Lotte holds 11th Super Blue Marathon to promote disability awareness

Lotte, in partnership with Special Olympics Korea, held the 11th Super Blue Marathon at Peace Plaza in Seoul's Sangam World Cup Park on Friday to promote awareness of people with disabilities.

The Super Blue Marathon is an event in which participants with and without disabilities run together, each tying blue shoelaces — a symbol of hope and independence for people with disabilities. Since its launch in 2015, the event has drawn about 90,000 participants in total. This year, about 8,000 runners with and without disabilities took part.

Timed to coincide with Hangul Day, Lotte ran a campaign encouraging participants to use respectful language toward people with disabilities. The finisher medals also featured the event name written in hangul rather than English.

Several Lotte affiliates joined in with support. Lotte World's mascots Lotty and Lorry cheered on participants at the venue, while Lotte Wellfood, Lotte Chilsung Beverage and Korea Seven provided snacks.

"The Super Blue Marathon is a social contribution initiative designed to help people with and without disabilities run together and understand each other's differences," a Lotte official said. "We plan to continue organizing a variety of activities to improve awareness of people with disabilities."