SINGAPORE: Soh Rui Yong may have jokingly declared himself the “Pocari Sweat Singapore 2.4km WORLD CHAMPION!!!” in a Facebook post on Sunday (Sept 10), but a win is a win, and at the end of the day, it’s a race among elite runners.
Thirty-two-year-old Soh, the holder of five national records, including 5000 and 10,000-meter races and half and full marathons, ran the race with a time of 6:57.66. He came in ahead of Shaun Goh (6:59.49 ) and Tan Chong Qi (7:02.44), meaning the top three spots all went to Singaporean runners in the Elite Men’s Race.
Vanessa Lee won the Elite Women’s Race with a time of 8:09.64, followed by Ai Kusmiati (8:14.50) and Clara Chua (8:17.87).
The race was held on Saturday (Sept 9) at the Calling Practice Track, with the Top Schools Races at 6:30 pm and the Elite Races at 8:15 pm.
Organizers noted it was the first-ever official 2.4km National Championships endorsed by Singapore Athletics.
Last year, Soh came in second to Jeevaneesh S/O Soundara, who had a time of 6:50.31. Soh was just a fraction of a second behind him, with a time of 6:50.59.
In 2021, after becoming the first Singaporean man to complete the run in less than seven minutes, Soh caused a stir online when he wrote in a Facebook post that “Somehow, some people still think their ‘army/commando/BMT mate who smokes’ ran faster.”
Many netizens fired back, saying that running 2.4 kilometres happens regularly among the Commandos.
Soh responded that he meant no disrespect to the Commandos and then said that to anyone who could run the race in under seven minutes, he would give $700 and 700 bottles of Pocari Sweat.
“I have utmost respect for what the Commandos go through in military training. Few can claim to have gone through what they did or are capable of….Similarly, the Commandos would not be capable of running performances that even Singapore’s best distance runners have been incapable of.
A sub-seven-minute 2.4km is one example, given that it had never been recorded until Saturday. It takes an average of 69 seconds per 400 metres for six laps on the track to finish a 2.4km run in under seven minutes. I seriously doubt that many Commandos, former or current, would be capable of running even four laps (1.6km) at that pace.
At the end of the day, it’s easy to make extraordinary claims without proof. Let’s settle the debate once and for all,” he wrote back then. /TISG
What’s behind the online spat between Commandos and runner Soh Rui Yong?