Meet the marathoners who put saving lives before personal bests

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Running a marathon is not easy. Every year, tens of thousands of Singaporeans do it, myself included. But in such a warm and humid country, medical emergencies are bound to occur. So, how do we make it safer? This year,

Singapore International Marathon has created a new category called the “Medic Runner”. Sir, how are you? Are you okay? No number of medical outposts or medical evacuation plan can replace the idea of having someone who's able to assist you

on the course itself. When you are in a medical emergency, speed is always going to be the number one most important thing. When it comes to running a marathon on course, it’s very difficult to predict when someone will

be in need of help. Having someone who is medically trained around you, with the equipment around you, gives you a lot of comfort. And the fact that they can respond very quickly to you is the reason why medic

runners are such an important part of the equation of hosting a marathon, especially in Southeast Asia and in Singapore. We received over 1,300 applications. We actually selected 238 medic runners. They had to attend a mandatory cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR),

automated external defibrillator (AED) medical session, that’s held in Singapore. They also have to participate in two training runs with Lion City Road Runners. I have done a lot of marathon running. Over the times I've done all these marathons,

I do see injuries. And there are people who really have muscle cramps until they're on the floor screaming for help. At that time, I probably didn't know enough to actually help out. So that's why I was looking for

how I can contribute. The trainers also highlight to us sometimes you’ll see a person probably is not doing so well. But then being a runner, sometimes you’re like “Oh, I have to push on. I need to continue.” You

just have to watch out for them and see the point where they really need help. So I think that is where coming from the runner’s mentality, of course we understand that. What we are looking at training all our

applicants in is, “How do you deliver that assistance in a race day context?” It is also very important that you, as a medic runner, is genuinely able to fulfill the distance that is required of you. These runners must

have had done at least a 10 kilometer, a half marathon or a marathon before, so that they understand at which point in time, medical assistance would be required the most and how arduous the entire process is for a

participant. We are at the practice run today. You can see the vest that I am wearing for the medic runners. Let me just show you what’s inside. Here, I will have the spray. I have the gel. This is

the water. Some ice packs. The bandages. We have everything for the event. One, two, three, four, five... Knowing that I'm from a nurse background and I'm also running, so I might as well join this. Anyway, it’s for a

good cause. If I wanted to join as a normal participant, then I should have just gone for the normal signups. But because of my background, I will forgo my personal best and attend to the emergency immediately and help

the participant to my best ability. If they see someone who is in distress, who is injured, their first reaction should not be to check their Garmin or their Coros to see if they are still on pace. You should

not be running for time. The reason why you were selected and you chose to become a medic runner is because you have a sense of care and a duty of care towards your fellow participants. Fundamentally, the idea of

medic runners itself, it's about runners looking out for runners. They go towards the runner in distress and they deliver the medical assistance that the runner needs and then they follow the chain of command to raise up necessary alerts

to the next medical chain. That is the duty that we expect a medic runner to fulfill. Today, we have put 230 medic runners on the course across the half marathon and the marathon. Is that enough? Should there be

more? It is only after performing these duties and executing the event would we know what we need to improve in, what do we need to equip our medic runners more with for the following year.