POPA Mountain Resort will host a trekking competition for Myanmar nationals on the slopes of Mount Popa in Mandalay Division on December 25, said Ma Aye Aye Khaing, the senior sales executive at the resort.

The competition, to be organised in collaboration with the Forest Department under the Ministry of Forestry, will start at 6am at the resort, located at an elevation of 798 metres (2618 feet) above sea level, and finish 6.5 kilometres (4 miles) later at the helicopter landing pad near the 1518-metre (4981-foot) peak of Mount Popa.

Ma Aye Aye Khaing said that the event will be open to Myanmar nationals paired into two-person teams and that there will be no entry fee to participate.

She said Popa Mountain Resort will offer 20 percent discounts on rooms from December 23 to 25 for local guests who want to participate in the competition.

The first-place team among those participants staying at the resort during the competition will win one night of free accommodation in a deluxe room with dinner. Second prize will be one night in a deluxe room and third will be one night in a superior room.

The top prizes for participants not staying at the resort during the competition will be one night in a deluxe room for first place, one night in a superior room for second and free lunch at the resort’s restaurant for third.

Ma Aye Aye Khaing said registration for the event will be open until noon on December 22. Reservations can be made by calling Popa Mountain Resort at 02-69168 or 02-69169, or the Yangon office of Woodland Travels Company at 01-202071, 01-202072 or 01-202073.