Singapore — “I trained hard then I raced hard. You can do it too,” wrote local marathoner Soh Rui Yong on social media, announcing he crushed his own men’s national record at the Valencia Marathon.
During the event held on Dec 5, Mr Soh ran a time of 2 hours 22 minutes and 59 seconds, officially beating his previous record by 43 seconds which he achieved at the Seoul International Marathon in 2019.
With the results, Soh became the first Singaporean in history to make the qualifying time for the Asian Games marathon. His record also marks the first for a Singaporean to run a marathon in under 2 hours and 23 minutes.
“The crazy winds made the race super tough, but the crowd support was amazing and willed us through,” he said in a Facebook post after the event.
On Monday (Dec 6), Mr Soh said in an update that this was the hardest he had ever pushed himself in a marathon.
He shared that his body began shutting down after the 25-kilometre mark, indicating he “had to fight for every second.”
“Every time I started feeling sorry for myself, I reminded myself to focus on the process – focus on keeping up with the runners around me, stay as relaxed as possible, and just keep moving forward. The result would take care of itself,” said Mr Soh.
He was annoyed at first to discover that the unofficial results showed 2 hours 23 minutes because he pushed for under this time.
Members from the online community were impressed with the record, noting the country finally had a Singaporean represent.
“Those split timings are impressive!!! The first 2.4km at 8:07 and then running another 40km or so!!!! Wow!” commented netizen Ahmad Nizam Abbas.
“When you have the records and results, you can talk louder and be arrogant; it is his hard work and effort, why not?” added another Facebook user. /TISG
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Marathoner Soh Rui Yong crowdfunds S$180,000, says, “Help Me Win This Case”
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