S'pore Marathon's Major bid still a work in progress
The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) has great potential in sharing the same prestige as the Boston Marathon, but there is still work to be done.
That is the view of Abbott World Marathon Majors general manager Tim Hadzima, who spoke to The New Paper over a phone conference yesterday.
In April, SCSM organisers announced their bid for the annual event to become the seventh World Marathon Major (WMM).
The series currently encompasses the world's biggest and most prestigious races in six cities: London, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston and Tokyo.
But SCSM's bid to become only the second stop in Asia after Tokyo still needs work.
Hadzima said: "This is a collaborative process between us, our partners and Singapore.
"We are working together to get the race to our standard, and the standard of becoming a Major is extremely high.
"We've given extensive feedback to the organisers and we're excited to take it to the next level.
"There's no other race right now that meets our standard (in WMM) except the six cities."
MADE HISTORY
Tokyo, which made history in 2007 when it became the first Asian city to host a Major, garnered 322,703 entries for this year's race.
Despite being the newest race in the series, Tokyo has a rich running culture which has been established for over 40 years.
Said Hadzima: "Tokyo has had a great tradition of running even before becoming a Major.
"The Tokyo Marathon manifested for a stamp of approval (as a world-class marathon).
"Over the years, not only did it become a great Japanese event but also an international destination for marathon runners."
Hadzima foresees a possible expansion of the WMM into a circuit-style competitive series in the future.
He said: "It would be great for the professional runners and wheelchair athletes.
"I think Formula 1 is a great example of what has been successful in terms of a global series.
"The reason we are looking into new markets and cities is to become an even more global series than we already are.- MARIELLE DESCALSOTA
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now