Top Malaysian marathoners competing for title
and potential spot at SEA Games
KUALA LUMPUR, April 2017: The Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) 2017 is
gearing up to be a highly competitive race, particularly in the Malaysian Men’s
category, as the top Malaysian marathon runners will be competing for honours
as well as hoping to catch the attention of the selectors of the KL SEA Games
squad.
Last year’s Full
Marathon winner in the Malaysian category was Muhaizar Mohamad with a time of
2:39:24, followed by Mohd Jironi Riduan in second place with a time of 2:39:56
and Tan Huong Leong in third recording a time of 2:41:53. Not only are all
three runners back for SCKLM 2017, but their contest will be given an added
edge because of the SEA Games in KL later this year. Tan in particular, has
been recording really fast times recently with a 2:35:24 at the Taipei Marathon
in December and 2:28:19 in the recently concluded Tokyo Marathon, which is one
of the fastest times recorded by a Malaysian for the full marathon.
“We are really
looking forward to a hotly contested SCKLM 2017, especially in the Malaysian
Men’s Full Marathon Category,” said Rainer Biemans, Director of Dirigo Events
and Project Director of SCKLM 2017. “This augurs well for our event as one of
our key objectives has been to raise the competitive level of the SCKLM. And as
the selection for the SEA Games is only finalised in July, these runners will
be eager to push hard to try to earn selection,” he added.
Defending Malaysian
Men’s champion Muhaizar Mohamad knows that SCKLM 2017 is potentially his best
bet to get into the national team for the KL SEA Games 2017. Muhaizar has
dominated the Malaysian Men’s category for the Full Marathon the last couple of
years. The Armed Forces personnel largely trains on his own but a short stint
under Mark Williams, the Official Running Coach that runs SCKLM’s Running
Clinics, enabled him to achieve his personal best at last year’s SCKLM. “I
don’t have a personal coach so it’s going to be tough for me to post faster
times. I realised how much a coach could help me when I trained under Mark
Williams. The plan he devised is what helped me to achieve my fastest time so
far at last year’s SCKLM,” said Muhaizar. “But as the SEA Games is on home soil
this year, I will be going all out in SCKLM 2017 to hopefully beat my
personalbest and qualify for the Games,” he added.
Jironi on the other
hand needs to better his personal best considerably if he wants to make the
cut. His personal best of 2’39:58 is currently well outside the national
qualifying mark of 2’35:04 for the SEA Games but the school coach is determined
to beat his personal best at SCKLM 2017. “I know my timing is still below the
qualifying mark but I am focused on delivering a better time at SCKLM 2017 and
hopefully that puts me in contention for a SEA Games race slot,” said Jironi.
Tan, 29, could be the
man to watch as his current personal best is well within the qualifying mark.
He has been training in Taiwan, where he works as an engineer, under
professional Taiwanese distance running coach Lim Chen Ming for the last two
years and the results are beginning to speak for themselves. His timing at the
last Standard Chartered KL Marathon has been shaved by almost 13 minutes albeit
in much more temperate conditions in Tokyo compared to Kuala Lumpur. It will
certainly be interesting to see how fast he can go in the sweltering conditions
here.
“I’m really looking
forward to SKLM 2017. While I’m not setting any particular goals for this
event, I still want to do my best for this run and hopefully my name is in the
list for the SEA Games come July,” said Tan.
Another Malaysian to
look out for in SCKLM 2017 is current national record holder of the Half
Marathon Malaysian Women’s category Sheela Samivellu. Sheela smashed her own
previous record at SCKLM 2016 and will be gunning to clinch a spot in the SEA
Games through a strong showing in this year’s SCKLM. The Principal Assistant
Director with the Ministry of Well-Being, Housing and Local Government started
running from an early age and has participated in the SEA Games several times
before. “I started running when I was five and the journey continues. What
started as a means to be happy and to reduce stress has
become something more serious now.Breaking the national record at SCKLM2016 was
the proudest moment in my career so far and I hope I can finish just as
strongly this year as that would put me in a good position for the SEA Games in
August,” said Sheela.
The Standard
Chartered KL Marathon has grown to become the premier running event in Malaysia
that draws thousands of local and international runners to the country whilst
firmly establishing Malaysia in the global running calendar. The 2017 edition
of the race will once again see sponsorship from Title Sponsor Standard Chartered
Bank Malaysia, along with Honda Malaysia, Brooks, Lucozade, Seiko and Pacific
Regency.
Elite runners will be
competing to earn a slice of the almost RM500,000 in total that is on offer at
the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2017,which include bonus prizes for record
breaking course times.
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