KUALA LUMPUR: A record number of more than 12,500 runners will hit the road for honours and fun in the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon on Sunday.
And national runner Shaharudin Hashim will be on a serious mission. It will be his last chance to qualify on merit for the Laos SEA Games in December.
“This is it. If I don’t finish the race in under 2’26, I won’t qualify for the Games,” said Shaharudin, who has a personal best of 2’33:47, which he clocked in South Korea in 2007.
The qualifying time is the silver medal-winning effort of 2’26:28, clocked by Cambodian Hem Bunting in the 2006 Korat Games. Then, Shaharudin finished eighth in 2’42:17 in a race won by Indonesian Yahuza Yahuza (2’23:46).
“It will be nice to qualify from the KL Marathon as it will also mean breaking the national record of 2’29:21,” said the 34-year-old yesterday.
“The route seems to be not too difficult compared to previous years. I am confident of clocking a good time on Sunday,”
The event offers a total prize money of RM350,000. Besides the marathon, there are four categories of races — half marathon, 10km, 5km Fun Run and the Kids Dash.
The marathon will see a mix of top runners from all over the world, including Kenyan Lawrence Kiptoo Saina, who will be running in Malaysia for the first time.
“I have never raced in a humid condition like in Malaysia before. So this will be a good test for me,” said Saina, who has a personal best of 2’09:59.
No comments:
Post a Comment