SINGAPORE — Only those who complete the full 42.195km route at this year’s Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMS) will receive the finisher’s T-shirt and medal, race organisers Spectrum Worldwide announced today (July 9).

This follows a backlash from last year’s race, where finisher’s tee-shirts and medals were handed to participants who did not complete the full marathon distance — these runners were diverted to a shorter route “for safety reasons” after failing to reach the designated checkpoints before the cut-off time.

The move caused an uproar, with many upset that it was not fair to those who had completed the entire race. Others also pointed out that such a policy could affect the event’s status as an International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) “Gold Label” race.

But speaking at the event’s official launch at Plaza Singapura today, Spectrum Worldwide CEO Chris Robb explained that the change in policy for this year’s race, which will be held on Dec 5 and 6, came after receiving public feedback.

“We’ve tried to evolve SCMS along with our partners over the last few years,” said Robb. “We can’t respond to every single request, but we listen to what the runners are saying and will do our best to make changes where we can to improve the event.

“People who are running behind time will still be diverted, but we’d still give them the opportunity to cross the finish line. They’ll still get their results, but will be designated as unofficial finishers.”

This year’s race, which will be capped at 60,000 participants across the five race categories — full-marathon, half-marathon, 10km, Ekiden, and Kids’ Dash — will have an eight-hour cut-off, which Robb described as “quite generous” compared to many marathons around the world.

He added: “I think it’s only fair to stakeholders and participants not to put them on buses and take them off the roads.”

Participants who get cut off at the diversion points will have their bib numbers taken down, and a physical marking imprinted on their bibs. Security personnel will also be deployed at strategic points of the route to prevent runners from taking the wrong turn.

Participants must also pass through all eight designated checkpoints — which are outfitted with electronic timing mats — to be considered official finishers.

Today, the first 200 people who registered for the race were given a 50 per cent discount off their registration fee, and a commemorative golden bib to mark what is expected to be the last local major sporting event of SG50.

This year’s race route is being finalised, but minimal changes are expected. This includes moving the Kids’ Dash a day earlier to Dec 5 to reduce congestion on the main race day.

There have also been suggestions to stage the race — now into its 14th year — in the heartlands, but Sport Singapore CEO Lim Teck Yin believes it remains more beneficial to hold it in the city.

“People who are loyal to this event want to run in the city,” said Lim. “They want to run in Orchard Road, through Sentosa down towards the Padang. This is an undertaking that only this event has been able to embrace, and we’d like to keep that as a constant.

“The SCMS remains the only run in Singapore with such massive road closures, giving people an opportunity to run through iconic locations in the country. We can’t do this all the time, just once a year, at the end of the running season when the SCMS is held, so we have to continue to do this in order to allow people to enjoy our city streets.”

STANDARD CHARTERED MARATHON SINGAPORE 2015

When: Dec 5 and 6

Where: Padang

Race categories: Full Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10km, Ekiden, Kids Dash

For registration and other information, visit www.marathonsingapore.com