This weekend saw many disgruntled Singaporeans in quite lengthy jams.

The reason for it became clear on Monday.

Events like the U2 Joshua Tree Tour on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, C3 AFA Singapore, a leading anime convention in the Southeast Asian region, as well as Gardens by the Bay’s Christmas Wonderland probably didn't help with the congestion.

The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) was traditionally a two-day event, which sees the runners flag off in the early morning.

However, in order to fulfil the criteria of entering the SCSM into the Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMMM), this year’s race format has been changed to a three-day event, The Straits Times (ST) reports.

Therefore, the event began in the evening of Nov. 30 instead.

Why though?

To understand why, we have to take a look at the Abbott World Marathon Majors.

According to their own site, it is a series "consisting of six of the largest and most renowned marathons in the world".

The six cities are Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City.

In 2017, SCSM announced their bid to join that prestigious club.

The people who organised the race, which is not Standard Chartered, by the way, were really optimistic about hitting that goal.

Geoff Meyer, Managing Director of Ironman Asia, had this to say in the run up to the 2019 edition.

“We are now closer than ever to the required criteria and strongly believe that the change in flag-off time, and a number of other improvements over the next two editions will see more marathoners and community support than ever as we position ourselves to qualify in 2021.”

Here's what he had to say to ST about the event after it took place.

"This is our first year of holding it in the evening, and there were issues, but overall the feedback has been positive. We apologise for the (congestion in the) Sentosa-Vivocity area... That was not done as well as it could have been, and we could have done better with small changes."

Part and parcel

Here's the thing, while the scope of the problem might have been worse than expected, organisers appear to have taken these growing pains into account.

According to running website Podium Runner, Meyer had touched on some challenges holding an evening race in Singapore might bring.

“Singapore works very much on this ideology: Singapore for Singaporeans. All of New York City, or London for that matter, basically shuts down for the marathon. There are pros and cons for the local people on a race day like this,” says Meyer. “But Singapore works on a different level. Every single complaint, or inconvenience to a Singaporean resident, is taken very seriously.”

He was spot on, there were a lot of complaints.

But even so, it appears that they are dedicated to carrying this out. Here is what Meyer had to say to ST regarding the possibility of a reversion back to a morning race.

Meyer said such a move would be a "whole-of-government decision" but added: "In our opinion, it would be the last thing we want to do."

A whole-of-government decision is very aptly put, as the decision to change the timing was very much a decision made in tandem with the government.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, Baey Yam Keng spoke at the launch event for the night run.

"It is heartening that the organisers are continually improving the Singapore Marathon experience so that it can be among the best in the world. With the flag-offs on Saturday evening this year, I anticipate many more Singaporeans coming out to cheer on the runners and join in the excitement. I hope to see the Singapore Marathon join the ranks of the World Marathon Majors in 2021!"

While the race has been panned by some commuters and a majority of those caught in the jam, there is no denying that a night marathon is more of a draw for runners.

Being one of the select few cities that is a part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors is definitely a draw as well, but not being stuck in three hour traffic jam is also quite the draw.

Both are understandable goals, hopefully the next iteration can reconcile these two.

Image from Roads.sg and Standard Chartered Marathon

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