by Coach Jack
As according to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) website, www.arrs.net that the Chang Mai (Thailand) marathon race route was short. They (ARRS) has literally stated “short” and it also states at their website “Marks officially recognised by NGBs that differ from those recognised by the ARRS” and thus this statement speaks a thousand words which they too are trying to say the distance of the race route is questionable.
So are we to recognise the record when it’s questionable. The Singapore national record was previously held by S. Balasubramaniam, set in Macau on 1st Dec 1991 with a time of 2:33:04 until M. Rameshon set the new record (2:24:22s) during the SEA Games in Thailand on 13th Dec 1995.
A simple breakdown calculation on the marathon record. A person running at 2:24:22s, have to run the following times base at (3:25/km) or faster –
- 5km at 15:03:00
- 10km at 31:23:00
- 1/2 marathon at 1:09:00
- 30km at 1:40:00
I don’t think that’s possible when a person’s personal best in the 10,000m track race is only at 33:03:95 (as stated at SA website – Singapore All Time Best). A person with only 33:03:95 to show for in 10,000m is only able to record approximately about 2:32:00 in a marathon if he’s able to sustain the same pace throughout the marathon race which is impossible.
As the saying goes and being aware of it too, that records are mended to be broken but in this case, one should rectify it and hand over to the rightful owner and as a base on the above simple calculation, the Chang Mai Marathon race route might be short by approximately 2km.
For me, the rightful owner of Singapore Marathon record should be Soh Rui Yong who had clocked 2:24:55 at the Chicago Marathon last year and his previous times achieved in races speaks volume and the previous rightful owner should be S. Balasubramaniam and the current record should be omitted out completely since it’s a short course.
The current rightful owner definitely will also have the right to be labelled “Singapore Fastest Marathoner” and not “Singapore Fastest Marathoner over a short course.”