Man cheats in Singapore marathon to be the first local winner

At the Singapore marathon last Sunday, 43 year old Tam Chua Puh cuased a major upset when he finished in a time of 2h 46m, several minutes ahead of another local favourite. Wearing a baseball cap, baggy shorts and a knee brace, he was initially declared the winner before organizers, after a hasty check, disqualified him for missing all the check points.

In a post race interview, the disqualified pastry chef admitted to only running six kms of the 42 km course after giving due to knee pain and taking a short cut to the finish line. "I am sorry if I offended anyone. I never thought I would create so much inconvenience for the organizers, I never thought about going home midway. It would have been like giving up.” He also admitted to cheating in the two previous Singapore marathons and that he just wanted to make sure he could collect his medal and T-shirt for finishing the race.

Mok Ying Ren, who will compete for Singapore at the Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar, was the fastest local runner in a time of 2hr 54min. Luka Kipkemboi Chelimo from Kenya won the race in 2hr 14min.