Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) 2016 concluded with a big bang, with a total of 5,595 runners finishing the Full Marathon within the stipulated seven-hour cutoff time; 8,160 finished the Honda Half Marathon within 3.5 hours; 12,804 finished the 10KM run; 2,400 finished the 5KM fun run; and 750 kids completed the Kids Dash, despite race day being a total scorcher.
Full marathon flag off
5 km Fun Run featuring 60 visually impaired runners with their running buddies
For this year’s race, SCKLM started implementing for the first time a new checkpoint system that is commonly practised in international marathons to ensure the safety of the runners and that the roads were handed in a systematic manner. Other changes included an extended seven-hour cut-off time for the 42.195-kilometre full marathon which flagged off at 4 am.
The race was flagged off by Tan Sri Datuk Mohd. Sheriff Mohd. Kassim, Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia, Ajay Kanwal, Regional CEO ASEAN & South Asia of Standard Chartered Bank, and Mahendra Gursahani, Managing Director & CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia. The race route afforded the runners closeup views of Kuala Lumpur’s iconic landmarks such as the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Parliament of Malaysia, the National Museum, Menara Standard Chartered and Dataran Merdeka, which served as the race village.
Emotions ran high at the final seconds of the cutoff time, as shown in this video by Hong Lan Tan.
Three Kenyans took the top three prizes for the male category — Kennedy Kiproo Lilan with an insane 2:18:57 finish; with Tonui Kiprop hot at his heels at 2:18:59; and Luka Kipkemoi Chelimo finishing at 2:19:24. Meanwhile, in the female category, an Ethiopian grabbed the top spot, followed by two Kenyan ladies — Hirut Beyene Guangul at 2:39:02, Naomi Jepkogei Maiyo at 2:39:14, and Elizabeth Jeruiyot Chemweno at 2:41:10.
Malaysian Full Marathoners also put up a brave display with returning champion, Muhaizar Mohamad, winning the Full Marathon Malaysian Men’s title with a time of 02:39:23 and Yuan YuFang taking the Malaysian Women’s category with a time of 03:19:04.
Runners praised SCKLM 2016 for the strategically-placed water stations; plentiful portable toilets (rows of them as you turn into Dataran Merdeka!); friendly and efficient volunteers; and a fantastic medical team.
Making the race a true platform for people to do extraordinary things were 60 visually impaired runners with their running buddies taking part in the 5 km Fun Run category, 36 runners with autism together with their parents in the 3 km Kids Dash and over 300 Standard Chartered Bank staff running in red tutus across different categories. Their participation in the race was supported by Standard Chartered Bank in their efforts to tackle avoidable blindness, raise awareness and educating the public on autism and HIV.
This Full Marathon runner was surprised with a wedding proposal at the finish line! Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia will be treating the happy couple to an exclusive dinner at the Grand Hyatt.
Under Standard Chartered KL Marathon’s “Run For A Reason” initiative, a total of RM444,848.00 was raised for the beneficiaries Standard Chartered Foundation, Hospis Malaysia, Yayasan Sejahtera and IJN Foundation. The funds were raised collectively by approximately 364 runners and Corporate Challenge participants who also did their part in raising awareness towards the beneficiaries they selected.
Managing Director and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia, Mahendra Gursahani, said, “Standard Chartered Bank is proud to provide a platform for people from all walks of life to accomplish extraordinary goals. These acts are a brilliant demonstration of what personal empowerment can do for the human spirit. We salute all runners that took part in the marathon, and we thank them all for the great support shown.”
The finisher’s medal is a real keeper!
The Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2016 was made possible by title sponsor Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia, along with event owner and organiser, Dirigo Events Sdn. Bhd. and co-organiser Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur. Also supporting the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2016 were Gold Sponsor, Honda Malaysia; and official partners Seiko, 100 Plus, Adidas and Pacific Regency Hotel Group.
Standard Chartered KL Marathon is sanctioned and supported by Malaysia Athletics Federation (MAF), Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur Athletic Federation (FTKLAA), International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and Association of International Marathons, Distance Races (AIMS).
