Running events must get sanction: SAA
Published on: Friday, December 23, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Athletics Association (SAA) are working closely with the Sports Commissioner Office (SCO) here to ensure that future running events in the State are organised more professionally.SAA President Fred Gabriel said the public must be aware that all road running, road walking, cross country running, mountain running including trail running are governed by SAA as the affiliate of the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF).Organisers of running events in the State are advised to seek official sanction from the Sabah Athletics Association (SAA) to avoid any legal issues that may arise in future.
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"Event organisers are required to get the sanction of SAA before they are allowed to conduct their runs in the future."He added that SAA will liaise with all the government agencies to inform them of this requirement so as to avoid any legal issues that may arise in the future.Meanwhile, SAA secretary Francis Shim said organisers who had runs being planned before the Sports Commissioner office started to enforce this requirement are given until end of March next year to comply with their requirement."Sports Commissioner office is the Government agency that has authority over all the sport in Malaysia. Under the Sport Development Act, they have the authority to act against any event organiser.
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"SAA through Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF), Asian Athletics Association and IAAF has the franchise to govern the sport in Sabah."We govern not only track & field but also road running, road walking, cross country running, mountain running and trail running as well."
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He said the measure taken by SCO is also to control the number of runs in the state."There are currently too many running events especially in Kota Kinabalu. It seems that every Tom, Dick and Harry want to organise a run."For us, a run must conform with the standard rules, regulations and conditions. Failing which, legal issues may crop up in time of accidents or serious injury to participants or damages to third party properties."Many event organisers did not seek our sanction, SCO came into the picture to assist us on the requirement of sanction because there have been instances that event organiser absconded with the entrance fees and did not conduct the run. And also instances that they did not fulfil their promises on prize money and also did not provide enough drinking water for their participants."This has always been our fears when organisers only interested in making profits and forget about the promotion of the sport."Any run without our sanction is deemed unofficial. Any legal consequences that arise from the run are the responsibility of the organiser."He added that letters have been issued to the Police and the Chief Minister Department (JKM) on the matter.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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