The Course: A New Route, With Sheares Bridge at 14 km
The half marathon starts and finishes at the Singapore Sports Hub. In 2025 it ran out to Marina Barrage, Marina Bay and Gardens by the Bay [1]. The route was new: 2025 was the first year for the race operator PICH, which designed it [2]. In 2024 the half had been a flat route around Marina Bay and the city centre with several twists and turns [3].
The new route added a real climb. Sheares Bridge came just after the 14 km mark, the first time it had featured in this race, and one runner thought it caught many runners off guard [1]. The same runner, going for two hours, was passed by the 2:00 pacer near the bridge and caught the group again only in the closing stages [1]. Train on a bridge or a long ramp if you plan to push the second half.
The finish is inside the National Stadium, on the track, as it has been for the past few years [1]. The organiser posted the 2025 route maps on 24 October, about two weeks before the race, and warned that hydration stations could still change [4].
The Weather: Saturated Before Dawn
Changi Airport, about 14 km east of the Sports Hub, recorded 27°C at 5am on race morning, with a dew point of 25°C, 89% humidity and a 3-knot wind [5]. It was 28°C from 6am to 8am, 29°C at 9am and 30°C by 9.30am, with the dew point at 24°C to 25°C throughout [5].
A dew point of 25°C means sweat barely evaporates, so the body struggles to cool itself however early the start. One half marathoner called it a very humid morning with sticky air [1]; a 10 km pacer found the day cooler and pleasant for running [6]. The air still told: in that pacer's 60-minute group, one pacer felt nauseous with a racing heart rate at about 6 km and dropped back, another felt nauseous near 9 km, and the group finished about a minute over its target [6].
Half marathoners on the four-hour limit ran until 9.15am, in 29°C air [7][5]. The 10 km started at 6.15am and the 5 km at 7.15am, so they ran mostly in 28°C air [7][5].
Aid, Pacers and Cut-offs
The cut-offs are generous. In 2025 the open half marathon started at 5.15am, after the elite race at 5.00am, and closed at 9.15am, giving four hours. The 10 km had two and a half hours (6.15am to 8.45am) and the 5 km an hour and a half (7.15am to 8.45am) [7].
Hydration stations served ice-cold water, some with 100PLUS as well, and one station around halfway handed out gels [1]. The gel brand was not one every runner uses [1], so carry your own if your stomach is particular. In 2024 the stations were about 2.5 km to 3 km apart [3].
All the half-marathon pacers were women, in four groups: 2:00, 2:15, 2:30 and 2:45 [1]. The 10 km pace groups ran from 60 minutes, the fastest, to 80 minutes [6].
Roads and Organisation
PICH, which ran the race course and start zone in 2025, says more than half of the half-marathon route was on fully closed roads, and that the 10 km, 5 km and 2 km ran entirely on closed roads for the first time [2]. It also put up directional signs and distance markers, and says more than 98% of respondents to its post-race survey reported a positive experience [2].
There was no race-pack collection expo in 2025: pre-race items were sent by courier [7], and the race T-shirt and tote bag went to a Singapore address [8].
The Finish and the Race Village
Spectator support was strong for Singapore, with running clubs out along the route, many of them men who could not enter [1]. Finishers in the half marathon got a medal and an adidas finisher T-shirt, plus a banana, water, a can of 100PLUS, a chocolate wafer and an Awfully Chocolate breakfast box [1][7]. Every half-marathon, 10 km and 5 km entrant got an adidas race T-shirt and a carryall bag, and every finisher an e-certificate [7].
The race village had sponsor booths giving away yoghurt, cheese and 100PLUS iced slushies, a picnic area with seats, and a powder room to freshen up after the run [1]. Great Eastern also listed massage zones, photo walls and, for children, a candy cannon, an inflatable obstacle course and craft activities [10]. In 2024 one runner skipped the massage because the queues were so long [3].
How Fast the Field Is
The elite half marathon is by invitation, for local elite runners [9]. In 2025 Goh Shing Ling, the 2024 runner-up, won it in 1:22:10, from Rachel See in 1:23:20 and Jasmine Teo in 1:25:21 [10]. In 2024 Vanessa Lee won in 1:22:24 [3].
The open half marathon is a mass race. One runner's 1:57:42 placed 46th of 2,373 in that category in 2025 [1], so a sub-two-hour half put a runner in roughly the top 2% of the open field. A new 10 km tertiary category, run in teams of four students [9], drew 11 teams from five institutions; NTU's teams took all three places, the winners with a combined 2:50:35 [10].
Should You Enter the 2026 Race?
Yes, if you want a big, well-supported women-only race with a four-hour half-marathon limit, closed roads for the shorter distances and a stadium finish. There is also a 2 km for mothers with daughters aged 5 to 12 and a 100 m dash for girls aged 3 to 6 [10].
Think twice if you want a flat, fast half: Sheares Bridge comes at 14 km and the air at the start was already saturated [1][5].
The 2026 race, the 20th, is on Sunday 1 November at the National Stadium [11], with seven categories [12]. Race listings give a 4.30am start [12]; check the organiser's race guide for each category's flag-off and cut-off, and the route, before race week. The organiser calls it Southeast Asia's largest all-women's running event [11]; in 2025 it sold out by early August [10].
Nobody from this site ran the race. This review draws on the organiser's race releases and posts, the race operator's account, race listings, airport weather records and two runners' own accounts of the 2025 race.