Marathon runners have started flooding Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's Facebook page after he announced that the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2015 (SCKLM) would be moved from Oct 4 to Oct 10.

This, Khairy said, would help to bolster the National Sports Day, which is aiming to get at least three million Malaysians involved on that day.

Some 35,000 participants have registered for the marathon, which Khairy noted would help boost the numbers for the National Sports Day.

However, the marathon runners have not taken kindly that the date of the event they are eager to participate in has been changed simply to hit Khairy's target.

"I did not expect the SCKLM date to be changed simply to have it together with the National Sports Day," said Zul Hilmi Hamdun.

"After that, the news will say that the National Sports Day was a success. The credit goes to Khairy ( photo ). Makes work easy, doesn't it," added Mohd Asyraf Noordin.

Another Facebook user Liela Asoi Arinen appealed for Khairy to reconsider the date change.

"Please maintain the date of SCKLM. More than a few people had already bought their flight tickets and booked hotels.

"Please look at SCKLM's (Facebook page), it is not just Malaysians are complaining, even foreigners are complaining," Liela said.

"I have saved money to buy my flight ticket and book hotel. I was very happy that I registered for the 42km marathon.

"Now all is gone because the event's date was moved at a whim. The ministry should not have done this" added Tamida Da'adi.

All the comments were directed at an unrelated post by Khairy, which showed pictures of the minister handing out contributions to old folks and orphans.

Similarly, on SCKLM's official Facebook page, there were more than 1,000 comments in reaction to the announcement to change the event from a Sunday to the following Saturday, most of which were complaints.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming ( photo ) , an avid marathon runner, had yesterday also criticised Khairy for what he described as "perceived political interference" in the event.

Ong had said that having the event on a Saturday was unsuitable as some worked on that day while others who needed to travel would need to take leave a day before that.

He added that many had also booked their flights and would not get their refund.