Singapore's official fastest 2.4km runner, Soh Rui Yong, has challenged commandos, naval divers, Gurkhas, army regulars, or practically anyone with a pair of legs, to run the 2.4km under 7 minutes -- or faster.
https://mothership.sg/2021/09/singapore-fastest-runner-challenge
But over the course of the next few days, comments online either lauded Soh's achievement or downplayed it, because haters are going to hate.
Those who cast doubt on Soh's "fastest 2.4km runner" accolade claimed that running below 7 minutes for that distance is commonplace in the Singapore Armed Forces, especially among commandos, naval divers, and special forces.
Some claims went further. Not only are these supposed fast runners doing it regularly, for fun or as part of training, those who manage to do so are smokers -- a snarky retort to Soh's celebratory posts holding himself up to be a clean-living, hard-training elite athlete.
Open challenge issued
On Sep. 9, Soh took to Facebook to issue his open challenge, but not before clarifying that he was not hating on SAF personnel.
He wrote: "It has come to my attention that a number of former Singapore Army Commandos are taking offence to the last line of my previous post, and are doubling down on their claims, insisting that a sub 7 minute 2.4km is a common occurrence within the commandos."
Soh clarified that he was not downplaying the achievements of elite soldiers in Singapore, just that he was stating it as a fact that no commando had officially run 2.4km under 7 minutes before it was recorded as fact on Sep. 4, 2021.
Soh wrote that just as he was not trained to be a military combatant and cannot excel at it, commandos likewise "would not be capable of running performances that even Singapore’s best distance runners have been incapable of".
He continued: "It takes an average of 69s per 400m for six laps on the track to finish a 2.4km run in under 7 minutes. I seriously doubt that many commandos, former or current, would be capable of running even four laps (1.6km) at that pace."
To put money where the mouth and feet are, Soh also wrote that he is incentivising potential challengers to step up and be counted.
He is promising to give, out of his own pocket, S$700 cash and 700 bottles of Pocari Sweat to anyone who runs 2.4km under 7 minutes at the Pocari Sweat Singapore 2.4km Run on Oct. 9 and 10, 2021.
