environment," said Stone, an advisor to the president.

The race's organizing committee has arranged to double the daily flights to East Timor for a week before and after the race. (dpa)