Roop Keeps the Indian Flag High at Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2018

The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2018 was one of those marathons which was special for India. With over 1000 Indian runners thronging Marina Bay on 8th and 9th December, we caught up with Roop Betala who flew all the way from Mumbai to participate in the marathon.

An investment banker and private equity investor, Betala ran his 4th Singapore Marathon this year. Sportskeeda interviewed the runner from Mumbai after he completed his half marathon in Singapore:

How long have you been running marathons?

I have started running in Feb 2013 when my son challenged me and thus I have run 5 half marathon in 2013 and 27 Half Marathon in last 5 year i.e 2014,15,16,17 and 2018 and completed 140 Half Marathon so far. This in 40 Countries and 100+ Cities.

What were the reasons behind running the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2018?

Running the Singapore marathon has more reason than one:

1) It is Asia's biggest marathon.

2) I have run this marathon about 4 edition and every time I have met a different runner from a different part of the world and they are my friends now.

3) Introduction of new Route in 2018 and it was a wonderful experience running in one line in the route.

4) My son and Daughter in law both live there and thus when I run they also run the Half marathon with me.

5) Last but not the least Singapore marathon is the marathon where my daughter in law ran her first Half Marathon in 2016 and since then she has run more than 20 Half marathon ( 8 With me).

6) Every 5-6 Year it falls on 7th December and that is my son's Birthday and we don't miss to run Singapore marathon.

Roop after the race

What is the best thing about Singapore that drives you there to run a marathon?

There are three good things about the Singapore marathon:

1) A large number of people come from different part of the world and you can interact with them and make new friends for life.

2) The Volunteer and Route support like water, Energy Drink, Food, and Gel are managed very well and they know exactly where to place for the good of a runner.

Apart from the Singapore marathon, Roop has run three Blind Folded Half Marathon to promote Eye Donation Campaign in India. He is a passionate runner and has also completed a 100 Days Running Challenge in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 with 1008 KM. He ran his first Ultra Marathon in 2016 of 72KM on 72nd Independent day.

Roop Betala was appointed as a Race Director for Pink City Marathon for third edition, which is going to take place on 16th December 2018 at Jaipur and also the Route Director for Kumbalgarh Half Marathon.

He runs with one theme:

"Run Forever Fun Forever"

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