Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon under consideration in AbbottWMM long-term expansion process

The Abbott World Marathon Majors is currently at different phases in exploring the candidacy of several events for inclusion in the AbbottWMM series. One of the events that is currently being evaluated against the stringent operational criteria that has been set forth is the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.

The Race Directors and Operations Directors from the global series have provided a detailed evaluation of the race to Ironman Asia, the organizers of the Singapore Marathon. These evaluations are part of a long term process taking place where AbbottWMM is working with Wanda to identify three major marathon events in areas such as Asia (not including Japan) and Africa for inclusion in the AbbottWMM series.

'We know that for any race to become an Abbott World Marathon Major, there has to be a strong alliance and desire to succeed from government, emergency services and event organizers," said Tim Hadzima, general manager of AbbottWMM. �"The benchmark for any race to join the Series is high and the extensive feedback we gave shows the extent of the improvement required and the cooperation needed fromall parties involvedforSingaporeto reach AbbottWMM standards. We also know there are many cities around the globe that recognize the tourism and economic benefits that anynew race will gain as part of AbbottWMM series."