From event hosts to volunteers, athlete services, race day operations and marketing staff, we pick the brains of the people hard at work behind the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, and what makes them so passionate about their work
What does it take to organise an event the magnitude of Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon?
While running a Full Marathon or Half-Marathon can already be seen as a daunting task for many, organising an event 44,000 strong with added operational complexities that involve a multitude of partners, government agencies and other key stakeholders can be seen an extremely challenging endeavour for even the most seasoned of workers.
So what makes people choose such a thankless job, and to continue working day in day out to deliver Singapore's largest mass participation run each year?
We ask a few people behind the 2023 edition of the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon about the roles they played in the execution of yet another successful StanChart Singapore Marathon, and why they are so passionate about their work.
Activations and Community Assistant Manager Akarshana Saravanan has participated in the event in the preceding two years and being relatively new to the company having joined just six months ago, she shared that she had to expose herself to new areas of the sports industry such as marketing despite having been in the industry for 7 years. She played an integral role in the design of this year's Race Expo at Marina Bay Sands.
Shana shares that the event is something she holds dear to her heart and considers it a really proud moment to finally see the running community come together over the race weekend.
The mother of two added, "I feel Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon is very close to my heart. I really feel it does bring people together, of all races - language, people and even people from overseas people come down to take part in our race. It's a really proud moment to see each other cheering others on to take part in the race."
"Challenges wise you've got to work with change constantly. So many things might just pop up that might not have happened at the beginning. You might visualise and design things a certain way, but when it comes to life it comes out in a different manner, so you've got to work with it and just go with it."
Azura Goh, playing the role as one of the Masters of Ceremony, says that hosting thousands of participants also requires a good balance of knowing when to deliver key messages and when to cheer on the runners - to interact with them in an equal dose so as to keep the atmosphere lively and engaging.
Azura said: "We start really early and it's really hard, but it's not me it's the atmosphere. When I look at the runners, and just how much joy they have. Especially when they do it together, with friends and family. That gives me the energy to carry on doing well."
Danish Syah, Athletes Services Assistant of IRONMAN Group Asia, was assigned to the "Information Group" for the race weekend and was intricately involved in the marathon t-shirt exchange and the "Double-Up Medal" collection for runners who complete back-to-back races across two days.
When asked what the toughest part of his job was, he shared: "It's actually quite tiring, but it's very fulfilling when you see my hard work coming together. And the satisfaction I get from runners when they say thank you to me 'This was a great event and I'm looking forward to joining you guys again next year', those kind remarks actually put a smile on my face."