Putrajaya, 29 May 2013 – The country’s first and oldest bank today held the third instalment of its Standard Chartered Fun Run in conjunction with Putrajaya Youth Festival. The event was flagged off by Youth and Sports Minister, Yang Berhormat Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin at Dataran Gemilang, Precinct 4 in Putrajaya yesterday. Also present at the event were Yang Berhormat Dato’ Sri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Minister of Communication and Multimedia, Yang Berhormat Datuk M. Saravanan, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports and Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim, Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia.
Osman Morad, Managing Director and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia said, “We are proud to be part of this massive youth gathering and to play a role in supporting the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It is our way of encouraging youths to get involved in sports and live a healthier lifestyle.”
Some 3,000 running enthusiasts took part in the run. The Standard Chartered Fun Run is held as a precursor to the much bigger event – the iconic Standard Chartered KL Marathon that is taking place on 30 June at Dataran Merdeka. Arul Thever a/l Muniandy was the champion for the 8KM Malaysian Men’s Category. He said, “I didn’t think that I could win the Run. It’s an amazing feeling and I had fun”.
The Standard Chartered Fun Run features an 8KM and 4KM race aged 15-40 – the youth age limit defined by the National Youth Development Act, formed by the Malaysian Government. For the first time this year, the run introduced the 2.2KM Special Needs Category. Thirty-two special needs runners from Persatuan Kanak-Kanak Istimewa Kajang Selangor and Malaysian Association for the Blind participated in the run where they buddied up with Standard Chartered staff volunteers who helped guide them to the finish line.
The highlight of the Standard Chartered Fun Run is the ever popular Costume Run, which as expected, was a hit. In keeping with the theme, this category saw teenagers donning the colourful costumes of their favourite cartoon characters. Those who took part had an enjoyable run with friends and family, while grooving to the music with their wackiest costumes.