BY More than 50,000 participants came together to make the 2019 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon the largest road running event in Singapore's recent history. Notably, the full marathon saw a field of more than 15,000 runners, making it the biggest race of this distance to ever be run in Singapore.
This year's racing started with the Kid's Dash on 29th November and officially ended after the completion of the 5km and 10km races on 1st December.
The highlight of the weekend was the full marathon held in the evening of 30th November, where last year's race winners, Kenyans Joshua Kipkorir and Priscah Cherono, both defended their titles with finishing times of 2:19:13 and 2:28:53 respectively.
Priscah Cherono also broke the course record for the elite women’s category with a time of 2:28:53, going under Salina Kosgei’s 13-year time by almost three minutes.
In the local categories, 28-year-old Soh Rui Yong made it three in a row when he breasted the finishing tape with a time of 2:45:52 to be the top local male finisher. In the local women's category, Sharon Tan won her maiden race with a time of 3:12:52, crossing the line five minutes ahead of 2016 SCSM local winner Jasmine Goh.
This year's race was the first time that the Singapore Marathon started in the evening, flagging off at 6:05pm.
The route took the runners through much of the city, where the weekend crowd was out in force to cheer them on. It was estimated that more than 150,000 spectators were along the route, which headed out towards the West Coast Highway before looping back into the city to finish at The Float @ Marina Bay.
The punishing climb up the Benjamin Sheares Bridge at the final sector was retained from the 2018 edition, though this time returning runners were ready for it.
Soh Rui Yong noted after the race, “We’ve never had this much crowd support before, and it looked like a big party! I enjoyed the crowd support, saw people I know, and it was great to greet them. The views were awesome as well, especially at Gardens by the Bay and Marina Barrage. I was amazed by the crowd at Benjamin Sheares Bridge as I did not imagine people going up there, but it felt nice as that’s the section that you really needed the boost and support.”
The SCSM's evening start and three-day event format is the next step forward as it progresses towards the goal of joining the Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM), a series of the largest and most renowned marathons in the world.
Tim Hadzima, Executive Director of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, has been attending the SCSM in recent years and noted, “As in previous years, our assessment team will take time to review and debrief around all areas of the event that relate to our criteria. We very much look forward to this continued partnership and the long term candidate race process with the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.”
Race Results for the 2019 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon can be seen here.
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