It has been a great day for national marathoner Soh Rui Yong. All of his hard work and training has been paid off when he clocked at 2hr 23 min 43 sec at the Seoul Marathon on Sunday Morning (March 17th). It is a big deal for him as he broke the 24 year old record at the event.
The effort he put in during that race is what he would consider a big achievement as it has always been his goal to go under 2:24. As a matter of fact, he was planning to do that at the Tokyo Marathon earlier this month. However, he had to withdrew from the race due to a mix-up where he was placed in a mass start up pen instead of the elite and sub-elite group.
Soh Rui Yong is also known for his previous achievements where his previous best in the Chicago Marathon back in 2016 was 2:24:55. He also has obtained 2 gold medals in the SEA games.
He expressed his joy with the results he put out as he commented, “It took years of work and I finally found the race and opportunity to do it, so I am happy with that.”
He also mentioned how this marathon is the only serious attempt at record. When it comes to previous marathons, he was “unsure of his fitness going in” but this time he managed to go in fit and healthy.
Soh Rui Yong has done 5 weeks worth of training in Flagstaff, Arizona which is located in the United States. Even with an Achilles heel injury which caused clocking in lower mileage, Soh Rui Yong managed to keep his confidence that he would go under 2hr 24 min as his key workouts there were faster than before.
Soh Rui Yong is not just hardworking in his sports career but even in his working career. He is current working in business development and is also a sports ambassador with lifestyle portal called The Smart Local.
The marathoner has said that he was unsure of his times due to the confusion over the pace makers along the route when he was racing in the Seoul Marathon.
When talking about his timing he said, “At the halfway mark, my watch showed that I was at 1:11:35 and I felt comfortable with my pace. My previous fastest was 1:12 in Berlin so it was a good sign that I was 30 seconds faster.”
He was not aware of how fast he was once he got past until he ran into the stadium and saw the clock. He felt a sense of fulfillment being able to “execute his plans” on that day and expressed how great it feels to achieve being the first guy to go under 2:24.
But even with his goal being fulfilled, he does not stop at making more goals to achieved. He has decided to set his eyes on another goal which is to reach a new record in the men’s 5,000m race.
Soh Rui Yong is even considering not participating in the upcoming SEA Games marathon even though he could possibly get a third gold medal from it with his talent just to reach his next goal.
However, the marathoner said it would depend on his training and track progress as he is also aiming to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo which will be held next year. He said it would be a pity to not be able to take part for the SEA Games.
Soh Rui Yong’s current personal best in the 5,000m is 14:55:91. A new record could land him in contention for a podium finish at the 2019 SEA Games if he were to participate.
Even though he finds it a pity to not be able to run in the marathon, he believes that there is a lot of things to do in running and that “it will be cool” to achieve something in the 5,000m race.
Soh Rui Yong said, “No decision has been made as of now. I’ll see how my track experiment goes and if I feel like I can do well in another event.”