Amos Tirop Matui
Sunday, 4 December 2005
Kenyan Amos Tirop Matui wins the 2005 Standard Chartered marathon in Singapore this morning with his personal best time of 2 hours 15 mins 55 seconds! Congratulations to all my friends who completed the full and half marathons: I am inspired! The amazing fact is that there were 30% more participants, swelling numbers up from 14,000 last year to 21,000, with many more disappointed (like myself) for not being among the "first" to sign up. There is a real market for sneakers in Singapore, for sure. 
But as I strolled around the Civic District and noted the "runners" streaming around after their race, it is still amazing to see so many avivd enthusiasts with apparel and footwear which certainly could be a lot better, given there being so many brands with new technologies to offer. Perhaps, the message has not got to the ground and grassroots, and there weren't the right incentives for enthusiasts to make that leap out of their "comfort zone".
The idea that consumers do marry brands for life does mean we aren't always looking for the best that works, but most usually what we think we would like to associated with that makes us look among the best.
Perhaps, then the sports brand with the real technologies apply PR more than advertising, as I would suppose that getting the technical benefits outweigh the whole hype that marketing tends to exploit to get the most out of the consumer. Great news also at the SEA Games on Friday, 2 December with Cheng Jing Hean winning the inaugural Triathlon in Manila, Philippines, with the fantastic time of 1:58:41:14.
Well, perhaps, after all these years, building the infrastruture of trails, sidewalks, and a national corps of servicemen who run, run, and run, is paying off. And paying off better than those politically contrived programmes intended to take Singapore to the World Cup, for instance. The formula therefore is clear: give us the facilities and infrastructure and as long as the grassroots and retail brands support the sport, there will be an avivd market and strong potential contenders for the crown. Until then, the Kenyans and other international sportsmen will dominate and set the standards. We should welcome that. But all that money that is put into the Singapore Marathon this year suggests that we need more supporting events to culminate in one such as this, so as not to deprive the many more thousands who would have signed up and stomped their way through the 42km. That's alot, when you realise that Singapore is just 660 square kilometres large!
Sunday, 4 December 2005
Kenyan Amos Tirop Matui wins the 2005 Standard Chartered marathon in Singapore this morning with his personal best time of 2 hours 15 mins 55 seconds! Congratulations to all my friends who completed the full and half marathons: I am inspired! The amazing fact is that there were 30% more participants, swelling numbers up from 14,000 last year to 21,000, with many more disappointed (like myself) for not being among the "first" to sign up. There is a real market for sneakers in Singapore, for sure. 
But as I strolled around the Civic District and noted the "runners" streaming around after their race, it is still amazing to see so many avivd enthusiasts with apparel and footwear which certainly could be a lot better, given there being so many brands with new technologies to offer. Perhaps, the message has not got to the ground and grassroots, and there weren't the right incentives for enthusiasts to make that leap out of their "comfort zone".
The idea that consumers do marry brands for life does mean we aren't always looking for the best that works, but most usually what we think we would like to associated with that makes us look among the best.
Perhaps, then the sports brand with the real technologies apply PR more than advertising, as I would suppose that getting the technical benefits outweigh the whole hype that marketing tends to exploit to get the most out of the consumer. Great news also at the SEA Games on Friday, 2 December with Cheng Jing Hean winning the inaugural Triathlon in Manila, Philippines, with the fantastic time of 1:58:41:14.
Well, perhaps, after all these years, building the infrastruture of trails, sidewalks, and a national corps of servicemen who run, run, and run, is paying off. And paying off better than those politically contrived programmes intended to take Singapore to the World Cup, for instance. The formula therefore is clear: give us the facilities and infrastructure and as long as the grassroots and retail brands support the sport, there will be an avivd market and strong potential contenders for the crown. Until then, the Kenyans and other international sportsmen will dominate and set the standards. We should welcome that. But all that money that is put into the Singapore Marathon this year suggests that we need more supporting events to culminate in one such as this, so as not to deprive the many more thousands who would have signed up and stomped their way through the 42km. That's alot, when you realise that Singapore is just 660 square kilometres large!
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