October 24, 2023, 05:45 PM
National runner Soh Rui Yong is no stranger to breaking records.
And the 32-year-old was in fine form again at the Valencia half-marathon on Oct. 22, Sunday, claiming two new national records in one fell swoop, according to The Straits Times.
Soh finished the half marathon with an official timing of one hour, six minutes and 45 seconds, which placed him 60th out of 17,359 competitors.
In doing so, he beat his previous mark set in 2019 in Houston by a second.
In addition, at the 10km-mark of the marathon, the seasoned marathoner clocked in a timing of 31 minutes and 39 seconds, eclipsing compatriots Mok Ying Ren and Jeevaneesh Soundararajah, who jointly held the record at 32 minutes and 10 seconds previously.
After adding the 10km mark to his collection, Soh now holds a total of six national records.
He previously set the fastest times for the 5,000m, 10,000m, 5km road run and marathon.
The long distance runner happily pointed out in a Facebook post that the Valencia half-marathon records were his first as a married man.
Started training 3 days after marriage
Soh's achievement reportedly came off the back of a hectic post-marriage schedule.
The Straits Times reported that the newlywed, who celebrated his nuptials on Sep. 12, headed to Switzerland for a training camp a mere three days later.
He spent the next 16 days training at high altitude on the cross-country trails of the Swiss Alps.
And his efforts have certainly paid off.
Valencia is one of Soh's favourite places to race, according to a a Facebook post he shared about the achievement.
After all, the Spanish coastal city is where he broke the national marathon record in 2021.
The Singapore Athletics Association also chimed in on Instagram to congratulate Soh on his record-breaking performance.
The association added that Soh is currently training for the National Championships which will be held on Dec. 3 this year.
"I channeled that frustration positively": Soh on Asian Games snub
Soh also indicated that this most recent performance was fueled by the disappointment of not being selected for the recent Asian Games in September, despite managing to qualify.
He wrote that he had "channeled that frustration positively in training", to achieve this result.
"We can’t change what people want to do or say about us, but we can work hard and show them - we’re still the best," Soh concluded in his post.
Soh competed at the SEA Games in Cambodia in May, marking his first event at a major competition in over five years.
He managed to clinch a silver in his maiden attempt at the 10,000m and also came in fourth in the 5,000m event.
However, in June, Soh was left out of the Asian Games squad by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) due to behavioural issues.
An SNOC spokesperson elaborated that Soh had "failed to honour commitments which he had provided to the SNOC" to "avoid posting controversial content on social media", and claimed that he continued to make "disparaging and derisive remarks" towards others.
These were reportedly related to various comments Soh made on social media and the media from March to May 2023.
Related articles:
Top image from Soh Rui Yong on Facebook.
If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram to get the latest updates.