A Request: Justice for Gary Leon Robert

This is a letter I received from one of Gary's friends. Please hear his plight. Thanks!

Dear Friends from RunWitMe,

Last Sunday (2nd August 2009), my friend, Gary Leon Robert went missing after completing a 22km marathon (Adidas King of the Road) around Shah Alam Stadium organized by none other than Adidas Malaysia. On Monday (3rd August 2009), his body was found in the Stadium basement.

The cause of his death is dehydration*, however we believe that perhaps the real cause of his death is negligent. On Thursday, 'The Star' published 2 pages on how successful the event went but nothing on Gary.**

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/8/6/central/4445539&sec=central

To be fair to the media, I believe there are a number of online articles of him but they are relatively short in details. (google them!)

http://www.mmail.com.my/content/9901-gary%E2%80%99s-mysterious-death

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/15deadmarathon/Article/index_html

http://mstar.com.my/berita/cerita.asp?file=/2009/8/3/mstar_berita/20090803211452&sec=mstar_berita

Participating a run may seem harmless, but in the light of his death we need to take steps to improve the facilities which sport event organizers provide and the care which paramedics give.

The Mayor of Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam said the Gary was given the best medical treatment. If he had, he would still be here with us.

Gary's friends and family are dying for answers and they want the Sports Ministry to have an inquiry on his death.

To do so, they need support from the public. Please help us out and click on the site. (I believe my friends are doing up a petition via the website) Details of events following his death are published on the site:

http://justiceforgaryrobert.webs.com/

*Unless he has an inherent biological condition in him which lead to him dying from a thirst, his death was SO avoidable.

Last words: What we want is to have safe venues, proper facilities and health care for sportswomen/men. The more people hear of his story, 'perhaps' organizers and care-providers will pull their socks up.

Please do contact us for more details of his story or you would like to know more of him.

justiceforgaryrobert(at)gmail.com

Note: Photo courtesy of Tey Eng Tiong.