Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014 has a new route for your PB?

For the second time in six years, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014 will have a new route to test runners’ endurance and skills on more elevated roads. We get to “ride” the 42km in a brand new HopOn-HopOff bus as part of the media tour of the new route which was held on 6 September. (Insert excited squeal here)



We started at Dataran Merdeka where participants will start and finish as usual. However, the new route will take you guys along the Duta-Ulu Klang Highway (DUKE) and the Ampang-KL Elevated Highway (AKLEH) instead of the previous years when you ran mainly on city roads.

The media tour was hosted by Rainer Biemans (left), Director of Dirigo Events, event owner and organiser of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon while live commentary was provided by coach Mark Williams.

“Our first consideration is always the safety of our runners. When designing the routes, we looked into various ways of leading runners onto roads that presented the least traffic hazards.”

“Running on elevated highways means that runners get to enjoy the rare experience of a bird’s eye view of the city skyline plus traffic is more manageable and we are optimistic that the runners will enjoy the experience,” he said.

He also said special attention was paid to the Jalan Raja Laut and Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman turns, so collisions and congestion between Full Marathon and Half Marathon runners returning and 10km, 5km runners heading to their start points could be avoided this year.

“We have grown from 33,800 last year to 35,200 as of Sept 1, 2014 and we are confident the new route with the highways, will be able to take on that number during the event.

“As the event organiser, our efforts have always been channelled towards making the race better and for our runners to constantly experience something new. I believe we have achieved this once again with the new route,” Biemans said.



FYI, the highways DUKE and AKLEH will be closed for traffic on the event morning. So, you get to run like a king without getting honked at by impatient drivers. Heheh! From what we saw, it will be a scenic route as well where you will pass by majestic landmarks such as the Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers, KTMB Station Kuala Lumpur, the National Monument and the Kuala Lumpur High Court to name a few.

The Petronas Twin Towers (KLCC) will be taking centre stage this year. Runners will get to see these iconic towers from near, far and from different sides as well.



According the organisers, numerous precautionary measures have been taken to ensure the runners’ safety on Race Day. These include:

• Engagement of 400 traffic police and DBKL enforcement officers to ensure a traffic-free running route and pre-race road closures
• Public conveniences such as 350 toilets, surau facilities and 28 water stations on the route as well as Dataran Merdeka
• 450 medical personnel both on the route as well as Dataran Merdeka
• 350 race officials both on the route as well as the start and finish areas
• Public transportation services from as early as 3am

The media tour concluded at where we started earlier, Dataran Merdeka. Thank you Dirigo for organizing the media tour. It was awesome to see the new route and we are sure the runners will have a blast blazing through the new SCKLM route this year!

And thank you for the cute little SCKLM T-shape towel as proudly shown by Ms. Julie Wong of Run in Diversity blog.



Before the media tour, a bunch of 8 runners were given the opportunity to test run the full 42.195km of the new SCKLM route before anyone else. They started off at 4:30 am in the morning, exactly the start time of SCKLM this year.



The majority is very excited with the new route. We caught up with some of them to give you some of their thoughts on the new course.



Photo clock wise from top left

Kelvin Wan
“This will be my third SCKLM full marathon. The route is well planned for the runners with the two highways closed from traffic. Do not start too fast. Pace yourself and enjoy the KL view”.

Gus Ghani
“The new route is much better than the old one as we will be running closed elevated highways. It was quite windy in the morning. The last five km can be quite challenging. Do at least a 30km run before the event day.”

Joe Liew
“The route is easy and interesting as we get to run on the other side of the city. Just go have fun and enjoy the scenery”

Chan Ming Wai
“I think runners will be able to achieve their personal best on this route. It is not too tough and the elevated highways are free from cars.”



According to Coach Mark Williams, a brand new SCKLM record is possible as the route has been modified from previous years’ to be runner-friendly with a lot of relatively flat terrain.

A summary of SCKLM 2014 Full Marathon route.
Start at Dataran Merdeka heading towards Jalan Raja Laut and run along Jalan Sultan Ismail – Jalan Ampang – KLCC – Jln P.Ramlee – Jln Raja Chulan – Jln Tun Razak – Jln Ampang – Jln Jelatek. Begin the 9.5km in front of Balai Bomba Jelatek into AKLEH. Do a U-turn and enter MRR2 km 19, after running about 2km in MRR2, get into DUKE. Run on DUKE until the exit at Jln Kuching at km 31. Continue on Jalan Kuching for another 3km before entering Jln Langgak Tunku. Pass by Bank Negara, Jln Parlimen, Padang Merbok/Tugu Negara before going into Jln Damansara – in front of Muzium Negara, km 40.5. Run pass the majestic KTM station and Masjid Negara before ending at Dataran Merdeka.



Honda Half Marathon runners will get to enjoy the scenic KL from AKLEH only while the MISC 10km runners will get to see KL without having to run on elevated highways.



Back for the sixth year, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon is scheduled to take place on 12 October 2014. The marathon aims to grow to 35,000 total participants, ranging from elite professionals to first-time amateurs. A truly international event, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon boasts participants from all over Malaysia and over 48 countries. The Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014 continues as Malaysia’s flagship running event with top runners competing for a total of USD 116,740 prize money.

For more information on the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014’s new route, please visit www.kl-marathon.com or call +603 7886 1717.