Run for the Oceans (by Rebekah Ong)

Photo by: Aik Soon (adidas)

Saturday, 9 June 2018 was my 2^nd Tribe run with the Adidas Runners (AR) Singapore and it’s was themed event labelled “Run for the Oceans”. It was a global running movement that uses the power of sport to raise awareness for the threat of marine plastic pollution.

Above: Pre-run photos around the event site

A lot of us can’t go without our daily lives without using or having that is made of plastic. It is used in practically everything from our phones to the packaging of products like our food when we go ‘da bao’ our lunches etc. But for all the benefits plastic has given us, disposing of products – particularly those designed to be used only once, such as packaging – has become a major environmental issue because of the carelessness of its disposal.

Plastic pollution is an alarming problem for the environment because of the sheer rate that it keeps entering our oceans every year. Not only are plastics hard to break down, it leaves particles that can be harmful to the living things in the ocean while breaking down. Marine mammals have also been found to be entangled in the marine litter and over 90% of all seabirds have plastic pieces in their stomachs. These are just some of the dangers of plastics and the ocean.

Today’s event takes place at Aloha Sea Sports Center, East Coast Park (ECP) with registration starting at 07:00hrs. Registered participants were each given an AR Run for the Oceans event tee, an Adidas water bottle &  a nice black canvas bag and all of us were pleasantly surprised. After we have checked in and deposited our bags, we headed out to the beach area to enjoy the cooling morning weather and take some photos around the event site.

Today’s event was a big one with not only a big turn out by the participants but there were some local talents from the media coming also to support the event. The event was emceed by 98.7 FM’s Joakim Gomez and Kimberly Wang! A short sharing session by 2 dive enthusiasts Victoria and Eugenia shared their experience on diving and how they saw plastic pollution affect the ocean. Before the event started, both the emcees encouraged everyone to download and track our run using the RUNTASTIC app as Adidas will be donating $1 USD  for every kilometre for the first million kilometer that is clocked in between 8 June to 8 July 2018. The money will then go directly to the Parley Ocean Plastic Program to further cut into the pollution problems.

The actual run was flagged off around 8 am and it was lead by AR Singapore Captains and Co-Captains with all the participants following behind. Though it was a late start, it was still pretty cooling as much of ECP was shaded. I ran together with my running buddies Calvin & Yi Hsiu and it was nice to have their company. ECP was the perfect location for this event because of the beautiful views of the beaches and sea and while running along the route, it gives you time to reflect at how important it is for us to help play our part in fighting plastic pollution, if not nice beaches like these will cease to exist in the future and so will marine life that thrive in these oceans.

Above Photos: Runsociety

Once all of us had completed the run, we all treated to nice, cold cans of Pocari Sweat drinks and a simple breakfast buffet which included, broccoli & cauliflower casserole, fresh fruit sticks, bruschetta and many more other yummilious goodies! That was definitely a welcomed treat as many of us were hungry.

Overall, it was a great way to start my weekend. I’m sooo happy that I managed to do my part in today’s event even though how small it may be. Big thanks to Adidas Singapore for organising this meaningful event!