Organisers of bridge run must buck up

I REFER to the report “More complaints on Penang Bridge run” (The Star, Nov 29).

The annual Penang Bridge International Marathon has come under fire from participants who were dissatisfied with the organisers and the state government.

Complaints of insufficient medals, expired chocolates, wrong T-shirt sizes and no water provided at the finish line flooded social media.

Chinese language dailies highlighted the agony of the participants who had to wait more than three hours to get their food.

What hurt the participants most is those who completed the run on time were told “there are no more medals”.

I saw some participants sobbing because of insufficient medals despite their beating the qualifying time.

This is a big embarrassment to the organisers. It seems they never learned from previous runs as this complaint keeps on repeating.

The annual Penang Bridge International Marathon was first held in 1984 and this year, it attracted some 35,000 participants from Malaysia and overseas.

Many of them are now contemplating boycotting next year’s run.

The Malaysian Athletic Federation must step in and ensure that the organisers get the national body’s sanction and expertise in organising an event of this magnitude, particularly under Section 34 of the Sports Development Act 1997 which clearly states the event must be authorised in accordance with the recognised rules and guidelines of all international governing and regulatory bodies.

The organisers must bear in mind that this is not a money-making business where they can cut corners. It is time to give the red card to the organisers and the state government must take the blame.

C. SATHASIVAM SITHERAVELLU Seremban