Athletics: SA partners Ironman Asia, with Stanchart marathon official race for National C'ships

At the launch of this year's Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore are (from left) Mr Lim Teck Yin, Mr Andrew Messick, Ms Grace Fu, Ms Judy Hsu and Mr Geoff Meyer. ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM

SINGAPORE - Singapore Athletics (SA) has announced a two-year partnership with Ironman Asia, which will see the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) double up as the official race for the National Championships.

Explaining the change, SA president Ho Mun Cheong said: "This partnership is a move in the right direction, and will help to further elevate the sport of distance running among competitive runners in Singapore."

The tie-up will allow the top competitive local runners to compete for a shot at being crowned national champion in both the Open and Master's categories at the next two editions of the Stanchart marathon, in 2017 and 2018.

The marathon is the region's only International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Gold Label race.

The move was welcomed by seven-time Stanchart marathon's local men's champion and Team Singapore athlete Mok Ying Ren.

Mok, who is managed by ONEathlete, said: "The event has grown tremendously both in scale and quality, so hosting the National Championships here makes sense, and will certainly strike a chord with competitive runners in Singapore. I am confident that it would be an opportunity for a finer display of local sportsmanship and emergence of more young local running talents."

Commenting on the partnership, managing director of Ironman Asia Geoff Meyer said: "This is part of our commitment to developing Singapore as a premier running destination. The race is already seen by local and regional runners as the gold standard, by working with SAA to host the National Championships here, we're hoping to further develop SCSM as a race for those with a competitive edge."

The kids' dash at the SCSM will be held on Dec 2 with the 10km, half marathon and full marathon being run the next day. Over 50,000 runners are expected in all. More information on the race can be found at singaporemarathon.com

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