Standard Chartered KL Marathon, missing standards?

After my participation in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009, I'm not sure the event was an improvement over the previous events under AMBank.

The 21km route, though very scenic and more challenging than the 'old' route, seemed to cause more traffic diversions and thus, traffic congestions. I felt sorry for those who were had to wait in or next to their vehicles.

There were mobile toilets setup along the route but not all were safely located as some required the runners to dash across a 3-lane road with on-coming vehicles.

At approximately 4 meters after crossing the finishing line, I was directed to the middle of the Merdeka field which was further away from the entrance to the area serving the drinking water and isotonic drinks. If I was allowed to walk another 6 meters after crossing the finishing line, I could have made a right turn to reach that area.

I thought a small bottle of drinking water was offered to the 42km finishers at the finishing line at previous and other marathons???

Many were looking for the usual assortments of food & beverages which are common in many running events. However, the Organiser offered only bananas, isotonic drinks and drinking water.

The best part was that I had to line up, again, to collect my finishing medal. As expected, the line was LONG!

KL Marathon 2010?

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009, where's your standard?

I believe that like me, many gave up on the KL International Marathon (KLIM) after years of not-so-satisfactory experience in terms of the registration, bib collection, etc.

Like me, many were very excited about taking part in this year's KLIM when Standard Chartered Bank was announced as the main title sponsor.

Our past experience in the Singapore Marathon and for some, the Hong Kong Marathon, raised our expectations on all things associated with a successfully put together running event under the supervision of the Standard Chartered Bank.

However, the bib collection process, which I went through earlier this afternoon, really left me in doubt on seeing those expectations met in KL.

The bib collection started at around noon on the Merdeka field.

I lined up at the half marathon section at 12:15pm.

Before you know it, a series of things happend:

• heavy downpour (remember I was standing on an open field)


• system inaccessible (I was told the server was down)


• power down (again, I was told)


• rain stopped


• power restored & laptops operational


• hot sun out (it's finally my turn!)


• staff typed my registration number using the top rows of numberic keys on a laptop


• staff looked up my bib number & vest size


• staff ran to the back


• staff searched for my bib among boxes


• staff found my bib


• staff went to another area to get my vest


• staff returned


• staff put the bib, vest, and vouchers into my gunny sack

I got my bib at 2:00pm.

I sincerely thanked the staff for doing all that but as I was walking away, I felt bad for the staff as he had to endure that for more hours under the hot and poorly ventilated tent.

The boxes of bibs and vests were everywhere. One of the staff even slipped and fell when he was running around to speed up the process.







Now, all that was for the 21km bib. I then had to repeat the same thing for the 10km bibs which I was collecting for others.

The 10km bib collection experience was even more memorable as there were 5 times more people standing in numerous lines which resembled a typical Malaysia toll booth area during rush hour traffic.



When someone in front of you did a multiple bib collection, that was when you felt like saying 'F it!' And there were many group collections.

After more than 3 hours, I collected all the bibs and was more than ready to leave.

I don't understand why the Organiser chose to do all these on an open field when everyone knows that it's either scorching hot or drenching wet during this time of the year.

I don't understand why the Organiser didn't have a contigency plan if and when the system or power was down.

I don't understand why the Organiser didn't pre-pack the gunny sacks as the sacks could still be stored thin and flat with the bib and vest.

I don't understand why the Organiser didn't station more staff as by the registration closing date on 29th May 2009, the organizer had stated a combined registration of 12,000 participants.

I don't understand why the Organiser made my not-so-satisfactory experience even worse.

StanChart, what happened?

Hope I don't have to ask more question on race day...



BTW, I have had this blog since September 2008 but was always too lazy to blog... until this afternoon.