National marathoner Soh Rui Yong, 27, recently completed the BMW Berlin Marathon in Germany earlier this month, in 2 hours 25 minutes 05 seconds, in a performance that he is happy with.
Said Soh, a public service officer, “I think that it went well and showed that it is possible to work a full time job, train in Singapore and achieve good results in marathon running.”
Photo: Frederic Boudin
10 seconds slower than his personal best
This timing, which qualifies him for the upcoming 2019 South East Asian Games Marathon, is 10 seconds slower than Soh’s own marathon personal best of 2 hours 24 minutes 55 seconds – which had been set two years ago at the Chicago Marathon.
Said Soh, “I am happy to qualify for the 2019 South East Asian Games, and it will be my third consecutive trip to the South East Asian Games. And I will be training hard for a third consecutive gold medal.”
Fastest timing by a Singaporean in Berlin
However Soh’s timing is the fastest ever time by a Singaporean runner in Berlin.
Photo: Frederic Boudin
Said Soh, “I am happy with that stat. Murugiah Rameshon set his 2 hour 28 minute timing there 25 years ago and it has stood the test of time. I am happy to finally improve on it and set the bar a little higher for the next guy to come along and take it. Records are meant to be broken.”
Soh added, “I would give myself a 9/10 in terms of how my race went, especially because I was dealing with a few injuries during the buildup – that is, recovery from metatarsal stress reaction and posterior tibial tendonitis.”
Juggled nine-hour work days to train for Berlin
To prepare for Berlin, Soh had also been juggling nine-hour work days and his full training block was also done in the heat and humidity of Singapore, where the risk of sustaining injuries is amplified because of the harsh climatic conditions.
How his race played out
Going into the race, the Singaporean had aimed to run the first half of the marathon in 1 hour 12 minutes. Said Soh, “I ended up starting a bit faster than that in the first 5km but then I backed off from a pack that was running 2 hours 22 minutes 30 seconds marathon pace, settled into the pace that I needed to be running at, and took it from there.”
Photo: Belal Ahmed.
Soh was not running alone though. For the first 28km of the marathon, Soh had been running with South East Asian Games athlete, Malaysia’s Muhaizar Mohamad.
Said Soh, “I think we knew that both of us were doing the race. So there was a friendly rivalry, yet camaraderie, heading into the race.”
Soh added, “I think the South East Asian Games is an awesome competition because it allows South East Asian athletes to network and build that camaraderie that comes in very useful at overseas marathons because we can then work together to achieve common goals.”
Muhaizar himself had eventually finished the BMW Berlin Marathon in 2 hours 26 minutes 27 seconds.
What Soh would change
If Soh could wind back time and run the Berlin Marathon again, what would he have changed?
Soh and his running coach, Ben Rosario.
Photo: Soh Rui Yong/ Facebook
Said Soh, “If I could do it again, I perhaps would not have made that big move at 30-35km and waited just a little longer before pushing to the finish.”
It had been at the 24km mark of the marathon when Soh had decided to push the pace, because two members of the pack that he had been running with at the time, had decided to break away and Soh had followed suit.
His pace during the 30-35km point had been the quickest pace that he had ever run in a marathon, at 16 minutes and 50 seconds, and he passed many of his earlier running pack mates in the process, but after 35km, Soh had slowed down and started to lose steam though.
As a result, after spending the next few kilometres running through “quicksand” as he had described it, Soh eventually found a final gear in the last 200m of the race after passing through the Brandenburger Tor.
Pleased about Kipchoge’s successful world record attempt
In the meantime, Soh is also pleased that Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge had broken the world record at the same race, with a time of 2 hours 01 minute 40 seconds.
Added Soh, “It was amazing to be in the same race as my friend Eliud. We met in 2012 before either of us became marathoners. To see a humble, hardworking guy like him achieve what he has is inspiring, and anyone who truly knows him will know that he is fully deserving of this world record.”
Soh continued, “He has come close so many times only for factors out of his control to spoil his world record attempts, for example, insoles coming off in Berlin 2015, windy day in London 2016, heavy rain in Berlin 2017 and a warm day in London 2018. So to see him consistently keep coming back and finally set the world record is nothing short of inspiring.”
Leave a Comment