Haze forces Malaysian fitness groups to swap outdoor runs for shopping mall laps

Runners in Malaysia are swapping their usual routes through parks and city streets for laps around shopping malls, commandeering air-conditioned corridors to keep up their training as a stubborn blanket of haze makes exercising outdoors increasingly hazardous.

The switch comes as smoke from forest and peatland fires continues to foul the air across parts of Southeast Asia, with Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding districts among the hardest-hit areas.

By 9am on Thursday, 15 of Malaysia’s 68 air quality monitoring stations were recording unhealthy pollution levels. Readings reached 163 in Negeri Sembilan, while parts of Kuala Lumpur and neighbouring Selangor remained above 150, according to data from the Department of Environment.

At Atria Shopping Gallery in Petaling Jaya, just outside Kuala Lumpur, dozens of runners spent Wednesday evening weaving through the mall’s upper-floor corridors, clocking up laps past shops and escalators in a workout that would ordinarily have taken place on the streets.

The free event, organised by fitness studio The Active Chimp with the mall’s approval, attracted nearly 200 registrations – far exceeding the 50 to 60 participants organisers had anticipated.

“We were actually expecting the first run to attract around 50 to 60 people, but it was actually overwhelming,” The Active Chimp founder Keith Tan said.

Organisers eventually limited participants to around 150, with running coaches setting the pace along a roughly 500-metre circuit and helping participants avoid shoppers.

Tan, 40, came up with the idea after struggling to find somewhere to run without exposing himself to the haze. He approached the mall’s management after noticing how much space was available during quieter hours.

“I was watching, I was teaching classes, and I was like, ‘Oh, the mall’s so empty,’” he recalled. “I was wondering, can we actually run inside the mall when there’s not so many people?”

He pitched the idea to management, arguing that runners needed somewhere to train while the air outside remained hazardous. “It’s hazy and no one can run outside,” he said.

The mall agreed, moving benches to widen the route and providing security personnel to help manage foot traffic. Tan’s coaches also tested the circuit at different times of the day before launching the first organised run.

The fitness entrepreneur, who has worked in the industry for more than a decade, wants the runs to become a regular fixture if the arrangement proves manageable.

“I know the treadmill is a choice, but running on a track is different,” he said. “Personally, it’s my own pain because I wanted to run and I had nowhere to go.”

Retail ‘run’ therapy

Fitness groups across the Klang Valley, which includes Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding cities, have also begun organising indoor mall runs as the haze disrupts outdoor training.

At The Starhill, an upscale shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur’s bustling Bukit Bintang district, the Worst Pace Run Club held its first indoor mall run on Wednesday, promoting the event on social media with a cheeky declaration: “The haze can have the streets, we’ll take the mall!”

Other events advertised this week include a mall run at United Point in Kepong, a session at Sunway Square Mall on Saturday and a 3km (1.9-mile) indoor run at 1 Utama on Sunday, according to running community directory runclubs.my.

These makeshift running tracks follow a similar experiment across the border in Singapore, where the worst haze since 2015 has disrupted outdoor exercise and forced the cancellation of sporting events, including the Great Eastern Women’s Run and the Singapore Half Marathon.

Last Saturday, about 15 runners from X-Run Singapore took over sections of Marina Square shopping centre before opening hours, covering distances of between 9km and 21km with permission from management.

Back in Malaysia, Amirul Hakim, 32, was among those who signed up for the Atria run after missing his usual outdoor routine.

“We haven’t been able to run like we used to for a long time,” he said, explaining that the opportunity to try something new encouraged him to join. “It won’t be the same as running outside because the surface can be slippery … but at least we can have fun and work up a sweat.”

With his office nearby, Amirul said he would consider joining future sessions if the mall allowed them regularly.

No clear skies

Malaysia’s Ministry of Health has urged the public to avoid outdoor exercise when the air pollutant index exceeds 100, warning that fine particles in the haze can penetrate the respiratory system and pose serious health risks. It has recommended N95 masks for those who must venture outside.

The prolonged pollution has also disrupted school activities, with education authorities suspending outdoor sports in affected areas and ordering temporary closures when air quality deteriorates. Under government guidelines, educational institutions must close when the API exceeds 200.

The transboundary haze remains a perennial diplomatic headache in Southeast Asia, where smoke from forest and land-clearing fires regularly drifts across national borders.

Malaysia and Indonesia were exploring closer cooperation on fire prevention and hotspot monitoring, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh told parliament on Wednesday.

“Malaysia and Indonesia will continue to work together through the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution,” he said, outlining plans to strengthen regional prevention and monitoring efforts.

For 50-year-old Steven Ho, who works in Kuala Lumpur’s KL Sentral district, completing an estimated 5km around Atria on Wednesday proved surprisingly challenging due to the air conditioning.

“When we run outside, our body temperature will go up because it’s outside. But here it’s a bit cold,” he said. “I probably need a few more laps to warm up.”

Still, Ho sees great potential in the concept. “Malls that are a bit empty, or floors that are a bit more empty, could open up space for people to run, especially during the haze,” he said.

The coming monsoon season offered another reason to keep the corridors open, Ho added, given how frequently heavy downpours interrupt outdoor running towards the end of the year.

Organiser Tan is already looking beyond the two sessions at Atria, noting that around 180 people had signed up for the next event by the time he spoke to This Week in Asia.

But turning shopping centres into regular running venues will require more than just enthusiastic participants – especially when regular shoppers are going about their day.

“We cannot just accommodate the runners and neglect the shoppers. We have to find a balance,” Tan said. “If safety, traffic and all the benefits can be secured, hopefully it gives the confidence for the mall to actually allow people to run here.”