Go50 Day 9: Ultramarathoners battle rain and fatigue

SINGAPORE - Ultramarathoners Yong Yuen Cheng, 43 and Lim Nghee Huat, 61 battled rain and fatigue to finish running 50km in a route passing through Caldecott Hill, Bukit Batok and MacRitchie on Friday.

They have run 50km each day for the past nine days and their muscles are sore.

"I'm just feeling very tired today," said Mr Yong, a physical education teacher, sounding more fatigued than he usually is.

He also tripped over some tree roots at Portsdown Road and fell, grazing his right knee.

"It wasn't painful but it affected my mood slightly," he said.

"When you get used to flat road, you let your guard down and put one foot before the other, it's easy to trip if you don't look out."

But together with Mr Lim, Mr Yong soldiered on to finish 50km in 7 hours and 29 minutes.

The duo were accompanied by fellow ultramarathoner Gerrard Lin, 31, who has been completing 50km with them each day so far. Colleagues of Mr Lim Nghee Huat, who is a Chinese current affairs editor at Mediacorp, also ran with him for about half the journey. Mediacorp artistes Qiqi and Kym Ng also ran for about 5km.

In their last 3km, the weather took a turn for the worse and it started raining. But the runners did not stop. They continued running loops in a 200 metre stretch under a flyover just to make up the distance.

Said Mr Lim: "We have to do 50km every day no matter what."

An online tracking system, open to the public at go50.sg, ensures that they complete the full distance without making false claims.

The runners' shoes got wet, but none of them suffered blisters.

Mr Lim added that although his muscles had ached for the past few days, he feels he is recovering faster each day. "I think my body is getting used to it," he said.

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