Having completed 5 half marathons, one 32km run and one full marathon in 2017, I was looking forward to Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon on 3/12/17 because I believed that it would be my best run of the year.
Race Pack Collection
- Race pack collection was held in MBS Convention Centre in conjunction with the SCSM Expo where sponsors and exhibitors showcased their latest products.
- I collected my race pack within 5 minutes of waiting and was happy that my running T-shirt fitted very well.
Race Day
- Gone were the days when the MRT started running early on race day to bring us to start venue so I bought the 2am shuttle bus ticket and reached the race venue outside Orchard Cineleisure at 240am.
- I chose the 2am shuttle bus instead of 3am because during registration, I was unsure of the flag off timing hence chose the earlier bus to be safe.
- Although I waited around 2 hours for flag off, it was a blessing in disguise as some runners who arrived via the later buses had to walk a long distance to the start point due to road blocks.
- I did not bring any baggage hence was not affected by the long queues for baggage deposit which resulted in some runners starting their runs only an hour and a half after flag off.
The Race
- Flag off was on time.
- Although the full and half marathon runners were flagged off together, there was virtually no congestion along the route as the majority of the roads were closed for the run.
- It was a warm and humid morning and I was already sweating profusely 1km into the run.
- My GPS started to malfunction as early as 4km into the run due to interference from the surrounding tall buildings. Fortunately the distance markers were clearly placed at every kilometer and I had to rely on them to gauge my pace.
- Hydration stations were present at around every 2km intervals and there was plentiful supply of mineral water and 100 Plus drink.
- In addition, there were a few aid stations with bananas and energy gels.
- The run brought us to many iconic places in Singapore eg the National Museum, the Masjid Sultan Mosque, the Central Fire Station, Chinatown and Gardens By The Bay, just to name a few.
- There were many photographers from FinisherPix and I encountered at least 15 of them along the route.
- Running Shots also had 5 photographers ie Marcus, Sotong, Eugene, Tekko and Epalite taking memorable photos of runners.
- I was worried that the sun would become too hot to bear after 8am but fortunately it was a cloudy morning.
- There are many groups of volunteers at various points along the route and they were energetically cheering us on.
- After completing the marathon, we were rewarded with finisher T-shirt and medal, as well as 100 Plus drink, mineral water, banana and apple.
- I was fortunate to get the finisher T-shirt of my size as some of the runners who returned later had to settle for smaller sizes.
Conclusion
- There are 2 major marathons in Singapore every year ie (1) Sundown Marathon and (2) Standard Chartered Marathon which one of my friends jokingly named as Sun-up Marathon.
- The main difference is that Sundown flags off at 12 midnight whereas Standard Chartered flags off at 430am.
- This year, I ran both and I preferred Standard Chartered over Sundown because my body performed better when running in the light than in darkness.
- Thank you, organizers and sponsors of Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon for the beautiful finisher T-shirt, the unique finisher medal and the memorable finisher photos. I will definitely sign up again in 2018.
