“May the Force Be With You!”
The Star Wars Run, held at the F1 Pit, was a 2 day festival starting from 4th May to 5th May, whereby the 2nd day was the actual race day. This was the 2nd edition, where the 1st run last year was held at Gardens By the Bay.
I was called to the Dark side and participated in the 10 Km category. This run was supposed to be my recovery run after last Sunday’s Income Eco HM and thus, I intended to take it easy and just savour every moment of the galatic festival!
Race Pack
The race pack consisted of the usual event shirt, bib and a number of vouchers from the merchandisers. It included a mat, which I realized later that its intended purpose must had been to use and rest upon during the outdoor movie screening after the race.
Pre-Race Activities
The organizer lined up a host of activities to engage the fans and hype up the atmosphere. This was a Star Wars Event, not just another run. I reasoned that to completely experience it, you had to really in a way, took part or enjoy the various performances.
This was why once the festival village opened at 11 am, I made my way and reached there at 1245 pm, in time to catch the march out by the Star Wars characters at 1.15 pm. This must be the only race I took effort to arrive much earlier before the flag off time!
The weather was hot and there was a drizzle, which fortunately stopped before the march out! The line up of characters, from the 501 Legion and other fans clubs, was awesome! Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vadar took the lead over both the Dark and Light forces. What a sight to behold!
The characters took to the stage and the fans were busy taking photos of them. There wasn’t much people at this time, perhaps due to the hot weather and rain, so we really had sufficient time and space taking individual photos with some of these characters when they mingled with the fans.
At 2 pm, the Dark side put up a splendid concert. It was certainly hilarious to see Darth Vadar playing the electric guitar and Palpatine drumming away! The fans were clearly entertained! Shortly, this was followed up with a Fightsaber Performance between the Dark and Light sides.
I lingered for a while more, looking at the toys and figurines on sale by the retailers, before heading to the Singapore Flyer food court to cool down with an ice kachang. Took some rest before proceed to bag deposit and warm up at 4 pm. At this time, the Kids’ Fashion Parade was going on.
The Race
I entered the pen designated for the Dark side. Both sides were barricaded from each other and it was awesome to see a clearly separated sea of reds and blues. The emcees mentioned there were much more Dark forces (3x) compared to the Light forces. Well, it appeared more runners prefer to join the Dark side as the bad guys always seemed more ‘appealing’ !
The race was flagged off at 5 pm by the characters from both sides – members from the Rebel Alliance and soldiers from the galactic Empire. Although there was no fireworks like last year’s, I would say it was still ecstatic. No one complained.
The 10 km route brought the runners past Nicoll Highway, Garden by the Bay and the Marina Barrage. I heard that the 5.4 km routes for the Light and Dark sides were different and ran in opposite directions. This is something uncommon in local races. Thumbs up to the organizer for their effort to initiate this.
The early evening sun, still hot, was beating down on the runners. Thus, I must say it was not an easy run but fortunately there were sufficient hydration points which provided runners with water and UFC coconut water.
There was a mist station at the Marina Barrage but seriously I didn’t feel any mist or cooling effect at all. Or, was it just a normal ‘space tunnel’ for runners to run through?
I managed to complete the race within my usual time and got my finisher medal and shirt. However the size was too small and I got it changed at the Information Booth. Runners were also treated to a free flow of Marigold yogurt, packet drinks and ice mountain sparkling water.
Post Race
The night was still young. Hundreds of runners stayed behind to watch the outdoor screening of The Last Jedi at 8.45 pm. It was a joy for us, both as runners and as fans, to enjoy our favourite movie together under the night sky after a well organized run.
Comments
1) Many commented that the event tee shirt was undersized. I faced this issue too and had to upgrade to ‘XL’ for my finisher shirt. I think the issue was at the shoulder width, where it is really a bit ‘tight-fitting’.
2) There was no fruits post run to replenish lost energy. The free flow of yogurt and drinks were welcoming though.
3) Personally, I felt the sound volume at the outdoor movie screening a bit low. A bit louder would have been better to boost the special effects.
Overall, it was an awesome event!
The Force was really with us on the 5th of May!
