Over the weekend, the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) took place with more than 55,000 runners from around the globe taking place across all categories over three days. These included close to 13,000 international runners from 84 countries, a 33% increase from last year.

I ran the 42.195km Full Marathon. Together with the 21.1km Half Marathon and the Ekiden Marathon relay race, this flagged off at 4:25am in the morning beginning with the international elites and the National Championships (local elites) followed by the rest of us. Each pen was flagged off several minutes apart beginning with Pen A (4:30am) and B (4.32am). The final pens were F (5:26am) and G (5:45am). I heard from those affected, that there had been some delays with the flag off time of the later pens.

Prior to the run, I had used the toilet at 3:45am. I had no issues personally, my queue was 4 people long and I cleared the toilet within 5-10 minutes. I later heard that the toilet queue got longer closer to flag-off time though, so it pays to show up as early as possible to clear and empty your system.

The run was super humid and I could feel a wall of hot air almost as soon as I started running. I knew immediately that I would be in for a tough race.

The route was a city route, taking us through central Singapore and branching out to East Coast park as well as the West Coast Highway. The 2024 route was a reverse of the route from the previous couple of years. This year, the most notable inclines were Sheares Bridge at 10km and the long, gradual challenge of West Coast Highway in the second half of the race.

Sheares has always been called Marathon Hell Bridge in the past because of its location at 38km in prior editions of SCSM. However this year it was much less of a challenge because it was at 10km. I was able to clear it and ran up without too much trouble because my legs were still feeling good. 

After Sheares, the race brought us to East Coast Park which was flat and easily runnable. Though it was still an out-and-back, the East Coast Park stretch entry and exit points this year was different to previous edition’s because of the reversed route. As such, this threw off my bearings and sense of direction for a while and I wasn’t sure where I was at one point.

The killer this year was the West Coast Highway, dubbed by many runners as the Highway to Hell because of its lack of shade for the harsh sun in the last stretch of the marathon. The heat destroyed the pacing of many runners, me included. I was pouring water over myself at any opportunity I could, in a bid to keep myself cool. But it felt like it wasn’t really working; it was so hot that I felt my body drying up again within seconds.

As well, at this stretch, I was also finding that because it was so hot, my stomach was having difficulties taking in gel and salt, so my hydration and nutrition strategy went out of the window.

What kept me going on West Coast Highway was friends I bumped into along the way. I spotted Ian who was also suffering due to the heat, and ran alongside him for a short while. Later I bumped into Ethan running in the opposite direction when I was on the verge of exiting the highway at around 40km into my run. I stopped and took a quick selfie with him.

It felt like sheer relief over anything else when I finally saw the finish line up ahead at Anderson Bridge. The race finished on a slight incline. 

This year’s edition was definitely the toughest SCSM I’ve run in recent years. I crossed the line in a timing of 4 hours 14 mins 28 seconds. While it may have been 30 mins slower than my overall personal best, I was just happy to have made it and finished in one piece.

Our finisher entitlements were a medal and a finisher t-shirt by Puma, 100PLUS, water, banana and potato chips.

As well, at the race village, event sponsors were handing out free samples of merchandise such as Oatside oat milk and AG1 supplement drink. The Oatside chocolate milk tasted extremely good especially as it was served cold. 

I also managed to find my friends post-race and we hung around for a while and chatted about how our race went. When everyone was back, we headed off for lunch. It was definitely a fruitful Sunday morning well-spent.

Said Jeff Edwards, Managing Director of Asia for the IRONMAN Group, the organisers of SCSM, “The success of this year’s marathon is a testament to the incredible determination and passion of the athletes and both the local and international running community. From the elite runners to those participating for a personal milestone, the event has once again proven to be a celebration of endurance, achievement and the spirit of competition. We are thrilled to see the marathon continue to grow in significance.”

Added Patrick Lee, CEO, Singapore and ASEAN, Standard Chartered, “This year’s marathon exemplifies the spirit of inclusivity with elite runners, national champions as well as everyday runners, individuals of different abilities, their caregivers and our employee volunteers participating as one community. All of them embody strength, focus and resilience – qualities we hold dear and are thrilled to celebrate.” 

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