New Ultra Marathon Record in Singapore

Mr Yong Yuen Cheng, a 38 years old teacher became the fastest 218km ultra-marathon runner in the Singapore Book Of Records. He completed the gruelling run in 31hr 28min 51sec. The distance is equivalent to 5 marathons combined, on top of that, they set a cut-off time of 36 hrs to consider themselves to be a finisher.

Adeline Yong did not finish but still clocked 129.3km, the record for the longest ultra-marathon runner (female).

The 3 records set were the longest ultra-marathon 218km, the fastest 218km ultra marathon runner(male) and the longest ultra-marathon runner (female).

So tough was the run that four of the nine "core runners", including six-time Ironman finisher Adrian Mok and the lone woman, Adeline Yong, did not last the distance.

Origanised by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to celebrate its 55th anniversary, the run saw Mr Yong jog, walk and limp through 68 stations around Singapore before he crossed the finished line in 31hr 28min 51sec at the school's Sports and Recreation Centre. Mr Yong was one of nine runners who started off from NTU last Saturday morning.

Results of the core runners:

Yong Yuen Cheng: 31hr 28min 51sec

Chua Kok Chiow: 32:32:05

Melvin Lee: 33:10:35

Lim Nghee Huat: 34:35:39

Teng Teck Hou: 34:36:32

Chin Kok Kai: Did not finish

Adeline Yong: Did not finish

Adrain Mok: Did not finish

Ng Junwei: Did not finish

The event raised over $218,000 for the school's bursary fund.

The sense of satisfaction from surviving a challenge that he deemed more difficult than the 217km Death Valley Challenge he completed in 54hr 39mins in 2007 left him overwhelmed with emotion at the end point at the NTU's Sports and Recreation Centre.

Mr Yong said about his feat:"No matter how ordinary you are, you can achieve something extraordinary...if you work hard enough, you will succeed even if you are not talented like others."

Neither Chua nor Yuen Cheng will attempt such a feat again.

"I don't know if I can still continue to run," said Yuen Cheng.

"I have a lot of injuries now and today I really pushed myself to the limit."

While doing my weekend run last Saturday evening in my area, I met the group, just 2 runners across the road, with a traffic police on bike behind them. I clapped and waved to them as a form of encouragement, they noticed it, but were probably too tired to response :) Personally, I think there is a limit to what the human body can take and endure, know your own limit, there are risks involved and it is not recommended. Everything should be progressive.