Khairy’s first to sign-up for Standard Chartered KL Marathon

KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has shown that he is truly a man of action by becoming the first person to register for this year’s Standard Chartered KL Marathon.

He will run in the 10km event of the marathon, which will be held on Oct 12.

“I’m truly honoured to be a part of this important celebration ... and running plays an important role in sports and exercise.

“It has always been my dream that Malaysia will one day become a true sporting nation ... where you will see men and women, boys and girls of all ages and races taking to the parks,” said Khairy during the launch of the sixth edition of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon on Thursday.

This year’s marathon will offer a total purse of US$116,740 (RM376,524) and the race will begin and end at Dataran Merdeka.

Last year, 33,800 runners took part in the race.

This year 35,000 people are expected to be part of Malaysia’s biggest running event.

Rainer Biemans, director of Dirigo Events Sdn Bhd for Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014, announced that there would be many new additions to the run this year – including new routes, new categories and new partnerships.

“We also have new tagline this year – ‘Confident. Committed. Courageous’. The Standard Chartered KL Marathon is all about encouraging the commitment to achieving the goal of finishing the race, building confidence and celebrating the courage of the runners right from the beginning,” he said.

There’s also good news for Malaysian runners. The Malaysian winner of the full marathon this year will earn US$3,000 (RM9,600) – US$500 (RM1,633) more than last year.

Besides the full marathon (42.195km), the other categories are the half-marathon (21km), 10km, 5km fun run and 3km and 1km kid’s dash.

There are also three team categories – 10km Ministries Challenge, 10km Universities Challenge and 10km Corporate Challenge.

The closing date for entries is Aug 15 or when the 35,000 target is reached.