SHAH ALAM, Dec 5 — The Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon has been ranked as the worst marathon in the world, according to a UK-based trainer review and news site The Sole Supplier.
The web portal had evaluated 81 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) certified marathon courses worldwide, in which Malaysia had come in last with a score of 3.69 out of a total 10.
The scores were ranked accordingly based on several categories, such as air quality, average finish time, average temperature and rainfall, starting entry fees, toilets, and medical aid.
“The worst marathon in the world is the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon, scoring just 3.69 out of 10 overall, let down by the city’s air pollution levels, hot climate, slow average finish time and lack of medical aid along the course,” the article read.
Other marathons ranked at the bottom of the list include the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon (4) and Standard Chartered Singapore marathon (4.18).
Coming on top of the ranking out of the 81 marathons evaluated were the Haspa Marathon Hamburg (7.57) in Germany, International Vienna City Marathon (7.45) in Austria, and Cracovia Marathon (7.02) in Poland.
“All IAAF-certified marathons (476) were considered for the index. In order to refine the list, each country featuring in the list were allowed up to three marathons for inclusion. These were decided by taking city population size into account.
“The marathons taking place in each country’s three “largest cities” were included in the study. During the data collection phase, any marathons missing more than 1 data point (due to no data available) were removed, leaving a final list of 81 global marathon courses,” said web portal.
