KUALA LUMPUR – The Standard Chartered marathon in the region has witnessed a handful of deaths of runners over the years – most recently 30-year-old Zhang Zhichong collapsed on the platform of a Hong Kong metro station after the race.
Zhang was rushed to the Ruttonjee Hospital for treatment but was later pronounced dead. It was believed that he succumbed to ill health after completing the half-marathon.
34 others also found themselves hospitalised while a total of 842 individuals received treatment for various injuries, predominantly bruises and sprains.
On November 16, 2022, participant Abdul Rahman Kifli in the Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon died after being found unconscious along Jalan Dang Wangi at 6.01am during the race.
The organisers said CPR was administered to the 47-year-old before he was taken to Kuala Lumpur Hospital after he failed to respond to the resuscitation.
Rahman remained unconscious and was on life support in the hospital since then before dying a few days later.
In 2018, 50-year-old Kevin Lee Man-tak died of natural causes three days after he passed out during the Standard Chartered Marathon in Hong Kong.
Lee had fainted halfway in the 10km event on January 21, 2018, and died at the Eastern Hospital. The autopsy showed that the cause of death was acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).
The coroner’s findings were finalised in court four years later.
In 2016, a 29-year-old man was rushed to the Singapore General Hospital on December 4 after he collapsed during the Standard Chartered Marathon.
Doctors had pronounced him dead soon after.
The victim was later identified as British national John Gibson, who was living in Hong Kong.
He collapsed just before 6.30am, about 1km away from the finish line. This came as a surprise because his family said he was in excellent physical condition and had completed the Paris and London triathlons earlier in the year.
He was given a clean bill of health after undergoing a full-body check-up months before the marathon in Singapore.
In 2011, Malcolm Sng, 22, died after completing the half-marathon in Singapore. It was reported that he suffered from a heart condition, and died from acute coronary insufficiency.
In 2010, 25-year-old runner Lim Wei Yee died during the marathon in Kuala Lumpur.
A witness was reported as saying that he saw a participant having a seizure by the road in front of the KL City Hall headquarters before collapsing.
Several runners took turns administering CPR while waiting for emergency services to arrive. Lim was later rushed to the KL Hospital where he was pronounced dead. – January 22, 2024