Last Saturday, the inaugural evening edition of the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) took place, rewriting the history books and entering a new age.

Kenya’s Joshua Kipkorir and Priscah Cherono were the winners

For the second straight year, first to cross the finish line was Joshua Kipkorir of Kenya, with a timing of 2 hours 19 minutes 13 seconds, having led from start to finish. 

His win makes Kipkokir the second person to defend his title in the region’s only IAAF Gold Label Race.

Said Joshua, “I prepared for the race well. I was very confident that I would win right from the beginning. It went well at first, but from 30-35km, there were a lot of turns and that made it more difficult to keep my pace.”

Making it a double for Kenya was Priscah Cherono, shattering the course record for the elite women’s category with a time of 2 hours 28 minutes 53 seconds, bettering Salina Kosgei’s 13-year time by almost three minutes.

Said Priscah, “I came here to defend my title again so I was happy to win. It was not a surprise. I prepared myself well for this race and focused my training on it.”

Kota Hokonuie and Madison De Rozario win the Elite Wheelchair Category

Winning the elite wheelchair category were Kota Hokonuie (1:36:23) and Madison De Rozario (1:49:56), triumphing in a highly competitive field, coming out on top against Paralympians and former marathon major champions in the largest ever wheelchair contingent at SCSM.

Said Madison, “Today’s win was a stepping stone for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and I definitely feel confident about it now. Not just crossing the line, but equipment wise and the combination of things that I have put together after last year’s race.”

She continued, “Last year I was slipping a little due to the humidity but everything came together really well this year, so I feel great.”

Soh Rui Yong and Sharon Tan are the Singaporean champions

And in the local categories, Soh Rui Yong made it a hat trick when he was crowned men’s local champion for the third time, finishing in 2 hours 45 minutes 52 seconds.

Said Rui, “It felt great to win my third consecutive SCSM. It’s really nice to have Singaporean public out there just cheering everyone on. We’ve never had this much crowd support before. I saw people I know and it was great to greet them. The views were amazing especially at Gardens by the Bay and Marina Barrage too, and the final stretch of the race was beautiful. I was not in any mood to enjoy the Sheares Bridge though because by that stage, I was grumpy and cramping up all over. I could not run any faster because of cramp. I enjoyed the race till I started to feel sorry for myself and the pain that I was in.”

Rui also admitted that his own race strategy did not quite go to plan. He said, “I was really looking forward to the evening race because I am not a morning person. I always do my hard training after work and I thought that it was a reasonable goal to target a 2:34 hour marathon.”

Rui also continued, “But I realised, 5km into the race, that my original goal was not going to happen. So I had to alter my race plan. Running at that pace should not feel hard, but it did. Today’s timing was 22 minutes slower than my marathon personal best – which was set in Korea when the weather was perfect. I would usually never want to run that much slower than my personal best but at East Coast Park at 30km, my right hamstring got cramp.”

When Rui saw that his competitors behind him in his category were also in just as much pain as him, he realised that the race had become a battle of who refused to quit.

Said Rui, “They were just as tired and sore as me, so it was more of a battle of who does not give up. Every kilometre after that was a struggle. I have never hurt so much during a marathon before. I was also sweating more than usual and I told myself that this should not be happening. Every kilometre between 30 to 42 was positive self talk where I told myself that I can do this, as well as self-bashing, telling myself not to be a pussy and that I could handle this.”

In the end, Rui prevailed, overtaking plenty of other foreign marathoners in the process. Said Rui “I passed Yuki Kawauchi’s younger brother at East Coast and Yemane from Ethiopia at 30km. He was struggling. I was quite taken aback that all these seasoned runners were being eaten up by the Singapore conditions. So I suppose that it was not surprising that I was feeling like shit myself. It was a huge character building process for me, and I am glad that I pulled through and won. But after this, I will not be walking right for the next couple of days, though.”

In the local women’s race, Sharon Tan won her maiden SCSM with a timing of 3 hours 12 minutes 52 seconds, breaking a two-year run of Rachel See underlining the highly competitive field of local elite women marathoners.

Said Sharon, “I was very happy when I crossed the line in first place. But I knew that I was the winner because I was being followed by the lead cyclist so it was not a surprise.”

Despite her win, Sharon, like Rui, admitted that her pre-race strategy also did not go according to plan. She said, “I wanted to run 4:40min pace but I started off the first km at 4:05 or something like that. My pace continued to hover around 4:20 for the first half and I suffered in the second half. I am still learning the marathon. At the start you think that you are very prepared and that the pace you are running seems okay, but it is after 30km that you realise that it is not, and that is when things will fall apart.”

To prepare for the race, Sharon followed a 16-week online training programme. She said, “For this cycle, I had no coach. It was just myself, but sometimes I would run with friends. They ran with me and helped to set the pace.”

She continued, “I may have to make some adjustments to my training plan though. The plan I was following was a sub three hour plan but I did 3:12 so maybe I am not quite there yet in terms of my running ability.”

Sharon enjoyed the new evening format tremendously though. She said “I like it. You do not need to wake up early to prepare and you will have sufficient rest. The temperature is also quite cooling, more conducive for setting a personal best.” 

And Sharon added, “The supporters were also awesome. When they saw my name on my chest, they actually called out my name. I also had some friends along the way who cheered. That was encouraging. Running a marathon is about friendship and camaraderie too, which is much more than the actual running.”