Fitness Best Asia announced on Thursday (9 Sep) that it will reward S$700 and a special edition Fitness Best Asia Award to the first person who can accomplish national marathoner Soh Rui Yong’s Pocari Sweat Singapore 2.4km challenge.
Mr Soh earlier issued an open challenge to members of the public to run 2.4km under seven minutes at the on-ground Pocari Sweat Singapore 2.4km Run on 9 and 10 Oct, after hearing comments that downplayed his achievement as the fastest 2.4km runner in Singapore.
Anyone who accomplishes the feat will receive S$700 and 700 bottles of Pocari Sweat from him.
In support of Mr Soh’s challenge, Fitness Best Asia posted on Instagram that it will reward the first Singaporean who accomplishes the feat.
“We will match Mr Soh’s SGD$700 reward plus a special edition Fitness Best Asia Award for the winner!” it stated.
Mr Soh had set the official record for the 2.4km on Saturday (4 Sep) when he clocked six minutes 53 seconds at the Pocari Sweat Singapore 2.4km Run, which is the fastest recorded in Singapore.
Noting that “some people still think their ‘army/commando/BMT mate who smokes’ ran faster”, he posted his split times for the six-lap run on Facebook later on Wednesday.
Apparently, “a number of former Singapore Army Commandos” have taken offence to his remarks and insisted that running below seven minutes for that distance is “a common occurrence within the commandos”.
“Firstly, that line, read in context and in entirety, was not targeted at Commandos specifically,” he wrote in another post on Thursday.
“The point is this. Army 2.4km myths always go something like, ‘last time my friend from BMT/Army/Commandos/NDU/Guards can run (insert magical number here) for 2.4km. Some more ah, he is a smoker’. I’m just making reference to those kinds of statements.”
Mr Soh also clarified that he has the “utmost respect” for what the commandos go through in the military training.
“Few can claim to have gone through what they did or are capable of, such as Prisoners of War (POW) training or parachuting out of a moving airplane. I certainly would not claim to be capable of everything they do, since I never received Commando training,” he added.
With that being said, Mr Soh believes that commandos would also “not be capable of running performances that even Singapore’s best distance runners have been incapable of”.
“A sub-7:00 2.4km is one example, given that it had never been recorded until Saturday. It takes an average of 69s per 400m for 6 laps on the track to finish a 2.4km run in under 7 minutes.
“I seriously doubt that many commandos, former or current, would be capable of running even 4 laps (1.6km) at that pace,” he remarked.
Those who are interested to take up Mr Soh’s challenge can sign up here.
