Soh Rui Yong (right) of Singapore with the World Half Marathon winner, Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea. Rui Yong clocked a personal best time of 1:12:12 while Tadese won the race in 1:00:19. (Photo © Soh Rui Yong. Used with permission.)
Kavarna, Bulgaria, Saturday, October 6, 2012 — Soh Rui Yong, 21, of Singapore, clocked a personal best time of 1 hour 12 minutes and 12 seconds at the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championship. Rui Yong finished 72nd out of 78 runners in the 21km race. Eight runners did not finish.
The time was an improvement over the 1:12:25 Rui Yong clocked at the 2012 Army Half Marathon earlier this year.
“I ran the first 5k in 16.48 and next 5k in 16.42 (10km split 33.30) as I sought to break 1hr 10min,” recounted Rui Yong in a Facebook posting.
“Unfortunately, I was not ready for it and faded in the second half, not helped by the surprisingly hot and humid weather (by Karvana standards) and the 12 u-turns on the course.
“Nonetheless, I crossed 15km in 50.36 and struggled through the last 6km like a typical 5k runner attempting the half marathon distance to escape with a new personal best of 1hr 12min 12sec, a 14 sec improvement! Heck of an experience.
“Eluid Kipchoge, 2003 5000m world champion, tapped me on the back during warm-up to wish me luck. What a guy,” recounted Rui Yong.
The race was won by Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea in 1:00:19.
[…] returned from the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships where he represented Singapore and set a personal best (PB) of 1:12:12 in Bulgaria on October […]