Close to 40,000 runners took to the streets of Singapore at Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) 2022 this weekend. This included more than 5,000 international participants.

Back to full form after the pandemic

As well, this year’s edition also saw the return of the Half Marathon 21.1km and Full Marathon 42.195km categories, marking the return of long-distance running in a physical road racing format. 

This puts SCSM as the biggest mass participation sporting event to return to Singapore in full force after the pandemic. Covid-19 is now well and truly over.

Last year’s edition saw a recovery event with 4,000 runners flagged off in waves of 50 – with three people moving off every 10 seconds – to ensure safe distancing. In addition, only the 5km, 10km and the relay categories were held in-person to keep the participant numbers low.

Taking part in the Full Marathon 

I took part in the Full Marathon category, which was scheduled to take place at 4:30am last Sunday morning.

Walking down from the Carlton Hotel, we arrived the race site at the F1 Pit Building at about 3:30am. Lightning was threatening to illuminate the sky, accompanied by rumbles of thunder.

So I found myself fervently praying that the rain would not come. 

Flag off delayed by an hour

The rain did come, and the flag off was delayed by one hour. It was a light rain that briefly got heavy at one point but soon fizzled out. But the main issue at stake was the flashes of lightning, not the rain.

When the initial cancellation was announced, I found myself praying that the Marathon would not be cancelled entirely. 

We start at 5:30am

Thankfully the lightning risk passed and we were flagged off at 5:30am, an hour later than originally planned. I was so relieved to hear this, as my training for this race would not be wasted after all.

Instead of waved starts, we would be flagged off at once, in a rolling start.

It was still drizzling slightly when we began running, but the drizzle soon eased.

Due to the lightning and the passing rain, it turned out to be a cool and cloudy morning. The sun, thankfully, was in hiding. I took advantage of the cooler weather to try and push the pace.

A city route 

The route was a city route that took us through the main sights and sounds of Singapore. We first ran down Republic Avenue and Nicoll Highway and Sports Hub before heading through the Raffles Place area. 

The route then took us down Keppel road and the West Coast highway area before coming back to Garden by the Bay and East Coast park. We did a few kilometres at east coast park before making our way to the finishing line at the Float @ Marina Bay.

The terrain was about 95 per cent flat with not much slopes along the way.

I did not see much scenery along the way as it was still pretty dark, at least for the first part of the run. So I focused on my pace and music, trying to distract myself from the distance that I had to run.

A few supporters

A small handful of supporters had gathered at various points along the route to cheer on their family and friends who were running. The amount of support was very sparse compared to overseas marathons that I have done. But it was very much appreciated. 

I saw my running coach, Ben Pulham, and it was very motivating to hear him call out my name when I was running passed by the Fullerton Hotel area.

Pacing myself 

I was maintaining a pretty good pace at least for the first half, hitting the 21.1km mark in 01:59:14 hr based on the official timing. 

This would have put me on target for a sub four hour marathon if I had been able to run even splits.

Race hydration and aid stations

There were ample hydration points along the way. 

Most were serving either water, or both water and 100 Plus isotonic drink. Thankfully it was the non-carbonated version and it was ice-cold, which was good. 

On several occasions, I picked up a cup of water and poured it over my head to keep my body temperature down. And a few of the aid stations did have buckets of ice water for runners to pour over themselves.

As well, there were a few points along the way serving cut banana and energy gels, but I didn’t take these, as I already had my own gels with me which I was taking at regular intervals along the way. I definitely wasn’t about to test out an untried gel in the middle of a race.

Besides the actual hydration points, several running groups had set up unofficial ones serving items such as cut fruits, Sng bao and coca-cola. These brought a smile to my face.

Distance signages

There were large kilometre markings at each kilometre along the way, but due to GPS issues, it was quite hard to pace myself at times, especially when we were running through Raffles Place area.

My current pace kept fluctuating between 5 mins/km and 7 mins/km even though I was running at a pretty steady pace according to my body feel. 

Sometimes my watch would buzz that I had completed another kilometre even though the actual distance marking was about 200 or 300 metres down the road. I didn’t know which was the more accurate one.

East Coast Park was boring

The long stretch of the East Coast park service road from 21km to 31km was quite trying mentally, because it is quite boring.

I run at East Coast park quite regularly too, so the scenery there is very familiar and nothing new to me. 

I tried to distract myself from the monotony by using the long out-and-back stretch to spot familiar faces on the other side of the turn, and I did spot a few of my friends along the way.

Cheer stations 

It was thoughtful of the organisers to set up a few cheer stations along the route, providing music entertainment to runners as we passed. They were making an effort to add some atmosphere to the race.

My leg muscles were getting tight somewhere along East Coast Park and it was beginning to get harder to put one foot in front of the other. But I told myself to just keep going and don’t slow down.

The pacers catching up

I spotted the four hour pacers at one of the hydration stations around 30 plus kilometres into the race. This was not good. I was supposed to stay at least one minute ahead of them if I wanted a sub four timing.

This was because I had started from pen B and the four hour pacers started at pen C, which had been flagged off one minute apart. If they had caught up to me, it meant that I was slowing down. I needed to keep going.

I spent the rest of the race trying not to let the pacers overtake me. With my leg muscles feeling progressively tighter with every step taken, this was proving to be a difficult task and I really had to grit my teeth and dig deep.

Humidity rises

It was in the last few kilometres that the humidity levels started to rise and it became progressively harder to keep running. I could feel snippets of sun as well; apparently the sun had woken up from its slumber and was threatening to come out.

Coach Ben was spectating again at around 39km and seeing him gave me a renewed boost of energy. This part of the route was along Sheares Avenue and I knew I was already at the home stretch. I could do it. I told myself that I could pick it up again and complete what I had originally set out to do.

Heartbreak Bridge

However my energy deflated again just a few hundred meters later. This was because Sheares bridge loomed ahead. It was sadistic to make runners climb the Heartbreak Bridge at 39km in a marathon. Someone clearly had a wicked sense of humour.

My pace definitely slowed up the bridge but going downhill was worse because every step on the downhill segment felt like knives stabbing my already exhausted, tight and aching legs. It took a lot of sheer willpower. But I made it.

The final stretch

The last two kilometres of the route were down Ophir Road and Republic Boulevard en route to The Float. Right now I was just aiming to finish the marathon. I didn’t know if I would run it under four hours at this point, because the distance on my watch was completely off due to the earlier GPS issues.

My watch buzzed 42.2km when I was still a kilometre away from the actual finishing line. It was demoralising but I pressed on.

Still a Singapore PB

Eventually after what felt like forever, I saw the sign that said that there was 200m to go. I attempted to make a dash to the finish line but my exhausted legs protested and said no. I would maintain my pace but there would be no sprint finish.

My official finish time was 4:00:09 hrs.

Just 10 seconds was what had separated me from a sub 4 hr timing. Maybe I should have stopped at one less hydration station.

Nonetheless it was still a Singapore personal best, beating my previous best SCSM timing of 4:30:03.

I guess my execution for this race was quite consistent, with my first half and second half splits being pretty even. I suppose my coach would be happy with it.

Emcee Ross congratulated me when I crossed the finish line. He had been waiting for me to finish the marathon. It was good to see him.

Finisher bling

Upon finishing, I joined the line of runners to pick up my finisher entitlements and walk back to the F1 Pit Building. It is a long 10-minute walk for someone who had just run a full marathon.

The entitlements included our finisher medal, t-shirt, a can of 100 Plus, a bottle of mineral water, a banana and a packet of Himalayan salt candies. 

I think that as many runners would be hungry after our race, more food items could have been given out, such as bread rolls or packets of biscuits, perhaps.

The race village

Over at the race village, my favourite stall was the Rejuve fruit juice one, which was giving out free bottles of fruit juices in exchange for social media likes. I had thought the juice and its interesting flavours was really good, but maybe that was also because I was feeling very thirsty after my run.

Other stall booths included partners such as Seiko and Puma, free flow of 100 Plus isotonic, as well as hospitality areas for corporate runners by a few of the race sponsors.

Some food trucks would have been good, with food items such as hot dogs and ice cream. I do remember that previous editions of SCSM did have a few food trucks. This would have added to the carnival atmosphere and vibe. As well, I would also have appreciated a milo van, if the organisers could arrange one for future editions of the run.

I met up with a few friends and took some quick photos before we went our separate ways.

It was soon beginning to feel significantly warmer as I hung round the race village. Yep, it was clear that the sun was definitely coming out now. I really had to feel for the back-of-the-pack runners, who would have to brace themselves for the heat despite their exhaustion.

Great to see the running community out

Overall I would say that SCSM 2022 definitely felt like the old times again, with large crowds of like-minded runners coming together and not a single mask in sight during the course of the event. 

During the pandemic, I have really missed moments like these. Despite my cursing and struggles while completing the marathon, I will never take mass sports events for granted again.

Said Jeff Edwards, Managing Director of Asia for the IRONMAN Group, “after two years, it was great seeing the SCSM back in a full-form and the running community coming together again. We are confident that the runners, both local and international, enjoyed themselves as they raced along the iconic buildings and attractions of Singapore.” 

He continued, “We would like to thank Standard Chartered Bank for supporting this journey to help us bring back a full-scale event and we look forward to the next edition in 2023.”