The Course: Flatter, Through the City and Out to East Coast Park
The 2025 marathon started at the F1 Pit Building at 4.30am on Sunday 7 December and finished at the Padang [1]. It crossed Merdeka Bridge to loop round the National Stadium, came back past the Esplanade and Marina Bay, ran through Gardens by the Bay South, over the Marina Barrage and through Gardens by the Bay East, then went about 5 km east along East Coast Park to a U-turn at Laguna Flyover before retracing its steps [1]. The last stretch took runners down Robinson Road and Anson Road to a U-turn on Keppel Road, then back past the Fullerton Hotel to the Padang [1].
The organiser removed the two climbs that shaped earlier editions, the West Coast Highway and Sheares Avenue, and called the result a flatter, faster course [2]. One marathoner noted that Sheares Bridge, which has broken many runners in past editions, was missing, and that the route instead passed underneath the West Coast Highway, which gave some shade [3]. It was also the first year the half marathon and marathon were run on separate days, and the first finish at the Padang since 2017 [2][4].
The field starts dense. The elite wave left at 4.20am, pen A at 4.30am and pen B at 4.32am, and a runner in pen B had to weave through crowds in the early kilometres even though the roads were wide [3]. Pens are seeded by target time, from A (3 hours or faster for men, 3 hours 30 for women, with proof of a qualifying time) to G (6 to 7 hours) [1]. Roads on the marathon and 10 km routes were closed from 12.01am to 2.20pm [5].
The Weather: 26°C Under Cloud Until 8.30am
Changi Airport, about 16 km east of the start, recorded 26°C at the 4.30am marathon start, with a dew point of 23°C, 84% humidity and a 5-knot wind [6]. It did not move for four hours: every reading from 4.30am to 8.30am was 26°C and 84%. It then rose to 27°C at 9am, 28°C at 10am and 30°C at noon, when the 7 hour 30 minute limit ran out, with humidity down to 66% [6].
A dew point of 23°C is heavy air to run in, because sweat evaporates slowly, but the cloud helped. A marathoner who finished in 4:43:50 described the morning as cooler and cloudy, and said the sun only came out around 9.30am [3]. The men's winner credited the flatter course and good weather; Japan's Asami Minakawa, who ran 3:01:39, said she was not used to the humidity [7].
Half marathoners the day before got slightly wetter air: 26°C with a 24°C dew point and 89% humidity at the 4.30am start, rising to 28°C at 8.30am and 29°C at 9am [8], just as the finish area jammed. The organiser expected Marina East Drive, around 30 km on the marathon, to be the warmest stretch, and put extra drinks, chilled drinks, a cooling zone and an ice pop station there [2][9].
Aid Stations and Cut-offs
The final marathon route map marks 19 aid stations, from 2.4 km to 40.5 km, never more than 2.9 km apart [9]; the FAQ had promised 20, about 2 to 2.5 km apart, with Ice Mountain water and 100PLUS [10]. The marathoner quoted above found an ample supply of water, isotonic drinks, gels, bananas, pretzels and buckets of cold water, with ice lollies at a station around 27 km; the gel was Amino Saurus [3].
The limits were 7 hours 30 minutes for the marathon, 4 hours for the half, 2 hours 30 minutes for the 10 km and 1 hour 15 minutes for the 5 km, with intermediate cut-offs along the way [10]. Walking is allowed inside those limits [10]. Miss the cut-off and you lose the medal, the finisher tee and your official time [10]. Only marathon finishers get a finisher tee; every other finisher gets a medal [10], and in 2025 the tee reportedly came in unisex (men's) sizing only [3].
What Went Wrong: The Half-Marathon Crush at the Padang
The two-day format was meant to ease crowding, and on the Saturday it did not. Half-marathon and 5 km runners who finished between 8am and 9am told The Straits Times they waited between 10 and 40 minutes to clear the post-race zone at the Padang, where a medal point came before a separate area for goodie bags and drinks [4]. One runner said it took 45 minutes to get water [11]. A half marathoner on Lemon8 described medal lanes that stopped moving, a thirsty crowd, and people passing out and calling for medics [12]. The organiser apologised, said the half marathon and 5 km finishing at the same peak time had strained the infrastructure, and opened extra paths [4].
The course was tight too. Runners reported congestion from 12 km to 19 km through Gardens by the Bay and over the Marina Barrage; one said nobody could overtake, and that a medic could not reach a runner who needed help because the path was so narrow [4]. A widely shared Reddit post said that stretch was two-way on narrow paths, and that a medical cart treating a runner blocked the route [13]. Near Gardens by the Bay East, one side of the path was barricaded for construction work [14]. The same post reported overbooked shuttle buses dropping runners far from their drop-off points, and one shuttle that never came [13].
At about 6.45am, by a doctor's account, a half marathoner collapsed at about 15 km near Gardens by the Bay East, and other runners gave CPR and an AED shock [15]. The doctor said paramedics arrived by buggy at about 7.15am, and that an official who came on a scooter earlier said their station's medical kit had already been used on another casualty [15]. The organiser said a fully staffed medical command centre was running, that medical buggies and bikes covered that area, and that the runner was recovering [15].
Sunday went better. The organiser said it had changed exit routes for the marathon day [11], and the Lemon8 runner, back on Sunday for the 10 km, did not meet the same jam [12].
How Fast the Field Is
Uganda's Abel Boniface Sikowo won the marathon in 2:15:40, from Wisley Kimeli in 2:15:53 and Mathew Job Chekwurui in 2:16:08; Ethiopia's Shuko Genemo won the women's race in 2:41:24 [16]. Each winner took US$50,000, and the Gold Label prize money ran eight places deep [7][10]. Tenth place was 2:36:03 for men and 2:58:15 for women [16], so a top-ten overall place took a sub-2:37 marathon for men and sub-2:59 for women.
Behind them it is a mass race. The results list 8,933 marathon finishers, 1,637 of them women; the median time was 5:16:47, 991 runners broke four hours and 68 broke three [16]. The half marathon had 14,747 finishers, a median time of 2:39:08 and a winning time of 1:11:01 [16]. Singapore's Soh Rui Yong won the national half-marathon title in 1:14:58 on the Saturday and the national marathon title in 2:46:23 on the Sunday [4][17]. Almost 850 runners signed up for some combination of two races across the weekend [7].
Race-Weekend Logistics
Late entry fees in 2025 were S$197 for the marathon, S$175 for the half, S$131 for the 10 km and S$99 for the 5 km, including the processing fee and GST; Standard Chartered cardholders got 15% off [2]. Entries are non-refundable and non-transferable, and there is no refund if bad weather cancels the race [10].
Race packs were collected at Sands Expo and Convention Centre Hall F from Thursday 4 to Saturday 6 December, but half-marathon and 5 km runners had to collect by 8pm on the Friday [10]. Bag deposit was a paid extra at S$18, bought at registration [10]. For the 4.30am starts there was a paid shuttle run by SAVA [10]. The marathoner quoted above took a Grab, arrived at 3am and found the F1 Pit Building getting crowded as the start approached [3]. Soh summed up the routine: the race starts at 4.20am, so you wake up at 2am [17].
Should You Enter the 2026 Race?
Yes, if you want a big, Gold Label city marathon with serious aid, a 7 hour 30 minute limit and professionals at the front, and you are comfortable in a crowd of tens of thousands. In 2025 the marathon day itself ran far more smoothly than the half.
Think twice if crowds bother you, or if you want the half marathon's route without a long wait at the finish.
The 2026 race is not a repeat of 2025. A new organiser, SG International Marathon, has taken over from Ironman Asia, the weekend runs over three days, with the 5 km and 10 km on Friday night 4 December, the half on Saturday 5 December and the marathon on Sunday 6 December, and entries are capped at 52,000 [18]. The route changes too: the West Coast Highway climb comes back at about 8 km, Benjamin Sheares Bridge returns at about 36 km, and the marathon is 99% one-directional [19]. Train for a late climb, and check the 2026 start times, cut-offs and finish-area plan on the organiser's site before you book.
Nobody from this site ran the race. This review draws on the organiser's race information, route map and results, airport weather records, reporting by The Straits Times, Mothership and other Singapore outlets, and runners' own accounts.