On 31 January 2016, I made my way to the Compressport Rail Corridor Run 2016 starting point at the historic Bukit Timah Railway Station, conveniently located within walking distance from the new King Albert Park MRT station. Based on the race-pack collection queue, I was expecting a huge crowd at the starting tent and true enough, many participants were already queuing up for toilets, baggage deposits and taking photos of the railway. Like many other Singaporeans, this race is a valuable and rare opportunity to explore the heritage, greenery and terrains of the green corridor.

Race day

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Splashing mud, rocky roads and endless surprises

I had no idea what to expect in the trail route as it was my first time running through the green corridor and the first km was already filled with many muddy grounds that were slippery, soft and rather hard to gain proper grip. While it was chaotic and bottlenecks were seen at different points throughout the race, most of us had a fun time trying to find ways to overcome the different obstacles in the path. The route was moderately flat and the huge mud pool took many of us by surprise but we still went ahead to splash through the murky water anyway!

Just as I reached the 5km mark, the race participants of the 5km category were flagged off and I was overwhelmed with additional crowd and even more mud stains. The influx of more people simply meant that I had to either keep up with my pace or slow down to a jog along with the masses. In my opinion, I think the 30minutes lag time between the 10km and 5km start time was insufficient, considering that the trails required more time to complete as compared to typical road races.

My favorite part of the race was towards the finishing point where the majestic Tanjong Pagar Railway station greets us. The unique colonial architecture amidst the lush greenery was a stunning view that made all the sweat and dirt worth it. All finishers were presented with a cool medal, bananas and gatorade and the entire railway station instantly became a photo spot for all of us.

Memorable race experience

This race event served as a great closure to mark the last opportunity for runners, citizens and trail lovers in Singapore to enjoy this uninterrupted stretch of greenery and history. I am glad to see many people picking up not only running, but trail running and bringing home parts of Singapore’s history back home with them. With better logistics on managing race day crowds and pre-race events, I believe such trail running events can grow to be next ‘in’ things amongst the running community in Singapore. Congrats to all finishers and I look forward to another weekend of adrenaline and sweat!

My first running event this year.

Although I have been running regularly, somehow I really have no stamina today. This 10km run is super scary, I’m not afraid of the mud, nor getting my 1 month young New Balance shoes dirty, but I’m afraid to slip and fall, it’s really slippery, my whole run I was thinking of every possibility on how I will fall and die. Such as fell and roll down into the drain, fall and a branch pierce through my body and die horribly. Feel as though I’m serving NS although I’ve never serve NS before. Climbed on all fours, slide down a slope on my butt, stomp through mud and almost fell multiple times but luckily my balancing skills seems like not bad.

Seems like every random people is giving each other encouragement and assistance, one man assist me at a slope, although he just offered a helping hand to pull me up on my feet, at that moment I just feel that this is what makes us human and life is beautiful. This is my worst 10km ever, trail running is super tiring. And I wondered this 10km is already so tiring, should I challenge a full marathon again at the end of the year? Since I already completed a full marathon once, bucket list cleared so once is enough?

Nearing the end of the run, I met another uncle who is very encouraging. Somehow we ran side by side together for the last km. And just when I wanted to stop and start walking at the last 200m to the finished point, he noticed and said: Continue running, it’s just in the mind! Every run is really an experience. Good thing is I feel slimmer immediately after the run, and the weighing scale didn’t disappoint me.

Race Pack Collection:

The Kiasu Singapore lang spirit, queued for 1 hour to collect my race pack on the first day of collection, heard second day like no queue. Next time collect on race day better, no need specially go down. Or in near future do something like postage, I’m sure some people like me won’t mind paying for postage.

Hydration:

Water points only offered mineral water, mineral water is ok. But not cold 🙁

Banana:

Hurhurhur. The banana look not appealing so I never take. Recently I saw a running meme on Instagram from Runnersbe which is quite funny and true, its something like: We paid so much for a race, is a ripe banana too much to ask for?

Route:

Nice, I like greenery and its my first time here, get yourself muddy and dirty is actually quite romantic right! I don’t know when will I not be lazy to scrub my shoes.

Event Tee:

Sleeveless will be great, help you save cloth and cost somemore leh.

Medal:

It looks chio or not I don’t really care actually, its the sweat and calories I sacrifice to get it!

Race Bib:

Can don’t strike on my 4D number?

The NUS Bizad Charity Run 2016 was held on last Saturday evening 24th Jan. This year, it aims to rally Bizaders past and present – and the general public – around a common theme: Inclusivity. This is the 6th in the series, and they are raising funds for NUS Business School Study Bursaries, as well as to support two external beneficiaries, namely, Boys’ Town and Muscular Dystrophy Association (Singapore).

It was my first race to start the year (just like last year).  Collection of the pre-race pack was a breeze.  In less than 5 minutes I collected the pack and could choose one of the 4 colors for the bag.

On Race Day, it was raining heavily but it slowed to a drizzle as I parked my car in the lot allocated for visitors.  I made my way to the Mochtar Riady Building where the start point was.   The rain seemed to stop at about 5 pm (official start time of race), answering most of the runners’ prayers, I suspected.  I was outside the building with some of the eager starters.  There were announcements being made in the building but we could only hear muffled sounds and just waited.  Then at about 5.15 pm, a guy came up to announce that the race would start at 5.30 pm.  There were lightning warnings for the region and they were not taking chances with the safety of the public though the rain seemed to have stopped.  Then at about 5.30 pm, I saw two men came up to the front, and without much fanfare, blasted the horns and the race had started.  Quite a few runners were still talking amongst themselves but everyone was glad to start finally.

The route seemed very similar, (rather challenging with elevation and steps), to last year’s as I remembered the ups and downs, the steps to a building, up a fairly long flight of stairs up a steep climb, and then more slopes and finally back to the building.  There were sufficient hydration points, both water and 100 plus were provided at about every 2 km intervals.    The weather held throughout and overall, it was a nice cool evening run.

At the finishing point, there was no medal but drinks and bananas were provided.  The runners would have to proceed on to inside the building to collect the finisher medals.  Probably this could be due to the rain forecast but it would be better to have them near the finishing point.  In the building we were also entertained by the medley of songs performed by the Second Sunrise band, winner of The Strepsils Hit The Right Note Competition 2015.  Nice start to the new year.  I also had a chance to have a quick chat with Uncle Chan who had participated in the 5 km run as he was making his way back after the run.  We were separated by the bush divider. I am glad that he is still running well into this year since the Standard Chartered Marathon last year.  And happy that the rain didn’t stop the first race of the year.

What better way to start the year than with an easy 5km race right in my own backyard.  I was quite happy to save some taxi money by cycling down to Big Splash (all of 5km) for the Brooks Run Happy race.  Managed to arrive seconds before the 10km category flagged-off that could have made my ride a lot trickier to get around the participants.

Quite surprisingly there were only a mere 193 participants in this category, whilst the half marathon had 977.  I’m so accustomed to high numbers of runners in the 5km category it was nice to be part of a small race for a change.

I can’t say I had a spectacular race timewise.  My ParkRun run was better the day before on the same route. However, I still managed to rank 29 out of the 193 racers.

Whilst I am very familiar with East Coast Park and its running route, I was somewhat disappointed with the turning point beneath the Fort Road footbridge across slippery muddy grass.  Unfortunately, I lost momentum having to walk the section and then finding it difficult to wind myself back up for the last couple of kilometers.  Nor did it help that the category was longer than 5km.  I kept looking for the end and it just didn’t seem to come.  The route ended up being 5.4km which I finished in 38:12min.  Not the greatest but then I’m not a particularly fast runner.

Thankful to cross the finish line, I happily collected my finisher medal, coconut water and donut.  Since I was on my own this time (no Team Costa buddies), I soaked up the atmosphere for a time before I hopped back on my bike and cycled home.  By 9.00am I was done and dusted, sitting on my couch with a coffee and waiting for the rest of Sunday
to unfold.

This was a cute race, regardless of the muddy spot.  I enjoyed the smallness of the race, the proximity to my home and as always the East Coast Park location.