Runner Dies In Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2010

Runner, Lim Ji Wei Dies In Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2010

Its another unwanted incident happened in less than a year, a runner, Lim Ji Wei collapsed and died in a KL marathon race sponsored by Standard Chartered. A sense of deja vu perhaps ? Well, as most of you know, I lost my very best friend, Gary Leon Robert in a similar incident last year in the adidas King of The Road.


Based on Malay Mail's news coverage,
Two kilometres may proved too far yesterday for Lim Ji Wei, 25, who collapsed during the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2010 and was later pronounced dead at Hospital Kuala Lumpur.


He was declared to have died of a cardiac arrest. His sudden death was not the only thing to jolt the other walkers who claimed medics only arrived 20 minutes later.


One of the runners, Yit Ming, himself trained in Emergency First Response, who stopped by collapsed Lim said: "There were three City Hall personnel who were watching the incident." Yit Ming stopped together with another medical student and a doctor to help Lim by giving him CPR for about 20 minutes.


"I even asked one of other runners to get the medics as soon as possible." Yit Ming was disappointed at this slow response, telling the The Malay Mail the race guide stated there would be medics on standby every 4km. He claimed throughout his run, he spotted none.


"The runners guide said the response time for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) was three minutes. If it's supposed so, why did it take them 20 minutes to arrive?"


When the medics arrived, Lim regained his pulse but was weak. He was then rushed to Hospital Kuala Lumpur together with the doctor who assisted him, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.


Organiser Golazo Sdn Bhd race director Wes Sakai said they were unable to comment because they were still collecting information on the incident.


When will the organizers understands how important is a life to them ? I would say the best way is to place the best first aid team with well equipped medical instruments at every checkpoint as we cant foresee accidents like this happening.

Standard Chartered 2010 KL Marathon photo

More than 16,500 people took part in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon which took the runners on a route from Dataran Merdeka past some of the city’s historical landmarks. Kenyan Nelson Kirwa Rotich ran an scorching race in wet conditions to win the Standard Chartered KL Marathon yesterday in a record-breaking time.


He clocked 2’16:44 to erase the previous record of 2’17:20 set by compatriot Julius Kilimo Kipkorir.