Sia Chuan Han - MR 25 Ultra - Marathon Champion, Men (Part 3)

MR 25 - Ultra - Marathon 2010, on 26th Dec.

Picture 1 - About 2min into the start of the MR 25 Ultra - Marathon race, you the runners would have seen this luscious and beautiful forest.

Yesterday, I was asking Donald Ng, an active MR 25 member on who was the champion for the men so that I can interview. He told me that it was Sia Chuan Han, 34, who ran and did 3hr 25min for the Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon (SSCM 2010). This shows that perhaps Chuan Han is a person who can run for very long and is tireless as compared to a marathon where he needs speed. Quickly, I gave him an interview on the race.

Sia Chuan, according to Donald Ng, trains on a weekly basis with Mok Ying Ren. He is self-made man, doing self-training, who told me that at times Donald came forward to discuss on how to go about in training and improve in aerobic fitness. He was appreciative and have gratitude to Donald Ng, a 6 Division Army coach, for this.

When I interviewed Chaun Han, he did not look tired at all. He was most of the time smiling to me when he talked.

Before the interview, I realised that Khoo Chin Poo, having a personal best of  2hrs 34min for marathon), also the cross-country record holder for MacRitchie Reservoir, did 8 rounds of the run, within the 12 hours given to run. Khoo Chin Poo has run 10. 55 rounds 11 time around MacRithchie Reservoir and is still holding this record.

An Interview With Sia Chuan Han, The New Champion

Picture 1 - Sia Chuan Han, running in the green forest, Northern Route in MacRitchie Reservoir.

What secondary and college were you from?

I studied in Bedok View Secondary School and did my studies at Temasek Polytechnic later on.

Compared to this route today and the route in the past, which was better?

I prefer the previous route which was more flat. This course is more hilly and the coming down gave me hamstring strains after about 5 round of 10. 2km.

What were your position in the past?

In 2008, I came in 3rd, running 8 rounds. In 2009, I came in 2nd, running 9 rounds. Finally, this year I ran the same 9 rounds in 11hrs 01min, I am now the champion of today's race.

What was your mileage like when you trained for this?

I did 10km daily and once a week of 15km.

How was the water point?

During the run we have two points to drink.We had isotonic drinks and water for hydration.

Did you feel pressured by the competitors?

Didn't really bother about them. I knew that there were some elite MR 25 club elite runners whom I can lose.

Were you having any form of fear of cramps, dehydration etc ?

There was no fear in me and I was looking forward to this.

Are you intending to run 10 round next year?

One step at a time, next step is I want to see whether I can run 10rounds. I have done 100km in last year's NorthFace run.