Ivan Low taking part in yesterday’s Army Half Marathon.

As you may know, some runners had tested the race route for the Safra Bay Run and Army Half Marathon – prior to the race.

29-year-old administrative officer, Ivan Low, was one of those runners. Yesterday, he took part in the 21Km race, which he had completed in about 1 hour and 19 minutes. At the same time, he had a much-improved experience compared to during last year’s run, when there had been many complaints from runners.

So the route recce and tests definitely did help to improve the race, for many runners.

Here are Ivan’s comments about the Safra Bay Run and Army Half Marathon, as well as his next upcoming running projects and his aspirations for next year’s Sea Games – in a short interview I had with him.

I understand that you had helped Safra with the race route for yesterday’s race. Can you tell us more about this?

I basically took a look at the model of the race route and told them what I thought of it.

Also, we ran a short section of the route. It was the part after the turning point and was a new section that was implemented just this year. So we tried out that portion by running it and letting the organisers know our feedback.

How did you find the race yesterday? Did everything turn out as you had expected?

I am quite satisfied with how it turned out. The bottleneck was clear and I thought that there was sufficient lighting – it was brighter than last year and I had thought that everything was good and well organised. But the only thing was that there are a lot of U-turns, though.

What are some of your next upcoming races?

For this year, it will be the ST Run and that’s it, because I will be quite busy with my work. So I do not have much time to train as I used to.

For the StanChart Marathon Singapore, I have not actually signed up yet. Give me some time to think about it. If my training is there, I may just sign up in the next few weeks.

Will you be aiming for the Sea Games in Singapore next year?

I will just try my best and see if I can qualify for it. I’m not exactly looking to take part because I believe there are many other runners out there who also want to see if they can qualify. I am not the best but I will give my best and see if it is good enough.

If time permits me, I will train for it. But I will be quite busy with my work. Career will always come first, after all. This running thing is just a passion for me, and we cannot really compare with the Kenyan runners, who are professionals.

Click here for my writeup of the Safra Bay Run and Army Half Marathon.

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