Some 40 winners of a night run that was sponsored by Selangor Umno information chief Zein Isma Ismail have finally been paid, two months after the race.

A spokesperson for the race organiser said all outstanding payments were made today.

The matter was first brought to light by Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming, himself an avid runner, who highlighted the matter on Twitter last Friday.

Ong said the prizes that were promised, totalling RM32,000 in all, were not small and this had attracted a sizeable amount of elite runners.

"Despite many attempts by some of the winners to contact the race organisers, they have yet to receive their prize money (as of four days ago)," said Ong.

According to promotional materials for the race, which took place on Feb 10, it was organised by the Guru Aktif 1Selangor (GA1S), Jawatankuasa Perwakilan Penduduk Parlimen Subang and Koordinator Pembangunan Persekutuan Dewan Undangan Negeri DUN N38 Paya Jaras.

Zein was described as the patron of the event. Photos from the event also showed a large number of BN personalities present, including Noh Omar, Ahmad Maslan and P Kamalanathan, among others.

The official Facebook page for the race was filled with complaints, which among others, included complaints the poor organisation, lack of water stations, poor traffic control, lack of winner's medals and glow-in-the-dark T-shirts.

Runners had to pay an entry price of RM75.

Meanwhile, Zein told Malaysiakini that it was wrong for Ong to insinuate that the event was linked to BN.

He said his role was limited to securing an RM40,000 from a friend to fund the race and helping the organisers in any way he could.

"I did provide some help to facilitate (the event) especially with the security, and matters involving the permit and police. But I won't entertain any politicking.

"I'm a little bit surprised with the allegations against me and the use of BN's name (by Ong) showed he had bad intentions," he said when met yesterday.

He urged Ong to apologise for attacking BN over the event on social media.

Race organiser Azroy Ramli said the failure to pay out the prize money on time was the fault of the organiser and not Zein's.

"Zein is our patron, who provided us with facilities, links with the VVIPs and the police. This was supposed to be a charity event.

"The money was supposed to go to GA1S, but we incurred losses and were unable to fund GA1S and pay the prize winners," he said.

Azroy has since lodged a police report to which absolved Zein, BN and GA1S of wrongdoing in the delay in paying the race winners.