MP SPEAKS | The Malaysia Marathon, which was supposed to have taken place in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 1, has been abruptly cancelled less than a month before the run.

The cancellation was announced on the Malaysia Marathon website and Facebook page on Sept 5.

On Sept 7, the Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz announced that the reason for the cancellation of the marathon was because the organiser could not deliver on its initial promise of bringing in 5,000 runners from China to participate in the run.

Not surprisingly, Malaysian runners vented their frustration via Facebook, including the FB page of the Malaysia Marathon.

At the time of writing, the FB posting for the cancellation of the race had received 371 comments, mostly negative.

The last-minute cancellation of running events is not a new occurrence in Malaysia. It has happened many times before, which is why I presented the results of a survey of Malaysian runners to Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin via his deputy M Saravanan in Parliament on Aug 1, 2017.

Understandably, the minister has been busy with the 29th Kuala Lumpur SEA Games and now, with the Paralympic Games which starts on Sept 17...