Thousands of runners take part in the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon annually but tomorrow’s event has been cancelled because of the smoke enveloping the capital city. – demotix.com pic, October 3, 2015.
The Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon (SCKLM) 2015 tomorrow has been cancelled because of smoke from forest fires enveloping the capital city, the event organiser said in a press statement today.
The statement said organisers were left with no choice as air quality had reached unhealthy levels.
“The health and safety of all our runners remains our top priority.
Registered participants were told in the post to proceed to Dataran Merdeka to collect their race entitlements from 6am until noon tomorrow.
“For those who are unable to collect their entitlements during this time, alternative arrangements will be announced through the Standard Chartered KL Marathon social media channels.”
Organisers said the decision was made based on advice from the medical team, Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) and he Institut Sukan Negara, which was supported by co-organisers Kuala Lumpur City Hall, and title sponsor, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia.
Organisers also said that the route closures and support infrastructure will remain in place on Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Raja Chulan, Jalan P. Ramlee, Jalan Ampang, Jalan Kuching, Jalan Parlimen, Jalan Cenderawasih, Jalan Lembah and Jalan Sultan Hishamuddintomorrow, from 6am until 9am.
Facebook comments poured in soon after the press statement was posted on the event’s social media page, with many supporting the organiser’s decision and others with mixed opinions.
Muhaz Rizal B Muhamad said weather conditions were worsening and that runners would understand the decision SCKLM organisers had to make.
“The haze getting so bad..we as a runner understands the hard decision that SCKLM has to make..no worries we will meet again on scklm2016,” he said.
Facebook user Howie Teh said: “organizer, I would advice next time avoid organize the event during september to november, because it is Malaysia haze season”.
Another Facebook user Kaneshwaran Govindasamy said: “The organiser should consider organising next year’s run in the 1st half of 2016 instead of the 2nd half. At least if haze happens, the organiser have time gap to postpone the race, similar to 2013”.
But a runner from abroad was clearly upset. Björn Glaßmacher said: “Although I understand the decision, I think it should be in each runners decision to participate or not. Coming all the way from Germany to this event, collected my thing at 3pm…and now this. I’m really disappointed. Sorry guys, but this was a once in a lifetime chance. Prepared for the heat and conditions. You know about the haze conditions each year! Blacklisted!”
The Malaysian Insider reported yesterday that SCKLM had decided proceed with the event as planned.
In a post on the event’s official Facebook page yesterday, the organisers said that the run will take place at Dataran Merdeka as scheduled, thanks to the improved weather and air quality, which was registered as moderate on the air pollutant index.
This marks the second time the race in Malaysia has been affected by air pollution. In 2013, the event was postponed from June to October.
Smoke from forest fires due to land clearing for plantations in Kalimantan and Sumatra had been plaguing Malaysians in many states over the past few weeks, made worse by the dry El Nino weather system.
The Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies yesterday predicted that the current smoke outbreak could be the worst ever if dry weather persisted, surpassing levels in 1997.
- TMI
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