A sea of runners took to the streets of the capital to race in the 2016 edition of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon. Cancelled last year due to haze conditions, the return of the much loved event saw some 35,000 participants from 50 countries run in the various categories.
Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2016 flag off
The route took runners through the heart of Kuala Lumpur, past some of the capital’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.
The Full Marathon saw Kenyan Kennedy Kiproo Lilan defending his title for the fifth year in a row crossing the finish line in 02:18:57, while Ethiopian Hirut Beyene Guangul secured the Women’s title with a time of 02:39:02.
(From left to right): Tan Sri Datuk Mohd. Sheriff Mohd. Kassim, Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia; Mahendra Gursahani, MD and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia; Tonui Kiprop, Kennedy Kiproo Lilan, Luka Kipkemoi Chelimo, HE Victoria Treadell, British High Commissioner to Malaysia; Datuk Dr Loga Bala Mohan, Deputy Minister of Federal Territories of Malaysia
Malaysian Full Marathoners were not far behind 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.
(From left to right): Datuk Seri Michael Yam, Board of Directors, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia; Mohd. Jironi Riduan, Muhaizar Mohamad, Tan Huong Leong, Tan Sri Datuk Mohd. Sheriff Mohd. Kassim, Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia
Truly making the race 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.
Over 300 Standard Chartered Bank staff ran in red tutus across different categories to raise awareness and educate the public on HIV
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.
For the first time ever, the event saw the implementation of a new checkpoint system commonly practised in international marathons. The purpose behind this was to ensure the safety of the runners and that the roads were handed in a systematic manner.