Story and pictures by Les Tan

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Youth from Beyond Social Services joined in the 1 km run with the MPs at Hort Park. (Photo © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)

Hort Park, Thursday, April 17, 2008 – When you become a Member of Parliament, you expect marathon meet-the-people sessions, marathon parliamentary debates, marathon grassroots events.

In future, perhaps potential MPs will be asked if they can run an actual marathon at People’s Action Party tea sessions.

An email from Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck to his fellow MPs drew in Michael Palmer, Dr Fatimah Lateef and Jessica Tan to commit to running the full 42 km marathon while Christopher de Souza will run the 10 km at the adidas Sundown Marathon.

“There is something to be said about the (marathon) route. I’ve never tried it before,” said Michael Palmer, MP for Pair Ris-Punggol GRC. The MPs are regular runners and find it a time to think things through and just relax. “I really enjoy running,” said Jessica Tan, MP for East Coast GRC.

The idea for the ultra-marathon came to organiser Adrian Mok in 2005 when he was training for the NTU Run Round Singapore, a 168 km event. Starting his run at 7 p.m. in the evening in the west, he was joined by Teo Ser Luck at 11 p.m., and they continued running until 5 a.m., when out of sheer exhaustion, they fell asleep for 20 minutes at Singapore Expo. They then hit the East Coast Park at 6 a.m., just in time to see the sun coming up.

“The colours were really beautiful. The sun was coming up in the east, the storm clouds were coming in from the west. It was a memorable experience,” said Adrian. “But I was too tired to notice the nice colours,” said Ser Luck, to much laughter.

When the storm hit, their plan to finish their run in the city with a roti prata meal was washed out and they had to be rescued by Ser Luck’s wife coming to pick them up in a car.

A distinctive feature of the event is the opportunity to bid for your favourite bib number. The four MPs made an undisclosed bid for their favourite bib numbers with all proceeds from the online bid auction going to Beyond Social Services, a charity dedicated to reducing delinquency among children and youths from disadvantaged backgrounds. The minimum bid is $50 and the online bid auction will end April 30, 2008.

The adidas Sundown Marathon is scheduled for Saturday, May 31, 2008 and is Singapore’s first night race. It is also the first officially recognised ultra-marathon covering 84 km. The race will be run along the National Parks Board’s Eastern Coast Park Connector Network, linking the East Coast Park with HDB heartland estates such as Bedok, Tampines and Pasir Ris. The winners of the Ultra-Marathon will get a trip to the Berlin Marathon.

For more details about the adidas Sundown Marathon, go to www.sundownmarathon.com.

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MP Michael Palmer’s bib number refers to his car number plate. “So that I can find my car at the end of the marathon,” he said in jest. (Photo © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
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MP Christopher de Souza is now training 3 times a week, 5-6 km each time, with his wife training along with him. (Photo © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
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MP Jessica Tan’s bid number refers to the year she got married (1990) and the birth day (28) of both herself and her husband. (Photo © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
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Senior Parl Sec Teo Ser Luck chose “0011” as his bib number, the number 11 having been his favourite number since his youth. (Photo © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)
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Crossing the finishing line. Left to right: Michael Palmer, Jessica Tan, Christopher de Souza and Teo Ser Luck. (Photo © Leslie Tan/Red Sports)