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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/...ign-up-for-races-like-the-gold-coast-marathon
SINGAPORE - Participating in the Gold Coast Marathon had been an annual affair for Lim Han Chee since 2009, but the pandemic put a halt to such trips in 2020.
So when the civil servant was confident that this year's edition of the run would take place, he immediately signed up for the July 2-3 event when registration opened.
The Gold Coast Marathon presents many good memories for Lim, from racing in the cool weather conditions to clocking his first sub-four hour marathon in 2010 and then meeting the qualifying mark for the Boston Marathon in 2018.
Beyond times, he also treasures the atmosphere at the event, with locals often cheering participants on from the side.
He said: "The Gold Coast Marathon is quite special because they print your name on the bib so the locals will cheer you on by your name and that makes it very personal. It's a very good way to motivate runners and feel good about running itself.
"I'm very heartened that Australia is opening up, it took quite a while. Queensland has also finally opened up, lifting quite a lot of their restrictions."
With borders re-opening, sports enthusiasts such as Lim have seized the chance to resume their sporting pursuits.
As at Friday, 122 Singaporeans had signed up for this year's edition of the Gold Coast Marathon. In 2019, there were 525 Singaporean entries.
Of the 61 marathons that Lim has completed to date, 30 were overseas.
On the appeal of racing abroad, he said: "I like to run in big city marathons because every turn and corner is a discovery for me, especially for places I've not been before so it's a good way to interact with the locals because usually on race day, they will close off the city centre and let you have free rein on the road.
"These city centres usually have hundreds of thousands of people so there's a chance to have some form of communication with the locals, who will chase and support you."
While Lim has gone for his fair share of overseas races, Christopher Tan will be attempting his first on the Gold Coast, where he will be participating in the 10km category.
The facility manager ran his first marathon in Singapore in 2008 and a few more in the year that followed, but issues with his knee cap saw him stop.
But he started running regularly again during the pandemic when he joined a running group. Through many trial sessions and corrections to his running form, Tan found that he was able to run longer, faster and take on harder training sessions with fewer injuries.
That was also what made Tan want to push himself to do better times.
When borders started to open up, members of his running group suggested going for the Gold Coast Marathon and Tan was keen, although he was also initially hesitant because he was unsure if he could make it due to factors like his schedule.
But after some encouragement from his running group mates, he decided to make the trip and is now aiming to complete the 10km run in 45 minutes.
Tan, 37, said: "When we compare among our peers in the running group, some of them tell me that I can go faster. We tend to push ourselves harder, there's a kind of synergy and positive energy, where we go and progress together as a groups."
SINGAPORE - Participating in the Gold Coast Marathon had been an annual affair for Lim Han Chee since 2009, but the pandemic put a halt to such trips in 2020.
So when the civil servant was confident that this year's edition of the run would take place, he immediately signed up for the July 2-3 event when registration opened.
The Gold Coast Marathon presents many good memories for Lim, from racing in the cool weather conditions to clocking his first sub-four hour marathon in 2010 and then meeting the qualifying mark for the Boston Marathon in 2018.
Beyond times, he also treasures the atmosphere at the event, with locals often cheering participants on from the side.
He said: "The Gold Coast Marathon is quite special because they print your name on the bib so the locals will cheer you on by your name and that makes it very personal. It's a very good way to motivate runners and feel good about running itself.
"I'm very heartened that Australia is opening up, it took quite a while. Queensland has also finally opened up, lifting quite a lot of their restrictions."
With borders re-opening, sports enthusiasts such as Lim have seized the chance to resume their sporting pursuits.
As at Friday, 122 Singaporeans had signed up for this year's edition of the Gold Coast Marathon. In 2019, there were 525 Singaporean entries.
Of the 61 marathons that Lim has completed to date, 30 were overseas.
On the appeal of racing abroad, he said: "I like to run in big city marathons because every turn and corner is a discovery for me, especially for places I've not been before so it's a good way to interact with the locals because usually on race day, they will close off the city centre and let you have free rein on the road.
"These city centres usually have hundreds of thousands of people so there's a chance to have some form of communication with the locals, who will chase and support you."
While Lim has gone for his fair share of overseas races, Christopher Tan will be attempting his first on the Gold Coast, where he will be participating in the 10km category.
The facility manager ran his first marathon in Singapore in 2008 and a few more in the year that followed, but issues with his knee cap saw him stop.
But he started running regularly again during the pandemic when he joined a running group. Through many trial sessions and corrections to his running form, Tan found that he was able to run longer, faster and take on harder training sessions with fewer injuries.
That was also what made Tan want to push himself to do better times.
When borders started to open up, members of his running group suggested going for the Gold Coast Marathon and Tan was keen, although he was also initially hesitant because he was unsure if he could make it due to factors like his schedule.
But after some encouragement from his running group mates, he decided to make the trip and is now aiming to complete the 10km run in 45 minutes.
Tan, 37, said: "When we compare among our peers in the running group, some of them tell me that I can go faster. We tend to push ourselves harder, there's a kind of synergy and positive energy, where we go and progress together as a groups."
