Winning the KL Standard Chartered Marathon Media Challenge

This Halloween, I was in Kuala Lumpur (KL) for the KL Standard Chartered Marathon (KLSCM) 2019 Media Appreciation Brunch, which was a buffet luncheon organised by Dirigo Events at the Pacific Regency Hotel Suites in KL, to show their appreciation for the support for members of the media and influencers.

I was attending the luncheon as the winner for the Media Challenge Full Marathon Women’s Open category.

I am far from an elite runner and my running times are considered as being pretty average.

So when I had been informed by KLSCM via email that I had won a prize, I immediately knew that I had to attend the event and go onstage to collect my award in person.

To my surprise, I wasn’t the only media from Singapore attending the event – I had some company.

Event kicked off with a speech

The event, which had begun in the late morning, kicked off with a motivational speech by Rainer Biemans, Director of Dirigo Events, who are the organisers of the race.

Said Biemans, “Our 11th KLSCM has proven to be our biggest yet. It’s still not big enough to cater to the demand, so we introduced a ballot system for public runners. This year we had 75,000 runners wanting to run, but 45,000 slots available. We hope to increase the amount of runners each year and are continuously looking into more options to cater to the demand.”

“I hope that all of you had a memorable KLSCM 2019 and that our 11th edition has helped you to realise your running goals, and at the very least, brought you closer to achieving them, congratulations to all those who will be receiving your prizes and I hope to see you at KLSCM 2020.”

101 Media runners signed up

The 2019 KLSCM Media Challenge, which I had been a part of, saw 101 runners in total signing up, with a good mix of both old and new faces.

Said Biemans, “The reason why we have the Media Challenge was to cultivate a group of journalists, writers and bloggers with a passion for both running and writing.”

He continued, “We hope that with the Media Challenge, we can keep nurturing this passion and we hope that you can continue to participate and write about KLSCM for many years to come.”

Success of Run For A Reason charity initiative

As well, Biemans also pointed out, during his speech, that while KLSCM is a competitive running event, it “retains community focus at its core” through the Run For A Reason charity initiative, which has proven to be a huge success, with RM890,000 raised this year for charity.

Said Biemans, “That is tremendous, it is RM150,000 more than last year, and we are sure that with your support, we might reach 1 million ringgit next year and that would be just awesome.”

The Prize giving ceremony

The speech was followed by the prize giving ceremony, first for the winners of the Corporate Challenge, followed by those of the Media Challenge.

Receiving my award

When my turn came to receive my award, it had been a pretty surreal moment, with cameras and smartphones flashing as I made my way across the stage to collect my medal and prize.

As I walked towards the front of the room, the emcees also highlighted that I had improved my KLSCM full marathon timing by 50 minutes, from 5hrs 55min at the 2018 race, to 5hrs 06min at the 2019 race. I am still chuffed about this! It seems as though my consistent training with heart-rate programme, Coached, really does work.

Besides a beautifully unique transparent medal, the prize had consisted of goodies courtesy of the race sponsors – these were a Jaybird RUN true wireless sports earphones and a huge Under Armour bag.

Once the prizes had all been given out, there was also a mini surprise birthday celebration onstage.

Buffet opens

Then the buffet line was open, with a mixture of both Malaysian and international foods.

These had included items such as nasi lemak, mee goreng, quiche, cocktail sausages, fresh fruits and a range of assorted cakes. Almost everything was delicious, but maybe that’s also because I was hungry.