Vanessa Lee and Shaun Goh set national 5km road race records on Gold Coast

SINGAPORE – Despite encountering flight delays that doubled her trip to a full-day affair, Singapore distance runner Vanessa Lee managed to claim the women’s 5km road race national record at the Gold Coast Marathon.

On July 5, the 27-year-old completed the race in 16min 57sec to finish as the fourth-fastest female competitor and go under Goh Chui Ling’s previous mark of 17:08 clocked in 2022.

She said: “I’m especially grateful that everything came together on race day because the 48 hours leading up to it were chaotic.

“My Scoot flight to Melbourne was delayed from 2.30am to 6.30am and I missed my connecting flight to Gold Coast. Virgin Australia was really nice to put me on the next available flight, but that ended up delaying for another one hour as well, so I took almost 24 hours to get to the Gold Coast.”

To make matters worse, Lee fell sick after the flights, but she managed to recover in time to put in a strong performance.

Thanking her friends, she said: “I had a fever and my friends were really nice to buy Vitamin C shots and ginger tonic drinks for me. I slept a lot and was on liquids for 36 hours prior to the race and I thought I was not going to make it. But luckily, I managed to feel somewhat like myself again the night before the race.

“My goal going into this race was to break the national 5km road record, and with the sun out and the temperature around 20 deg C, the conditions were ideal for me.”

Lee has been in hot form of late.

In May, she shaved almost five seconds off her own 3,000m steeplechase mark with a time of 11:04.18 to finish third at the Hong Kong Athletics Championships.

She also holds four other national records in the 10km road race (35:55), 10km cross country (40:21), mile (5:12.74) and 5,000m (17:06.69).

Her 5,000m track record, which met the SEA Games qualifying mark, was set at the Box Hill Run in Melbourne in March, as she smashed her previous mark of 17:26.62 set in 2024.

Meanwhile, in less dramatic circumstances, compatriot Shaun Goh also delivered a men’s 5km road race national record at the Gold Coast Marathon, as he finished fifth in 14:49 to surpass Soh Rui Yong’s previous mark of 15:08 set in England in 2024.

This is the 28-year-old’s first national record of the year and his second overall, after he set the 10km road race national record of 31min in Australia in 2024.

He said: “Compared to Vanessa, my lead-up was relatively smooth. I was coming off a string of sub-par races and decided to reset three weeks ago after the Taiwan Open in June. Since then, I’ve been able to build some solid momentum heading into this race.

“I’m super stoked to come away with a 14:49. The race went amazing – there was a solid group of guys going at sub-15 pace, and I just tucked in for the first 3km. Things started to slow down a little after that, but I still felt strong and managed to pick off quite a few runners in the final stretch to finish fifth overall.

“I’ve definitely found more success racing in Australia than elsewhere. I think it mainly comes down to the favourable weather conditions and the strong depth of competition.”

Goh is chasing for a spot at the SEA Games and he is within 2 per cent of the 5,000m track qualifying mark of 14:43.45. The runner is also just outside the range for the 10,000m track qualifying mark of 31:25.55.

He added: “Getting a solid result like this feels incredibly rewarding. I’m hoping this performance gives me the momentum I need heading into my final qualification opportunity for the 10,000m at the Queensland Championships on Aug 9.”