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Singapore International Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Singapore International Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 3.6 
Organization 3.7 
Spectators 2.5
Number of comments: 87 [displaying comments 1 to 11]
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F. S. from Singapore
(12/9/2018)
"Worst marathon ever" (about: 2018)
11-50 previous marathons
| 6+ Singapore International Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 U forget to mention, there is no water at water point. Only ice. Security, the same old rude guys. I suggest get some automatic or robot rather than the rude old guys. There are so many negative feedback last year on this standchart marathon. That I don't believe it at all. Finally, I experienced it myself this year. U guys can forget about the fb social media post bcos it was tightly controlled. U only see positive feedback. Too commercial, all they want is money. There is no more inspiration in taking this event anymore. | |
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P. M. from Singapore
(12/4/2016)
"Do not bother" (about: 2016)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Singapore International Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 1 This was my 8th marathon international marathon but by far the worst experience. It's not so much that its humid and therefore makes for slow times.. thats unavoidable. It's the total lack of preparation for such a hot day. Anyway lets start with registration.. that was actually fine.. very efficient. The start of the race though was a joke. My girlfriend and I were in pen D and arrived at 4am.. the queue to get in was ridiculous and clearly hadn't been thought out at all. In the end I think pen F went off before most of pen D had even managed to enter their pen. We finally crossed the start line at 5.30am. Absolute joke. OK now the couse/race.. The course is actually pretty nice apart from the last 10k when you are running on tarmac roads that just get unbearably hot. I realise that logistically its going to be very difficult in Singapore though and you cant blame the organisers for that. The water stops were a joke... there wasn't enough tables and thus they became a complete free for all. With the heat the really could have done with at least a couple of sponge stops or proper mist sprays. The big fans they had were absolutely useless. As for fans.. well there really aren't any. I don't mean its not as well supported as Tokyo or London or New York. I mean there really aren't any bar the last 50 metres of the race. If it hadn't been for the fact that I was leaving Singapore soon I wouldn't have done this race. I wish I hadn't bothered now. | |
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Pog Harrier from Melbourne, Australia
(12/8/2014)
"44km marathon, don't shoot for best time" (about: 2014)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Singapore International Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 My GPS showed 44.18km, a post-run Google demonstrates this is a common phenomenon. Don't shoot for a good time in this marathon. | |
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Dieter Koester from New Delhi, India
(12/4/2013)
"very tough, but nice race" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Singapore International Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I ran the Singapore-Marathon 2013, on 01.12.2013. TOUGH CLIMATE AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT: Firsthand you have to be aware, that this is not at all a marathon for beginners or for someone striving to his PB or a good time at all. Singapore all year long is very humid and hot (at the start at 5am 25 C and 95 % humidity) so you are soaked of sweat before even having started. I finished it in 5:53 and was still above the average!! So you have to know how to deal with that climate and adapt your strategy accordingly. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY has never been more true than here. At km 8 already(after seriously considering giving up...) I started with running / walking intervals of around 5-10 minutes each (what you normally don´t do before km 30, if at all....). Thanks to that tactics i was able to keep the pace until the end. So given the complicated climatic conditions forget totally about your timing and personal best, just put the focus on somehow finishing, don´t push it too hard....What helps you a lot is the fact, that there are many runners around you (around 16.200 in 2013), there´s a nice atmosphere, even as a slow runner you are never alone with your sufferings and pains, which helps you mentally a lot.... ORGANISATION: Organisation was perfect, except the bottlenecks at the refreshing stations (even though they were well equipped, even quite strong and efficient muscle rub). They are too small and short for so many runners, there should be more tables; COURSE: Another + is the great scenery, it is really a sightseeing trip of Singapure..... ALLTOGETHER: So alltogether a great run, but also very tough given the climate...Be aware and get prepared.... | |
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M. Z. from Singapore
(12/30/2012)
"Not Special" (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Singapore International Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Note that the previous two comments about the route (carpark and highway) refer to the half marathon course which does sound pretty bad. The full course was OK but not special. There was one stretch through a construction site that was terrible however. Good: 5am starts misses the worst of the heat Good public transportation at start and finish (I recommend getting a hotel walking distance from the start - there are plenty). Nice shirt and medal. Also a finishers shirt at end. Lots of water stops - but there could even be more Bad: HOT AND HUMID - even at 5am. Course just OK - no fan support. All the races meet at the finish. 4-hour marathoners are finishing with people walking the 10k and half. This is NOT GOOD. No food at the finish. In all I agree that this is not a destination race. I live in Singapore but will probably not run it again | |
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R. D. from Singapore
(12/11/2012)
"awful route" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Singapore International Marathon
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 1 Running through an airless carpark, along the edge of a busy highway then having to fight through a wall of walkers/ slow joggers who were finishing the 10km was a nightmare. This is one of the worst courses I have ever run... and I have run a lo of races in a lot of different countries. We can do better than this, Singapore - this country has so much more to offer.... come on!! | |
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k. b. from Tokyo Japan-Expat
(12/5/2012)
"Sad destination race" (about: 2012)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 Singapore International Marathon
COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I ran this half as a destination race and expected more since the race directors were sending emails saying how great things were going to be on race day. Good-medal, shirt, porto johns, water and med stops, volunteers. Bad Only certain Mrt stations open and taxi lines were an hour long at my hotel Start was horrible and bottlenecked-more then any race I have ever been in. Many bottlenecks during race Too many times to count that walkers were on the course-even within the first few miles and crowded. Ran through parking garage-really! Ok, now we run a few miles on a highway with cars right next to us, fumes and heat. Finish-1 1/2 mile to go and we are merged into a huge crowd of walkers-REALLY, how can we even try to pace. Water and dry granola bar at finish. Wet towels would have been nice. I expected it to be hot, but there was no way to enjoy this race and try to pace. HORRIBLE course and would never recommend to anyone. I really don't think the directors care and have never addressed the issues, but maybe that is the best that Singapore can do. | |
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D. L. from an American in South Korea
(12/5/2012)
"Hot, humid, and friendly" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Singapore International Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Running in Singapore is typical of running in tropical locations, so know that from the start. You won't PR. Depending on how you deal with heat, you may be an hour slower than your normal marathon time. On the other hand, so is everyone else, and you may enjoy knowing that a 5-hour finish puts you in the top 20%. The packet pick-up/expo was very well organized and had lots of vendors, and was held in the expo center so very easy to get to via public transport and taxi. Nice sleeveless shirt in a string backpack for schwag and a bunch of ads. Race begins at 5am, but they could be better served by pushing it to 4am like Bangkok and Guam. Nice to get as many miles as possible in before the sun comes up. Adequate drink stations, although more would be better and some were understaffed. More than 17000 people ran in the marathon alone, plus all the other races, so you will be with people the entire race, which includes crowding at the water stops. The initial part of the finish was well organized with medal and finishers shirt pick-up, as well as water and sports drink, but after that, it was chaos. No other food available. Easy to reach start & finish via train, and near to many hotels. The route was nice, the runners friendly, and Singapore is easy for English-speakers to navigate. Many pace teams, and they seemed to do a good job. In short, the race was fine, but nothing particularly special. | |
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B. M. from Singapore
(12/13/2011)
"Good but frustrating" (about: 2011)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Singapore International Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 Have done the HM a couple times. This year did the FM. The good: -Start is early to avoid morning heat (though it is VERY humid at 5:00AM). It was well organized with a sub-4:00 pen starting right after the elites. -Public transport open 24 hours and taxi availability at finish was good. -Course covers many Singapore landmarks/highlights and runs along the beach. -Decent water/electolyte stops, but probably not enough given the heat/humidity -Expo was well organized. Though don't know how easy it is for runners flying in for the race. The bad: -Way too many runners and races going at the same time. The FM merged with the 10K (90 minutes in) with 3K remaining. So anyone shooting for a good time needs to deal with a massive wall of slow runners/walkers near the end. I'm all for participation by all, but they need to figure out a better way to space these out. -Trying to make SCSM into a 'gold elite' marathon is misguided. Having 25 Kenyans and Ethiopians finish 20 minutes in front of everyone else, pick up their oversized cheques and go home doesn't seem to add much to most runner's experience. -There are few spectators along the course (but race starts at 5AM so...). There were a few intrepid drum bands and other fans which were great. -The end is a zoo. Apparently, they ran out of finisher T-shirts in normal sizes pretty quickly though I managed to snag one. Runners were pissed! (check out the 100s of negative comments on FB) -Distance markers were spotty towards the end -Most frustrating is that these comments seem to be made every year and simply disregarded by the organizers. Do this race if you're in the region. Because of the weather (93% humidity at the start and 28 C at the finish), times will suffer. But its an overall good experience with tons of friendly runners. | |
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W. S. from Belgium
(12/10/2011)
"Great marathon but still areas for improvement" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Singapore International Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Agree with some of the comments. Great course, full marathon could benefit from having course more through nice city areas/Sentosa. Problem is indeed the merge with the back-end of half marathoners which honestly is disappointing and slows things down significantly. Organizer should really pay attention to that. Finish area overcrowded and refreshment/drinks could really improve. Plenty and well organized water stations and isotonic throughout the course. Concerns have been raised before and I wonder why those changes are not considered. It would improve the marathon both for runners and supporters at the finish significantly-and be even more attractive. Great potential ! |
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