Saturday Mornings: Soh Rui Yong’s Bold Back-to-Back Marathon Challenge

Saturday Mornings Show” host Glenn van Zutphen and co-host Neil Humphreys talk to Soh Rui Yong on the phone from Tokyo where he set a new Singapore 10,000m national record of  30min 33.29sec on Saturday while running at the Nittaidai Challenge. He first broke the 10,000m record 11.5 years ago by running 31:15.  Talking to Singapore’s five-time national marathon champion, Rui Yong, is preparing for an unprecedented test of endurance at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon next weekend. For the first time, the half-marathon and full-marathon will be held on separate days—December 6 and 7—and Rui Yong is going to run both and aims to win both. Fresh off his 2024 national marathon title, Soh is aiming for a historic double victory while keeping his eyes firmly on the 10,000m gold medal at the upcoming SEA Games in Thailand. With the athletics competition scheduled just days after the marathon weekend, his decision raises eyebrows: is this a daring strategy or sheer madness? Rui Yong shares his mindset, training approach, and why this double-up challenge is also a stepping stone toward a future in ultramarathons like South Africa’s Two Oceans (56km) and Comrades Marathon (88km). At 35, he’s redefining what it means to push limits, balancing ambition with resilience.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.