I would be quick to compare the traffic situation of Petaling Jaya and Singapore, both extremely metropolitan. It would be very challenging to design a route in Petaling Jaya that could be safe without closing the entire stretch. Prior to 2002, the Singapore Marathon was also organized in such trying conditions. In 2001 at the Exxon Mobil Singapore Marathon, a Sri Lanka runner was knocked down by a vehicle and the organizer learnt from it. This piece of negative news made it to the CNN, gave the event very negative publicity. In 2002, the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon was conducted with a traffic free route for the first time among many other improvements. The event has since grown into a 21,000 runners event by 2005! The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon would be a good case study for would be marathon organizers in Malaysia.

Too Many Marathons Chasing After Too Few Runners In Malaysia?
As a runner, approaching 50 years of age, I rate safety as the top consideration when I compete. Last month, I went up to Ipoh to support the UTAR Charity Run instead of doing the PJ Half Marathon. I am looking forward to the Putra Jaya Marathon scheduled for 10th September 2006, probably the most conducive route in the Klang Valley as far as safety is concern. In Malaysia, while the participation in marathon is so poor, we are not short of organizers wanting to give it a shot. We now have the following marathons, intended marathons and had been marathons & their response on the 42km categories;

Based on my estimate, we have only about less than 1,300 marathon runners in the country. My definition of a marathon runner is one who did a full marathon in the last 12 months. Therefore, I would classify myself as a former marathon runner as I last ran a marathon in 2000, at the Penang International Bridge Run. I notice the steady decline in the number of marathon runners since the running craze in the eighties. Those who were very active in the eighties are now in the veteran or senior veteran category. Some have given up for various reasons. While we have no short of organizers, we have an acute shortage of serious marathon runners to compete. More of the runners are the veterans. However, this is not the case in Singapore where 72% of the marathon runners are non-veterans. The number has also increase steadily the last 4 years to 4,000 plus finishers in the 2005 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon as against less than 800 at the Ambank KL Marathon in 2006.

I think marathon has become very elitist now with a small following, like triathlon. It would take tremendous effort to rebuild the base that was lost through many years of neglect; by the organizers of course. The remaining marathon runners are highly selective and are likely to select the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon as one of their core marathon events to train for. As an amateur marathon runner is unlikely to run more than 2 marathons a year, the second marathon is a toss between Ambank Kuala Lumpur International Marathon, Putrajaya International Marathon or the Penang Bridge International Marathon. The big question lies where do we go from here? How do we build back the base of marathon runners. Right now I can only see the Pacesetters Athletic Club, Malaysia (PACM) making some meaningful effort by organizing the Peer Support Training Program in the last few years and initiated the Great Eastern Pacesetters 30km in January 2006 as a warm up run for the Ambank KL International Marathon.

Last year, PACM and FTAAA jointly organized a marathon forum, bring in the Enterprise Sports Group, a professional sports event organizer from Singapore to share the experience of the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. While the forum was well attended by the runners, it was not well attended by the local runs organizer except for the organizer from the Ambank KL International Marathon. Some how the media also missed covering this event and it was only reported in the PACM’s Footloose (PACM’s quarterly magazine). We need more running groups in the country that promote running like the PACM. At the moment, we only have the Kelab Road Runners Ipoh that organizes runs as part of their annual programs. The rest of the running clubs are small and fragmented. The only other emerging club that is contemplating having an event to their name is the Batu Pahat Marathon Club. Looks like in the foreseeable future, marathon shall remain an elite sport!