Fleet Footed Teamwork

Lester Tan recounts his team's experience at the 2018 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon's Ekiden race.

- Lester Tan

It is 2.00AM in the morning. 'Stand by Me' by Florence and the Machine played as my phone’s alarm. An apt tune considering the upcoming team relay. As the shuttle bus is scheduled to leave Hougang Central at 3:00AM, I had some time to prepare what I needed for the race later.

My shoe of choice today is the Nike Zoom Fly Flyknit – of which I gave the nickname “Cheat Shoes” as a nod to its propensity to improve my running economy. Weighing approximately 240g, the Zoom Fly Flyknit is a tad heavy for my liking but I greatly appreciated the technical engineering that contributed to the shoe’s performance-enhancing features. It has, after all, proven itself through more than 350km of use.

Being the fourth runner in my relay team, I knew that my race would likely only start around 6:15AM. That’s about 90 minutes after the event’s official flag-off. Thus, I packed along a fig bar to snack on in case I got hungry while waiting. I reached Hougang Central at 2:50AM and joined a group of excited yet sleepy runners waiting in anticipation for the shuttle bus. It arrived within the next five minutes and promptly set off at 3:00AM, right on schedule.

Despite the estimated travelling time of 45 minutes, the shuttle arrived at the drop-off point near the F1 Pit much earlier at 3:20AM. Even so, the race village was already packed with people. I must give kudos to the event organisers and staff for ensuring the orderly movement of participants through the security checks and baggage deposits.