The registration for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2017 (SCKLM) has officially closed as all the individual race slots for the event have been sold out.

The Standard Chartered KL Marathon turns nine this year and the 2017 edition will take place on Sunday, 21 May at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur.

Rainer Biemans, Director of Dirigo Events and Project Director of SCKLM 2017 said,

“We are grateful that interest in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon is as strong as ever. After our pre-registration period for 2016 participants closed, we opened registration to the public on 16 January and sold out four days later. We thank all our loyal supporters for continuing to support the marathon and will now focus on delivering the best race experience possible."

12,512 race slots were snapped up on the first day of registration on Monday, 16 Jan, which is about a third of the total number of race slots available. This time however registration for the Full and Half Marathon categories sold out quicker than the usually more popular 10km and 5km categories.

At the finish line of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2016 5km and 10km Run.

“We have been consciously trying to increase the level of competitiveness for SCKLM 2017 and we are very happy to see that the popularity of the longer distances are increasing. In fact, we’ve closed the Full Marathon category with 8,000 runners in total this year, constituting a 7% increase from 2016 and the highest number recorded in this category so far for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon. So for the first time our Running Clinics will have two sessions specifically for runners who are going to attempt their first Full Marathon and first Half Marathon,”

Rainer said.

This year for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2017’s registration will see 1,381 runners from 63 different nationalities taking part, with the highest number of international runners coming from Indonesia (325) followed by the United Kingdom (146) and India (132).

Trying to reduce congestion and make the race more competitive, SCKLM 2017 will continue with a seven hour cut-off time for the Full Marathon with checkpoints at designated areas along the route to ensure runners are within the specified time frames.

Tired but happy faces at the end of the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2016.

Participants who do not make it to the checkpoints within the required times will not be allowed to complete the race and will be transported to the finish line.

This is also meant to ensure the safety of runners as the public roads need to be opened to regular traffic at times strictly stipulated by the authorities.

Participating runners can also look forward to a total of 12 running clinics that will be provided by the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2017, including 5 Junior running clinics and specialised clinics for those attempting their first Half and Full Marathons.