Physical races are finally back in full force with Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) 2022 taking the lead for Singapore racing calendar. This also mark my continuation of my race review blog to aid runners in selecting their races.
The SCSM physical race was last held in 2019 (race review 2019 edition) with a new timing in the evening. This year, the SCSM 2022 switches back to the early morning wee hours. There are certainly pros and cons to both timings and we will leave the comparison for another day.
The kids dash starts on Friday evening, 5km and 10km races were carried out on Saturday morning and the Half Marathon and Full Marathon categories were kicked off on Sunday morning.
Training
It has been a good 3 years that I last trained for a Full Marathon distance and training has not been the smoothest. The restarted engine seemed a little rusty and some of the mechanics of the body and legs seemed to be less efficient as compared to previous years. Training for a full marathon takes a whole lot of discipline, mental and physical tolerance to complete them. Completing is just to get both the body and mind to be prepared for the smooth running of race.
I realised that my body requires more time to recover hence I have set more taper weeks to allow the body to recover from the demanding pounding. The training plan has to be customised to how your body reacts and it has to be a “live” document.
Race Pack Collection
The race expo was held in Marina Bay Sands over the past years and this year was indifferent. The similar entrance welcomes runners into the exhibition hall with a couple of security personnel overseeing the place.
I collected the race pack on the 1st day of the three day collection just after lunch. There was only a short queue which was cleared up by the time I walked through the maze. There were about 6-10 booths for each category (except for 5km and kids dash) which provided swift collection.
There was a slight difference in this year’s bib collection though. In the past SCSM editions, the bibs have the runner’s names printed on them. This customisation provided runners with a stronger sense of belonging and at times, volunteers or spectators might call out the names to encourage the runners. This year edition do not have names printed on them and the bib number distribution was random. During race pack collection, volunteers will assign the number based on the number tags they have in their booths and tagged the number to your name instead. This might be one factor to help reduce the queuing time as volunteers do not have to scramble to find the specific number for each runner.
Right after the collection, runners were introduced to a large variety of merchandises related to running. There were 2 zones in particular and I would not go through the zones in detail but would pick out the major highlights from each zone.
One of the most important booth is the information counter where runners can exchange their running singlet if the sizes doesn’t fit well. This is a good move from the organiser as most races do not allow exchange of sizes due to the many logistics issues that comes along with it.
The bus shuttle service is one of the key transport to the venue due to the 4.30am flag off as most of the public transport service were not in operation yet. There were various locations pick-up from the service provider and so far, I have not received any complains about the service. I do miss the times when the organisers worked with SMRT to start the train operation in the wee hours to transport loads of runners to the start point via MRT.
Runners who have met the criteria for 300km Club are able to pick up some freebies from this counter. The criteria to join the 300km Club is to accumulate more than 300km distance since 2010 race. Using pure mathematical calculation, one will require to run at least 8 full marathons from 2010 race onward to qualify for the club.
Many runners would be excited to find their names displayed on the board and post on their social media. This year was different from the past years where the names were written in alphabetical order, which is still quite challenging for runners to find their own name. This year, the names were in random and a lot of runners were crowding around and hoping lady luck will allow them to source for their own names. Seriously, how would you expect a runner to find their own name when its all in random? It might be printed according to runners registration for the event and was printed this way in convenience of the organiser. But it had provided runners the frustration searching high and low for their names in a sea of names.
The race pack this year was disappointing. It consists of a bib, transparent deposit bag, event singlet and a belt. The registration fees have been on a upward trend on a yearly basis but the race pack quality have declined a fair bit (refer to other SCSM race preview to see the vast difference!)
The recycled bag and water bottle is received from the 300km Club booth as an encouragement and benefit from joining the club. There is also a coin which was given for keep sake. There used to be a tee-shirt given in the 2017 year which is a good memory for runners to feel proud of joining the club.
The coin’s quality is good and comes with a casing to protect the coin. I wonder in future will they create another 500km distance for runners to target for.
Day Before Race Day
It has been a while since the last physical race hence I was a little lost when preparing. I packed all the items to bring during race day as early as possible so that I will not miss out on any items. I avoided too much walking or standing on that day to give the body as much rest as possible.
One point that I could have missed out is to rest on bed about less than 1-hour prior to my carbo loaded dinner. This could be the problem which I faced during race day which I will touch on a little in the later part.
Race Day
Waking up at 1.45am in the wee morning is definitely a challenge. As usual, I did not manage to sleep well the night before and woke up every 1 hour to check the time (to avoid over-slept). I checked the weather forecast and it shows thundery storm at certain locations. With fingers crossed (literally!), I continued the preparation before heading out. At this point, I could feel some weird sensation in my gut but I didn’t give it much thought and think that running would take the sensation away.
Upon reaching the race area at 3.30am, I could feel very light drizzle and luckily I brought my running cap with me which proved to be handy later on. The dark sky lit up occasionally by a streak of lightning seemed to be somewhere pretty far away. Prayers come to my head as I walk to the race village.
Runners from all walks of life coming together to stay health is something that I feel happy about when I see such situation. It’s a large turnout for both the Full Marathon and Half Marathon categories.
There were plenty of portable toilets and the queue were about an average of 7-9 runners each. Waiting time is pretty decent provided the person did not take too long in the toilet.
The baggage deposit was pretty swift as well as it was a decentralised system where runners deposit their bags according to their pen. This means more volunteers were needed to create less congestions for runners.
I headed for my pen at about 4am and was trying to soak into the atmosphere. Soon the weather starts drizzling and lightning frequency increased many folds. By 4.25am, the emcee announced that the start time will be delayed to 4.45am. At this point, runners were still hopeful as the drizzle might stop very soon.
At 4.45am, the emcee announced that the race will be further delayed to 5am. This was when fear starts coming in. imagine preparing the race for 3-4 months and the race got cancelled due to inclement weather. Many runners were still hanging around in the pen patiently until about 5.05am when a heavy downpour chases bulk of runners to shelter.
The emcees were trying their best to lift the spirits of the runners by giving encouragement to drive the dark clouds away. And not forgetting that they are also risking their lives for standing in the open amidst the lightning strikes.
Most runners seek shelter from the heavy downpour and a small bunch were having lots of fun in the rain, dancing around. When the downpour turned to drizzle, many runners made their way to the pens and standby at around 5.20am. At around 5.25am, the emcee finally delivered the 1st piece of good news which was that the race would be flagged off in 5-minutes time at 5.30am.
The race got flagged off at 5.30am for Pen A (elites), followed by Pen B and in a rolling start for Pen C and above. It was a good 1-hour wait in the wet cold morning worthwhile as many runners fear for the worst – cancellation of the race.
The race started in a light drizzle with sparks of lightning once in a while which caused a stir amongst the runners. It made the weather a little cooler than expected and was quite a nice run resembling of overseas weather. I was cruising along with one pace group and at the 8km point, decided to consume an energy gel I brought for the race. 1km later, I felt the strange feeling in my gut again. My mind flashes with multiple scenarios on what to do next as I know that this race will be a challenge to deal with an upset gut.
The distance markers were on point but the distance in the smart watches went wild in two areas, first under the viaduct along Keppel viaduct and 2ndly along Anson road. Most of the runners clocked about 1km distance more in our watches but we were unsure if we did ran that extra distance or was it caused by the GPS signals.
Runners started in F1 pit and ran towards Nicoll Highway, before making a turn towards the Shenton way area to find our way to the Marina Barrage. A right turn after crossing the barrage bridge brings runners to East Coast Park where we hit the half way mark. Ful marathon runners were running together with Half Marathon runners for 18km before parting and at that moment, I was wondering why didn’t I sign up for the Half distance instead. We ran about 9km in East Coast park before running towards the Barrage, MBS, Gardens by the Bay and back to the Float.
The pain in my gut has not worn off much and it got worse at the 32km mark, forcing a walk strategy all the way. The walk made me think through about what went wrong and how to prevent it from occurring again. It was a costly mistake. Just have to learn from it and move on. The same goes to every other aspect in life as well.
The race was pretty silent due to the early hours with no spectators and there were more spectators after about 7am. The hydration along the route was sufficient at about 2.5km-3km per point. There were water provided at every stations and isotonic provided at alternate stations. There were 2 stations where bananas and gels were provided.
There were about 4-6 portable toilets per hydration point which provided runners with ample opportunities if they need one. There was no queuing time required when I use one of it. This shows that the provision were sufficiently provided.
The weather turns pretty hot and humid from 930am onwards and this year’s run was indeed a race to remember from a wet start to a hot finish. Let’s not forget the “heart break bridge” at the 39km mark. This is the well known Sheares bridge which is quite an incline for runners to conquer at 39km mark.
Post Race
Once we hit the finishing line, runners were ushered further at around 100m-150m to collect their finisher tee, medal, wet towel, banana and mineral bottle/isotonic drink. Due to my disappointment on the execution of race, I forgotten to take photos of the items received before consuming.
Many runners were resting their tired legs at the end point and we can see many runners wobbling or walking very slowly in the area. The only consolation I have is that my legs are not that badly fatigue as I had walked a long distance. I believed I would recover faster this year.
The medal for the 2022 edition was as large as the previous physical edition in 2019. The lanyard is mainly blue with tinge of green for the wordings.
The medal front is of round shape with the lion icon smack right in the middle. The wordings cover the entire perimeter with the distance mentioned at the bottom of the medal. The design is simple with means not many comments. The main comment is that the design is too simple without much graphical design. The significance of a Singapore race should be prescribed on the medal with greater impact as many foreigners might not know the lion and orchid (I assume) meaning to Singapore.
The medal rear is as plain as it can get. This is partly to create space for the runners to engrave their names and timing on it. The top part is empty and the bottom has the manufacturer’s logo.
The finisher tee this year is black in colour and pretty simple as well. The front consists of the logo and SCSM 2022 at the left chest area. The rear is has a designed “Finisher” wording and the distance indicated discretely. The colours theme of blue and green is followed on the finisher tee as well.
Ratings
Race Expo: 4/5 (adequate booths, new system for bib which resulted in smoother flow, no customisation of bib, names not in order at “wall of fame”)
Race precinct: 4.5/5 (adequate hydration and portable toilets, security checks poses queue but cleared swiftly, baggage collection is swift, )
Medal/Singlet/Finisher tee: 4/5 (too simple on the overall without much distinctive design, medal lanyard and quality not sharp, quality of tee is good)
The Race: 4.5/5 (adequate hydration, adequate toilets, distance is above 43km for many, energy gels and bananas given, volunteers encouraging)
Post Race: 4/5 (wet towel given, long walk to collect goodies, crowded, security asking runners to move further inwards)
Overall: 4.2/5
My last race review of this race was in 2019 before Covid struck and 2019 was memorable given that it was the 1st time it was held during the evening. With physical races slowly coming back, I hope I will be able to continue my factual race review for the wider benefit of all runners out there looking for an eventful race to run.
With the race moving back to the wee hours, there were less or no complains by the public unlike the 2019 edition. I predicted in the last post that the next physical run will be back in the morning and it really came true although 3 years later. For a better and healthier 2023!
Autumn Runner 