STANDARD CHARTERED KL MARATHON 2014 - FIRST RUNNER LOCKED IN

Minister of Youth and Sports Malaysia, Y.B. Encik Khairy Jamaluddin fills in first slot at launch event.

Kuala Lumpur, 24 April 2014 – The Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014 was officially launched today at the Pacific Regency, Kuala Lumpur. Organised by Dirigo Events Sdn. Bhd with title sponsor Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd, the event was officiated by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Yang Berhormat Encik Khairy Jamaluddin alongside Yang Berbahagia, Datuk Haji Mohd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz, Director-general of Dewan Bandar Kuala Lumpur (DBKL).

With all 11 categories opened for registration at the official launch today, Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014 has successfully registered its first registrant with the Minister himself taking the first slot for the 10 km run.

In his comment, Y.B. Encik Khairy Jamaluddin said, “The Ministry of Youth and Sports’ vision is to champion the empowerment of a superior youth and sports development and to inculcate sports culture within the society by year 2015. Our focuses include Exposure and Opportunities for confidence building; Engagement and Activism for community development and Support and Engage, to the youth of Malaysia. Today, as an encouragement for the public to take up running as a lifestyle and to participate in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon which reflects our key focuses, I am pleased to be the first registrant of this event.”

With participation increasing every year since its inception, last year’s Standard Chartered KL Marathon registered more than 33,800 runners.  This year, the organiser is expecting more running enthusiasts to be part of Malaysia’s biggest running event with 35,000 slots opened to the public.

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014, to be flagged off at Dataran Merdeka, will also see some new routes introduced to the runners. The prize package offered for this year’s Marathon is USD 116, 740 (approximately RM376, 524); a 16 percent increase from the previous year, making it still the highest prize purse among all marathons in Malaysia.

“Every year, the organisers of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon look forward to offering something new to the participants. It gives me pleasure to announce that this year will witness many new additions to the run, including new routes, new categories and new partnerships. We also have a new tagline this year: “Confident. Committed. Courageous”. The Standard Chartered KL Marathon is all about encouraging commitment to achieving the goal of finishing the race, building confidence,, and celebrating  of the courage of runners’ right from the beginning,” said Rainer Biemans, Director of Dirigo Events.

Osman Morad, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank added, “Although running is primarily a solitary endeavour; the marathon is a monumental social event. As the oldest bank in Malaysia – soon to celebrate our 140th year – it gives us tremendous pride to be the title sponsor of such an iconic event that has come to symbolize the coming together of the community and the spirit of the nation.”

Scheduled to start and finish once again at the country’s historical site of Dataran Merdeka, the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Haji Ahmad Phesal said, “Dataran Merdeka boasts a significant historical footnote and it is only befitting that a monumental country event like Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014 takes place at Dataran Merdeka where thousands of people come  together to run for a cause –  whether it’s bringing home a friendship, the prize money, fulfilment, recognition, achievement or simply to support the people they love.”

This is Standard Chartered KL Marathon’s sixth installation and is once again made possible by title sponsor Standard Chartered Bank in partnership with Marathon owner and organiser, Dirigo Events Sdn Bhd and co-organiser DBKL and the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia.

For online registration or more information, please visit here or call +603 7886 1717.

The Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2013 - Registration Open on 30 Jan

The Standard Chartered KL Marathon celebrates five years running and opens registrations on 30 January!

Kuala Lumpur, 29 January 2013 – Runners, get set go! Mark your calendars for the last Sunday of June this year, as the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2013 has been confirmed to be held on 30 June 2013. Participant registration for this year’s marathon will officially commence tomorrow at 6:00 pm, 30 January 2013.

The Standard Chartered KL Marathon through the years has come to be regarded as an iconic event for the country. Last year alone, the event attracted over 28,000 runners from 48 countries, a 108 per cent increase since its inception in 2009 (with 13,500 runners).

Overwhelming response to Malaysia’s largest marathon
In 2012, participant registration closed six (6) weeks ahead of the deadline following an overwhelming response from the public. The event saw a total of 28,050 runners; with 3,168 runners in Full Marathon, 5,727 runners in the Honda Half Marathon, 491 runners in the MSIG Ekiden, 3,812 runners in the 5KM Fun Run and 541 runners in the Kid Dash, with the 10KM taking the lion’s share of participation with 51 per cent or 14,311 runners.

Following the overwhelming response, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2013 is looking forward to increasing the 2013 participation to 30,000 runners from all around the world.

The total number of participants throughout the four years of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon stand at 80,928 runners (2009 – 2012), with a strong record of participation increase each year. With this fifth year edition, the Marathon would have welcomed some 110,928 runners to Malaysia’s flagship running event with a total prize pot of USD520,000.

Highlighting Malaysia on the global map
Globally, data as of 2011 shows a total of 256,000 runners have participated in the Standard Chartered Marathon series that takes place in nine (9) markets around the world – Bangkok (Thailand), Dubai (UAE), Jersey (Channel Islands), Mumbai (India), Nairobi (Kenya)Stanley (Falklands Islands), Singapore, Hong Kong, and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).

The highlight of the Kuala Lumpur race is navigating a challenging route that weave between beautiful and historical landmarks around the city of Kuala Lumpur. The throng of cheering spectators and supporters additionally adds to the overall festivity of the event.

Last year, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon celebrated a new Full Marathon Men’s route record of 02:14:45.32, set by Kennedy Kiproo Lilan. The Women’s Full Marathon winner was fellow Kenyan Elizabeth Jeruiyot Chemweno, with her time of 02:40:24.84. Shaharudin bin Hashim retained winner of the Full Marathon Malaysian Men’s category with a time of 02:42:27.57.

The Standard Chartered KL Marathon is once again made possible by title sponsor Standard Chartered Bank in partnership with the event owner and organiser Dirigo Events, and co-organiser Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Running enthusiasts can sign up at the official website www.kl-marathon.com
Early bird discounts on registration fees are available till 28 February 2013.

Connect with the other runners through the Standard Chartered KL Marathon Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SCKLmarathon and keep up-to-date via twitter at @scklmarathon.

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2012 SCKLM Top 5 Results here

SCKL Marathon - Race Pack Collection

Rack pack for 10km, the black line inside the plastic is timing chip.

Stick behind the bib no. Additional items for full marathon Powerbar & towel

Ladise vest, S size

Men vest, S size

Full marathon queue very long

10km queue, one queue only, is a L shape

Later they changed to a few queues, confusing..

Half marathon queue

Saw them turn back without the blue bag

Finally got what they want

We went to Dataran to collect race pack around 12:30pm. It was heavy rain on our way from PJ. We dare not park under the Dataran, afraid that our car would become boat.

It was very jammed near the Dataran as that period was Sembahyang time. Finally we got our parking, illegal but have no choice. Mujur the rain has stopped.

The organiser separated the categories to different queue. For 10km, it was not a long queue, but very very very long and slow moving queue. On top of that the worst news was server down, network down, no power! They have to bring two power generators. The server down for about 20min. Those who came earlier have to wait longer.

My neighbour has to queue for himself for 10km, then queue for his wife for 21km and then queue for his kid for fun run. Wa lau ye.

I started to queue at 1pm. The guy in front of me collect 15 packs on behalf of his friends. I asked him to let me first as I only take one, but he refused. When my turn, I asked the volunteer, 'kenapa dia boleh ambet 15? Website kan kata max 6 saja?", She answered "Patut 6 saja, tapi........", no futher reply. They should have separate counter for bulk collection. Finally I got mine at 2:15pm. Piu.. My confession, after cutting queue when they changed from one queue to multiple queues.

The collection was messy, not well organised. They should arrange the collection in a place with proper parking, air-con and covered. Otherwise it would be very hot during noon queuing under the sun or raining. Some runners said it was worst than AMBank.

The quality of the vest is good and the bag is nice. Other than that the rest are leaflet. Already in my paper recycle bin. For full Marathon runner, they have extra Power Bar (have to claim in the Power booth) and a towel.

Tomorrow is Saturday, expected more ppl, for those who have not collected, GOOD DAY & GOOD LUCK.