'Incredibly stressful': Hundreds hit with technical issues in Singapore International Marathon registration

SINGAPORE: About 400 people experienced "technical issues" that affected their transactions when signing up for the BYD Singapore International Marathon on Monday (Apr 27), said organisers.

Earlier in the day, some runners told CNA that they received a message on the website that their payments were unsuccessful, but ended up being charged by their banks.

In response to queries from CNA, a SG International Marathon spokesperson said organisers were currently working with the "relevant payment portals" to resolve the matter.

All affected runners will be refunded for the duplicated charges, and their registered slots will be honoured, the spokesperson said.

Mr Jaymar Patana, who is from the Philippines, said that he initially thought the payment failure was due to an issue with his credit card, but received the same message after trying with a different card.

"I'm less worried about the transactions - for sure they can reverse that," said Mr Patana, who had tried to sign up for the marathon and has yet to receive confirmation.

"I'm more worried about my slot. I do not have assurance that I got the slot with what happened."

Registration for the marathon costs S$188 (US$147) for local runners and S$208 for international runners, while the registration fees for the half-marathon are S$168 for local runners and S$188 for international runners.

The 10km costs S$130 for local runners and S$150 for international runners.

Registration ends on Sep 30 or when slots are fully taken up. This year's event will have a cap of 52,000 participants across all race categories, the organiser earlier announced. This is a dip from the 2025 event, which drew 55,000 runners.

Ms Ella Wong, who is from Hong Kong, described the registration process as