KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — Nothing has been done to make road-running in Malaysia safer, a friend of the late marathoner Evelyn Ang said.

Julie Wong, a road race technical director who is also Ang’s personal friend, said the country’s sports authorities and athletics bodies have yet to come up with a standard safety guide for road-running.

Noting that these authorities have made various remarks following Ang’s accident last December, Wong said the Youth and Sports Ministry has yet to hold a promised townhall meeting to address road-running safety.

“With that, I hope the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Sports Commissioner will call for this townhall meeting as soon as possible, so we can further address this issue.

“Because right until now, nothing has been done to make road-running safer than before,” she said in a media conference along with Ang’s family.

Wong said that an informal group of race organisers and race directors had gathered together after Ang was hit last December to relook into the running community’s safety measures during events.

Wong lamented that the sport of road-running is nowadays being turned into an industry, adding that many race organisers and directors have in the past decade been trying to make the sport a fun family and community event.

“And we strongly feel that all race directors and organisers owe a duty of care to its crew and all runners in terms of safety, but until now we have been waiting for the Malaysia Athletic Federation as well as state athletic bodies on some firm guidelines for road-running,” she said, claiming that the athletic bodies remain stuck in the past.

Wong was however thankful that the Sports Commissioner Datuk Zaiton Othman had on February 12 met with 10 representatives from the group of race directors and race organisers for a discussion, with the latter then handing over eight recommendations for the sports commissioner to consider.

Wong said the planned townhall meeting by the sports ministry should include race directors, race organisers, and athletic bodies while being open for media coverage.

Wong claimed that some organisers of road running events have had to pay costly fees now that the Sports Commissioner’s permit is required for all such events.

“Some of the race organisers are being held at ransom to pay a high sanctioning fee in order to get a support letter from state athletic bodies in order to secure a permit from the Sports Commissioner,” she claimed.

“Will having a permit from the Sports Commissioner make road-running safer? Because all these while, we have been submitting our applications to traffic police, local authorities, etc. But what can that piece of letter from athletic bodies do to make road-running safer? That we will like them to address.”

Safety-minded Ang

Wong, who is a fellow runner, said she has known Ang for seven years and noted that the latter would always share safety tips with other runners on social media prior to races.

“She will always post what kind of attire she will put on, to tell people you have to dress up bright so people can see you, if you go on a long-distance run, make sure you have all the blinking lights, you must have the water bag...She wants to create awareness by telling people this is how you should dress when you run for your own safety,” she said.

Wong said Ang had always prioritised race safety and had frequently shared her observations on how the races that she had participated in could be further improved to make them safer.

Ang’s husband Dennis WM Loo also spoke at the media conference. Ang’s youngest sibling Arthur, 37, attended but did not speak to reporters.

Ang was knocked down in a hit-and-run last December 10 during the Klang City International Marathon 2017 and suffered a fractured skull and brain haemorrhage.

Ang, who would have turned 45 on April 13, did not wake up from her coma and died peacefully around 1.30am yesterday.