Last weekend, I took part in the Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon (KLSCM), running in the 21.1km Half Marathon category.

The 2023 race was the 15th edition of Malaysia’s premiere road marathon, now shifting to a focus with sustainability in mind with a range of measures to minimise carbon footprint and promote environmental responsibility.

Race pack collection process 

Prior to the event, I had heard about the long waiting times for the race pack collection when it opened the Thursday before the race. According to Facebook, the waiting times were quoted as being as long as two or three hours. So when I went to pick up my pack the next day, on Friday, I was quite apprehensive when I first saw the queue stretching outside the building.

Fortunately for me, I waited in line for a total of about 20 minutes from the time I arrived at the expo at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) at around 4 plus in the afternoon to the time I had picked up my race pack. So my original worries turned out to be unfounded. 

Race day arrives

On race day, the half marathon was flagged off at 5:15am. The half marathon started about two hours after the full. So I woke up at around 3.30am and walked the one mile from my hotel to the race start point at Dataran Merdeka. 

The race precinct was already pretty crowded when I got there and the start pens were quite full. Fortunately I was in Pen 1 which was not too crowded yet at around 4:45am. 

Flag off and running

The flag off was quite punctual at 5:15am after a countdown by the emcees to get us all hyped up for the long race ahead. 

I started running at around 5:20 pace. I wasn’t feeling 100% because I felt my body was still recovering after the Sydney Marathon two weeks ago. Furthermore, I am scheduled to run the Chicago Marathon exactly one week after KLSCM. So I figured there was no chance of me running a personal best timing here in KL.

My personal record for the half is 1:47 which I achieved at the 2022 edition of the KLSCM. This time around I was aiming to just go under two hours which is still a very respectable time for the distance.

The route and beginning 

The KLSCM route is a hilly and undulating one. It is a  loop course that takes runners around the city centre from Dataran Merdeka and back. Due to the early hour, most of the run is in darkness. But the lighting provided the whole way was good enough for me.

When the full roads were not closed off, cones were used to cordon off the runners from the cars and traffic. However due to the early hour, there was minimal traffic on the road. 

The first part of the race felt super humid. It had rained the day before, so I think that the high humidity levels were still thick in the air. I found myself sweating a lot.

For the timing that I was targeting, I was surrounded by a lot of runners, mostly male though. So I was with good company as I ran. I thought that first couple of kilometres was pretty crowded but the crowd soon dissipated enough that I was able to run at pace. 

I think my average pace slowed down after a few kilometres to around 5:30plus pace because of the constant hills.

Distance markings 

Most of the distance markers were prominent. I think I missed out on a few markers because of the darkness, but otherwise they were generally accurate. 

For the hydration points, I thought that the first one was very far. It was about 4.8km into the race which is quite some distance. For a hot and humid race, I think the hydration should be around 2 to 2.5km apart.

As well, I thought there should be clearer signages or markings at which of the tables at each station were serving water and which ones had 100PLUS. This was not distinguished well. 

Other than that, I really liked the mist tunnels. I counted two such tunnels along the half route and these felt great to run inside. 

They really did give me a cooling feel for the few seconds that I ran through. I noted that the mist tunnels did not take up the full footpath so they also cater to runners who did not wish to utilise them.

Second Half  

The second part of the race felt more cooling. It was a nice morning and the humidity level seemed to have dissipated somewhat, which was good. However, the second half of the race somewhat appeared to be more undulating than the first.

I saw the marathon runners coming on the opposite side of the highway in the last few kilometres of my run and I was so glad that I had signed up for the half and not the full marathon.

Final stretch 

At around 17km, my friend Justina caught up with me and we ran the last few kilometres of the race together. It was nice finishing with her and made the run a lot more interesting as I now had somebody to run alongside.

The slope at 19km was especially brutal. It was so near to the finish line but there was still yet another uphill to go.

The last kilometre felt exceptionally long probably because of the out-and-back segment. We saw the finish line around the corner – but we were on the opposite side of the road.

As such, we had to run several hundred metres out before u-turning and running back to the finish chute. This played a trick on me mentally and I was glad to finally reach the u-turn.

Finishing the run

My official finish time was 1 hour 57 mins 23 seconds. Sub 2. Target achieved. I had my timing immediately after crossing the finish line on the KLSCM race app.

We were ushered to collect our finisher’s entitlements immediately when we crossed.

These included our race medal, a bottle of water, 100PLUS isotonic drink, banana and a pear. 

Rich in vitamins, carbs and healthy sugars, fruits are always a great form of replenishment after a run.

The race village

The finish area and race village was very happening and there was plenty of buzz in the air. There were lots of stalls and booths, as well as plenty of familiar faces to greet and congratulate.

It was exciting to see people, whom I know, were taking part in the run too.

As a large-scale international event, the KLSCM is definitely popular among not only Malaysian runners, but athletes from Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region as well.

Merchandise and photo booths 

There was official KLSCM merchandise for sale, as well as free medal engraving for Standard Chartered Bank customers (unfortunately I am not one). Boost Juice had fruit smoothies for sale too, which appeared quite popular.

I was originally interested to queue up for a race timing photo but when I saw the queues at the booth, I changed my mind immediately. Instead, I took a photo at another picture booth with a very short queue.

I will be back

As a whole, I would add that I enjoyed taking part in the KLSCM half marathon.

It was a fun and lively event that I have participated annually for the past few years now, and I will definitely be returning as long as my running schedule allows.

Organisers Dirigo Events are happy

Dirigo Events, the organisers and owners of KLSCM, are generally very happy with how the event played out, but they acknowledge the issues faced with regards to the race pack expo.

Said Rainer Biemans, Project Director of KLSCM and Director of Dirigo Events, “This year, KLSCM, as we expected it to be, was a success. We had a bit of a slow start and we are aware that we need to work on the race pack collection. In general, the run was very successful.”

He added. “KLSCM is an event that is very much appreciated by runners but at the back end, we can always make the processes smoother and deliver better results so that the runners can have an even better experience. For example, adding more entertainment along the route is an option. We will analyse the feedback and responses from the 50,000 runners this year and take things from there.” 

race recap video