KL Marathon cancelled, health and safety a top priority: organisers
PETALING JAYA: The much anticipated Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon 2015 (SCKLM) had been cancelled due to haze deteriorating air quality in the city.
At about 5pm, SCKLM updated its Facebook page, stating that the health and safety of all runners remains the organiser's top priority.
"Since our last announcement, the haze has unfortunately reached unhealthy levels according to the latest monitored alert.
"Due to the rapidly deteriorating air quality and on the advice from the medical team, the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF), and the Institut Sukan Negara, we regret to announce that the Standard Chartered KL Marathon will be cancelled," it said, adding that the decision was supported by the event co-organisers, Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL), and title sponsor, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia.
SCKLM noted that despite the cancellation, route closure and support infrastructures will remain along several roads between 6am and 9am tomorrow, including Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Raja Chulan, Jalan P. Ramlee, Jalan Ampang, Jalan Kuching, and Jalan Parlimen.
"Registered participants are advised to directly proceed to Dataran Merdeka to collect their race entitlements from 6am until 12pm," it said.
Since the posting when up, the posting garnered over 1,000 Likes, 1,400 shares and over 600 comments, most of which supported the move by the organiser.
Facebook user Daniel S. Liew said while it was not an easy decision, it was necessary.
"Perhaps the organiser should consider organising next year's run in the 1st-half of 2016 instead of the 2nd-half. Kudos organiser! (sic)" he said.
Another user Rachel Yap said that the organisers did their best, and looks forward to next year's event.
With some 35,000 runners both local and foreign participants registered for this year's event, SCKLM is among the top annual marathon events in the country.
For more details and latest news, please check www.kl-marathon.com and SCKLM's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SCKLmarathon?fref=ts.