Record double for Singapore’s Vanessa Lee, Shaun Goh in Gold Coast Marathon

SINGAPORE – When Yvonne Danson set her Singapore women’s half-marathon record of 1hr 16min 29sec in 1996, Vanessa Lee was not even born yet.

On July 4, the 28-year-old sealed her spot as the nation’s queen of distance running when she broke the 30-year-old record after placing 29th at the Gold Coast Marathon in 1:16:04.

With her latest feat, Lee now owns an impressive seven national records from the mile (5min 10.86sec, set in January) to the half-marathon.

The other five are the 3000m steeplechase (11:04.18, May 2025), 5,000m (17:06.69, March 2025), 5km road (16:57, July 2025), 10,000m (36:15.67, August 2025), and 10km road (35:55, July 2024).

Her half-marathon mark is also remarkable for the fact that she started running 21km only from 2022. She said: “This national record was definitely the hardest mark by far. I gave it a shot last September at the Run Prix in Melbourne where I ran 1:18:07 but it wasn’t the most ideal conditions.

“This year, I went to Kunming, China for altitude training for about a month in preparation for this event, and the adrenaline I had at the finish line overcame me and I was so excited to meet all my other friends at the line.”

From the events she competed in, the only national marks missing her name are the mile road and 3,000m. While Lee is not gunning for the first one, “the 3,000m record is definitely in my sights but it’s hard to find a good race for that, so it might take a while”.

Her next major assignments are the 5km event at the Sept 19-20 World Athletics Road Running Championships in Denmark, and the 10,000m event at the Sept 19-Oct 4 Asian Games in Japan, where she hopes to get close to her national records. She will book end the year with the BYD Singapore International Marathon from Dec 4 to 6.

With the 21km mark achieved, could Danson’s marathon record of 2:34:41 from 1995 be next?

“I’m not ready for the marathon, I’m not willing to do the training required for that yet, and my heart is still with the track,” said Lee.

Another national record also fell at the Gold Coast Marathon, where Shaun Goh improved his own 10km road mark – set in 2024 – from 31:00 to 30:41, as he finished 10th.

The 29-year-old also benefitted from altitude training in Switzerland, although he did feel “flat” following a block of racing in Europe in June.

Thanking his coach Jordan Donnelly for helping him overcome some tough mental moments, Goh said: “I’m super surprised by this performance.

“For the first time in a while, I went into a race with very little expectations and pressure on myself. I was just enjoying the morning, supporting my friends in the half-marathon and going with the flow.”

“When the race started, I got completely caught up in the amazing Gold Coast atmosphere. I stayed with the front pack much longer than I expected. I was really surprised with how good I felt when I saw the 5k split (15:05).

“Once the lead group pulled away, I just focused on picking off runners one by one. The last 2km of the Gold Coast course is always very tough with the coastal headwinds, but I’m glad to survive it pretty decently and very satisfied to cross the line in 10th.”

Interestingly, this is the third time Lee and Goh have broken national records on the same day at a meet in Australia. The first was when both set 5km road records on the Gold Coast in July 2025. One month later, they set 10,000m marks on the track in Queensland.

Goh, who will be training in the United States before competing in Europe and Singapore, said: “It made the day even more special seeing Vanessa break the half-marathon national record earlier that morning.

“This is the third time we’ve both broken national records on the same day, and it feels really cool to be part of these kinds of moments.

Lee added: “He says I’m his lucky charm but I guess he’s also mine.”