Rui Yong’s time of 31 minutes 15.95 seconds broke PC Suppiah’s 10,000m national record, set in November 1973 at the Asian Track and Field Championships in Philippines, by just over three seconds. (Photo © Romaine Soh. Used with permission)

Oregon, United States, June 14, 2014 — 22-year-old undergraduate Soh Rui Yong clocked a time of 31 minutes 15.95 seconds at the Portland Track Festival in the United States to break (pending ratification) PC Suppiah’s 41-year-old 10,000m national record, which stood at 31:19.

“It’s the sweetest moment of my 10-year long running career as I have been dreaming of breaking a national record since I was a teenager in secondary school,” said the Sport Singapore scholar, who is pursuing a Business Administration degree at the University of Oregon.

Having announced his national record attempt in April after competing at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships where he clocked a personal best 1 hour 8 minutes 18 seconds, Rui Yong said he chose to have an attempt at the 10,000m national record because, at 41 years old, it was the “oldest and most prestigious (record in distance running in Singapore)”. (The oldest record in Singapore athletics, and the only one older than PC Suppiah’s 10,000m record, is A. Kannan’s 50km walk record set in December 1969.)

The age of the record aside, Rui Yong also had to deal with a knee injury he sustained three weeks prior to the race, which he attributed to running in worn-out shoes. “I had planned far in advance for this race and trained well. But a knee injury three weeks out from the race affected my training and, consequently, a bit of my confidence. I have retired that pair of shoes and the knee has been (feeling) better,” said Rui Yong, who had had to decrease the frequency of his runs from eight times weekly to six times weekly while also having to ice his knee regularly.

Admitting that he would be taking a couple of days off running for the week, he planned to slowly ease back into training.

Rui Yong said: “This milestone performance tells me that I’m on the right track. The SEA Games is still a year away so many things can happen. Success can either breed more success or cause my head to swell with pride. I would like the former, not the latter.”