Singapore – Holding a marathon event calls for efficient organization and planning. This was not the case for this year’s Osim Sundown Marathon where runners waited nearly an hour for the event to begin, ran through dimly-lit routes and narrow paths and arrived at water stations without water.
The Sundown Marathon 2019 was held on June 1 (Saturday) and started from the F1 Pit Building.
When the Official Sundown Marathon Singapore Facebook page posted a congratulatory statement to all the runners who reached the finish line as well as a live video of the marathon, many expressed disappointment with their experience.
Fu Wei Fong commented on the “very poorly planned” marathon that had “fundamental errors.”
The first was the delayed flag-off, followed by runners not having access to water at hydration points, the said points were also unevenly spaced out and cramped. Some parts of the route were too narrow and created congestion.
The 13 km to 14 km mark route was said to be only 1.5 metres wide.
Lastly, several distance and key markers were placed in dark spots when there was a lamp-post just two metres away.
“After so many editions, you would guess these would have by now been sorted out,” said Fu Wei Fong.
Thu Nga Emily made the same observations and added that last year’s event was also poorly planned. She urged others to skip next year’s marathon.
Jerilyn Ann Lo, a Sundown Marathon supporter since 2013, wondered why they even let the 21 km and 42 km runners start at the same time, regardless of the reasons for the delay. Unfortunately, this was Jerilyn’s last Sundown Marathon.
Netizen Ang Chi Song took a photo of the queue for water at GBYB east because of the lack of water at the event’s hydration points.
Sundown Marathon was quick to address the complaints and uploaded an explanation on their Facebook page on June 2, which says:
“Dear runners,
Thank you for your participation in the Sundown Marathon. There were issues encountered by some runners this morning and we would like to address these concerns. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience.
There was a delay to the flag-off for the 21.1KM Half-Marathon and 42.195KM Full-Marathon. The delay was due to an unforeseen obstruction on route which had to be cleared to ensure the safety of the runners. The race was flagged off once the route was cleared and additional post-race shuttle services were provided to cater to the delay.
There was also a lack of water supplies at 3 hydration stations along the run route this morning and it affected some runners across the Half/ Full- Marathon categories.
The shortage was due to some logistical issues of the deployment of the water. Upon being alerted of the issue, we dispatched additional supplies of water immediately to the affected hydration stations. Unfortunately, the new supplies did not reach the hydration stations and runners in time.
These issues should not have occured, and we sincerely apologise for these issues encountered by the runners.
We will be looking into it and will prevent them from happening again in future races.”
-/TISG