Commentary: Soh Rui Yong’s 2.4km challenge tapped into our love-hate relationship with the distance

You can now aim for incremental improvements in your timings that will increase the points on your own mental scoreboard. Mentally and physically, it is also easier to train for.

Unlike a half or full marathon, one does not have to invest long hours and months training for it – precious time that many people don’t have or are unwilling to spare.

This may be the exact vein that this race has tapped on – a reason to get out and do our personal best in something we are so familiar with. 

As a Facebook user Nick Chui wrote in a post which carried a photo of a timing of 11min 58sec on his Casio watch:

“2.4km timing today. Haven’t ran (sic) this fast for almost 20 years. Thank you, Soh Rui Yong, for your idea. May not meet your standard but good to challenge yourself.”

CAN ANYONE BREAK SOH’S RECORD?

Not everyone will win the prizes at stake, and no one is likely to break Soh’s, or Vanessa Lee’s records (She is the other athlete who ran in the Pocari Sweat 2.4km Challenge, clocking 7mins 59.69secs to become the first Singapore woman to go under 8 minutes).

But everyone can now take part in a run that was very much a part of their lives growing up. The fact that it is easy to train for, whatever our age is part of the huge interest in this race.

The biggest bonus for me is that we can sit back and watch a thrilling run take place between Soh and a clutch of excellent runners – Subas, Jeevaneesh Soundararajah, who represented Singapore in the 5,000 metres at the 2015 SEA Games, and Ethan Yan, who has clocked the fastest 2.4km in the army with a time of 7 mins 6 seconds.

This is what grassroots sports is about – almost akin to watching a football game in a full stadium. Except we are participants, trying to lead a healthier, sportier lifestyle.

When the next edition of the annual Singapore Sports Awards comes around, I hope this event is not only nominated for the Best Sports Event of the Year (Local) award but also wins it.

And hopefully, Soh gets to go on stage to receive it.

Gerard Wong is a senior editor with CNA938. A former sports journalist, he was also previously the sports editor at TODAY.