Tenth Anniversary of SCKLM To Sizzle

The upcoming tenth anniversary of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) is set to be a hotly contested event in several categories.

42.195km Men’s Open winners

SCKLM IS MALAYSIA’S PREMIERE RUNNING EVENT

Having grown to become the premiere running event in Malaysia, SCKLM draws thousands of local and international runners to the country whilst firmly establishing Malaysia in the global running calendar.

The 2018 edition is set to become the largest yet, with more than 38,000 runners taking part and will once again see sponsorship from Title Sponsor standard Chartered Bank Malaysia along with Brooks, Lucozade, Seiko and Pacific Regency.

MALAYSIAN MEN’S FULL MARATHON

In the Malaysian Men’s Full Marathon, there will be intensive competition amongst elite Malaysian runners who have been posting increasingly fast times in the lead up to the Marathon. This category will see a battle between Muhaizar Mohamad, Leo Tan, Nik Fakaruddin and Ow Yong Jun Kiang,

Leo, Muhaizar and Nik recently competed in the Tokyo Marathon and beat their own personal bests. An engineer based in Taiwan, Leo was the first to finish, beating his previous personal best of 2h 28min 19sec by recording a blistering 2h 25min 28sec, unofficially the new national record in Malaysia.

The Tokyo Marathon was Muhaizar’s first attempt at an overseas marathon and despite a lack of time to acclimatise to the freezing cold Tokyo temperatures, he bettered his personal best of 2h 31min 52sec when he recorded a timing of 2h 27min 21sec, also faster than the previous national record.

Nik also smashed his personal best by more than 10 minutes, recording a time of 2h 31min 01sec and he could also spring a surprise as his preparation for SCKLM would have been unhindered compared to his other competitors since returning from the Tokyo Marathon. All four runners are in with a shout of claiming victory in this category.

Said Rainer Biemans, Director of Dirigo Events and Project director of SCKLM 2018, “All the top ten finishers of the Malaysian Men’s Full Marathon category at SCKLM 2017 will be back this year. I am really happy that the fastest marathon runners in Malaysia all look to participate and perform well at SCKLM to see who is the best in Malaysia.”

he added, “the level of quality that we have locally is showing signs of advancement with Muhaizar and Leo’s rivalry in particular generating interest and encouragement amongst local runners.”

MEN’S FULL MARATHON OPEN

The Full Marathon Open Category and the Malaysian Women’s Full Marathon are also set to be hotly contested events.

The Men’s Full Marathon Open category will see a fight between Kennedy Kiproo Lilian and Cosmas Matolo Mutetu, the latter of who had upstaged Kiproo in the SCKLM last year to win. Both will be back again and Kennedy will be eager to reclaim his title.

MALAYSIAN WOMEN’S FULL MARATHON

In the Malaysian Women’s Full Marathon, Yuan Yufang and Annie Yee will be fighting it out in a tough battle for the crown. Annie did well at the Tokyo Marathon, recording a personal best of 3h 15min 00sec and she is expected to give multiple winner Yufang a fight for her money this time around.

Loh Choon Fern, who finished second in 2017, will also be eager to do one better at SCKLM by clinching the title this time around.

MALAYSIAN WOMEN’S HALF MARATHON

Meanwhile in the Malaysian Women’s Half Marathon, Sheila Samivellu will be eager to beat her own mark of 1h 24min 44sec, which she set at the 2016 edition of this race.

SCKLM attracted 36,000 runners taking part.

STRONG COMPETITION AT SCKLM

Said Rainer “We are expecting a really competitive SCKLM 2018 with few categories expected to see strong competition between the top contenders and this bodes well for the continued success and relevance of SCKLM.”

Seeing the finish line was the best feeling for me!

He added “It is heartening to note that all these runners want to take part in SCKLM because they want to compete against the best and on a fully certified course. On our part, we will do our best to create the best conditions possible for such contests to take place.”