The Sundown Marathon, previously known as Adidas Sundown Marathon, is an annual

Sports Tourism Sports tourism refers to travel which involves either observing or participating in a sporting event while staying apart from the tourists' usual environment. Sport tourism is one of the fast-growing sector of the global travel industry and equat ...

event that started in 2008. The race takes place in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. The

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

is organized by the same team that made the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore Triathlon possible. It attracts a diverse group of athletes and managed to attract 10,670 entrants in 2009. There are different races and they are namely the

ultramarathon An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of . The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the ...

(84.39 km), the marathon (42.195 km), the Women (10 km) and the Team/Corporate Challenge (10 km x 4 runners). The races all fall on the same night with different start times. In 2011, 84 km ultramarathon was replaced with 100 km ultramarathon. Runners are required to pay a fee to participate in the race. The price varies according to registration date, race selected, and the runners' history of participation in the event.

History

The 2011 Sundown Marathon marked the first time that the races did not take place on the same night. The marathons took place on 28 May 2011, while the ultramarathon took place 25 June 2011. The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, with all registered runners gaining direct entry into the 2021 edition of the race. As of 3 March 2009, more than 10,000 men and women had signed up for “Singapore’s Toughest Race”. This total breaks the event's previous entry record of 6,088 participants. Despite the fact that it is a relatively new race present in Singapore, the overwhelming response shows its potential to become a well-respected event. The 2009 event's route traveled through some of east's most beautiful

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

s as well as major local landmarks such as

Bedok Reservoir Bedok Reservoir (, , ) is a reservoir (water), reservoir in the eastern part of Singapore, to the north of Bedok. The reservoir has a surface area of 880,000 m2, and a capacity of 12.8 million m3. The mean depth of the reservoir is 9 m, with a max ...

East Coast Park East Coast Park is a beach and a park on the southeastern coast of Singapore. It stretches along the south of Marine Parade, Bedok, and Tampines. It was opened in the 1970s, after the Government of Singapore, Singapore government had completed ...

and the Changi Ferry Terminal; all set to the backdrop of Singapore's night sky. A new addition to the event is also the introduction of the Women's 10 km which has garnered remarkable response from the public which totaled around 2,200 runners.

Impact and discernible trends of the event

The event has an economic impact from the number of workers that it employs and the tourism that it brings to the area.

Tourism receipts

As the sundown Marathon is the largest night race held in Asia and Singapore, it was largely lauded and publicized (due to successful previous year) and this second year has seen an increase in foreign participants, especially from

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and other neighboring countries. “Of the 600 entrants, the Adidas Sundown Marathon will also be hosting one of the biggest contingents of international. Ultramarathon runners with more than 12% of the participants coming from beyond Singapore's borders.“

Events as attractions

Sundown Festival Village: “Organisers HiVelocity have announced a slew of activities at the village including a free outdoor movie marathon.

Frozen yogurt Frozen yogurt (also known as frogurt or by the tradename Froyo; ) is a frozen dessert made with yogurt and sometimes other dairy and non-dairy products. Frozen yogurt is a frozen product containing the same basic ingredients as ice cream, but c ...

experts, Frolick, will also be giving away 3,000 free cups of Frolick yoghurt to festival village visitors throughout the night. While

microbrewery Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

and

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

, Brewerkz, will be quenching thirsty throats and hungry stomachs with a specially packaged ‘Sundown Picnic Basket' of

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

s and juicy flame-grilled burgers. With so many wide open spaces at the park, it'll be a great time for all the family to have a nocturnal

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event su ...

before, during or after the race.” Sponsors and supporters will gain economically from the events held and attract even more non-runners.

Sociocultural

The Sundown Marathon also has a positive sociocultural impact. Sundown Marathon organizers make use of Singapore's numerous parks while planning the route, which brings runners through "some of east's most beautiful urban parks as well as major local landmarks such as Bedok Reservoir, East Coast Park and the Changi Ferry Terminal; all set to the backdrop of Singapore's night sky.” Sundown Festival village also made use of large spaces of the park to organize this family friendly event. The organizers strive to keep the routes clean, avoiding litter on the ground. This is kept in check by cleaners and volunteers. A marathon itself may be enough to spur people on in terms of morale and determination but the Sundown Marathon makes good use of this opportunity with the different categories for the race. It includes a corporate race, which is fully registered and booked by local and

multinational companies A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

for their workers by the time registration closed. The corporate race enables company bonding and can motivate workers as well.

Health

The Sundown Marathon is a way to promote both mental and physical health. Running a marathon promotes a healthy lifestyle. As marathon runners often spend months training for the events, this lifestyle can even continue after the race. Friends and family may also become motivated and encouraged to lead a healthier lifestyle. Marathon runners often set their own goals for the race in terms of timing and distances covered. Being able to achieve these goals highly motivates the runners mentally and enables them to gain a higher self-confidence. There are also health risks that are associated with running long distances. They may include injuries such as

tendonitis Tendinopathy is a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder ( rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow ( tenn ...

fatigue Fatigue is a state of tiredness (which is not sleepiness), exhaustion or loss of energy. It is a signs and symptoms, symptom of any of various diseases; it is not a disease in itself. Fatigue (in the medical sense) is sometimes associated wit ...

, knee or ankle sprain, extreme dehydration (electrolyte imbalance), as well as others. Although it is rare, death is even possible during a race.Keener, Candace. (27 February 2008
HowStuffWorks "The Health Risks of the Marathon"
Entertainment.howstuffworks.com. Retrieved on 2 December 2011.

Sports tourist involved in the program

The event increases tourism both through international runners and the spectators that come. At the Sundown Marathon, there are a large number of international runners competing. For the 2009 event, there were altogether 600 entrants in the ultra marathon race. Of the 600 runners, 12% of them were international runners, coming from places like

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Their ages ranged from 18 to 72. The international runners may bring supporters and friends with them as well, also coming from all over the world. Their ages of the spectators are even more diverse than that of the runners because they can still support even if they are too old or young to run themselves.

References

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Ultramarathons Marathons in Singapore