Puma Night Run first event in Singapore, Saturday 1st November, 2045 flag off at Sentosa.

This race ended up in the middle of a very busy racing weekend for me. I ran the Stadium Run at the Singapore National Games on Saturday morning (4.4k), good news there – I was able to hang on for 7th Master and F1 Runners masters mens team won the team event. Then on the Sunday I did 4×400 masters for F1 at the same SNG event, here we managed to grab Silver, but definitely confirmed that none of us is ‘track fit’ any longer. We joked with the winning team (proper sprinters) that next year we would take them on over 4 x 5k ! 🙂

So, with those races going on, I decided to try a new way of running an event in Singapore – I decided to ‘Just Run Lah‘. A few of my fellow ‘Mount Sinai Striders’ were running, so I planned to pace my mate ‘Scouse Pete’ to a sub 50 pace. At the same for this event, I would do all the ‘fun’ stuff that I never normally do at races to get into the ‘Puma Night Run’ vibe.

VIP treatment

I was very kindly given a free slot at this race by Puma courtesy of this blog, which was awesome. Joshua from Puma’s PR company Mercury MC met me at the VIP Registration Desk and took me around the race showing me all the various activities and ideas Puma had put together for the run. Wavestation at Siloso Beach makes an incredible Race Village, the beach club vibe fitting really well with the overall ‘cool’ of the event.

Josh explained the event was capped at 3000 runners, due to set off in two waves and it had been a sellout. I arrived at the village around 7.30PM and the place was already buzzing. I dropped my bag in the VIP area (haha! I am going to keep saying VIP throughout this blog, cos it doesn’t happen to me very often) [editor’s note: see? we like saying it too, we even used it as a heading for you :D] and headed into the village to drop off my lucky dip ticket, get a temporary tattoo and grab a handfull of glowsticks to decorate my shoes and make a lovely glow necklace(!).

These are all things I never ever do when I am racing, so it was kind of fun to get into it all. I would have got an Instagram pic taken, but the queue was way too long for my low boredom threshold. So I went back to the VIP (sorry / notsorry) area to see what was going on.

Joshua told me that there were a group of (real) celebrities who had been chosen by Puma for a running bootcamp over the previous 6 weeks – they seemed like a nice bunch,who obviously are enjoying their night and seem to have a great team spirit. Since I’m an old guy I dont know who any of these people are, but judging by the number of runners who are crowding around the VIP area for a look at these guys, they are very popular!

(Blog update – the Puma Night Cats are : Tabitha Nauser, Darius Chia, Kimberly Chia, Mahdir Mustaffa, Gavin Teo, Vivi Yeh & Justin Vanderstraaten)

Two enthusiastic MC’s introduced the famous people to great applause on the stage at the Wavehouse and everyone seemed to be having a great time on a warm, clear evening on Sentosa. The lighting is uber-cool, the music is loud and all the beautiful people are here.

After my Newton Challenge experience last weekend I went early to the start pen so as not to end up in the second wave. It’s about 400m further down the road towards siloso beach and it’s also looking awesome. The whole beach front road from Siloso to Tanjong Beach is closed off for the run, giving it a real professional event feel. I join the start pen, meet my mates and wait for the flag off.

Plan with Pete tonight is to run around 5min/k’s to get him somewhere in the 49-50 mins zone. We know there are a few hills on the route, but we’ll try to stick to the pace as best we can.

 

Flagg off!

Flag off at 2045 and we are off up the road, feels great, with a nice crowd and enthusiastic support from the bars and restaurants along the first km section towards Beach Station. The course is well marshalled, well lit and plenty wide enough for the number of participants.

We make a solid start and we’re on pace through 4k when we turn just at Tanjong Beach Club, we then hit the first climb up the hill to the golf course (seems a lot less steep when I am driving up there!), the course takes an interesting route them through a buggy tunnel at Seranpong and loops around the Telecoms Station. It’s very quiet here, but well lit and a good route decision.

Back onto the main Sentosa road for the last 4k home, we steam down the hill back to Palawan beach and push for home. I told Pete the golf course hill was the last one, but I forgot the slight incline up to Beach Station, so we push up there, still more or less on our pace, last 1500m has a real ‘big race finish’ feel about it so it’s easy to find the extra strength and motivation for a final burst over the line. We’re all done in 50:14 and feeling great. Meet the volunteers at the finish line for a banana and a nice cold bottle of water, collect our medals and the team re groups.

Shug (my regular racing buddy) was racing this one, he finished 6th in 39:17, so he’s very happily wandering around with the ‘6th place’ lanyard around his neck, Shaun and Rob finished just ahead of me and Pete so we all wander back into Wavehouse together, our work for the evening complete.

The after-party

I head into the VIP area to pick up my bag, grab a shower and change clothes, there’s a nice F&B spread put on in here so I grab a coke and some watermelon then head out to meet the boys for a well deserved beer and the essential 30 minute ‘my race went like this’ de-brief session.

We stick around and watch the presentations, Mens Race is won by a Kenyan guy in 31 mins (big respect), Womens is won in 44 mins, which is kind of surprising, but there are a lot of other events this weekend which I assume attracted the faster ladies.

The post race vibe is just as buzzing as it was beforehand so we stick around for a few drinks enjoying the atmosphere. One big plus of a smaller race size and a race village like this place is that you can get an actual seat to chill on, rather than sitting on the grass at the Padang, plus its late at night, it’s a bit cooler, so it’s very relaxing to sit, chat, drink and listen to the bands.

Reflecting on the evening now I can definitely say this was one of my favourite running experiences to date in Singapore. Usually after a race I am mainly thinking about my performance, did I go out to fast, did I go out too slow, should I have done this, should I have done that blah blah blah. But this time, I just ran, at a very comfortable pace, chatted to my mate (bugged the hell out of him throughout) and enjoyed the night.

It gave me an opportunity to see the event the way (I think) many people see it – less about the running performance, more about the overall experience – and I really enjoyed it. Puma got the balance right between sports/performance and fun/atmosphere and in doing so created a really special event. I’m really happy to have been part of the inaugural Puma Night Run and I’ll certainly be back next year. I did hear that the regular baggage collection station was a bit chaotic (not sure why they needed to wrap all the bags in big white plastic sacks – sounds like they made it very difficult to spot identify each bag), but apart from that everything was well managed and executed.

Meanwhile, the competitive runner in me returns and next time out I’ll be fretting about seconds, splits, when to push, breathing patterns and all the other rubbish that usually occupies my mind when I’m running.

Happy Trails!

Attention to detail

When most of us think of Singapore Airlines (SIA), we usually think of it being one of the safest airlines in the world, providing one of the best in-flight services that anyone would have ever experienced and last but not least, the iconic SIA girl- the gorgeous air stewardesses.  Yet, who says that SIA can only forge a relationship to anything and everything that has got to do with flights, airplanes and the tourism indiustry? Just yesterday, on the 2^nd of November 2014, SIA took its 1^st step into the sports industry by organizing a race- SIA Charity Run. Held at the F1 Pit Building, the race attracted one of the largest crowd of participants that I have ever witnessed, ranging from kids to corporate participants to competitive runners.

If you are a fan of themed races like the Hello Kitty Run or Colour Run, SIA Charity Run is the run for you. It is definitely one of the most well-themed races I have ever come across! With its starting point being named as “Take Off” and its finishing point being named as “Arrival”, it enhanced your running experience by allowing you to imagine that you are “flying” instead of running. Not to forget, there were even air stewardesses to cheer for you at the starting point. In addition, to mimic the breathtaking scenery that one would witness on the plane if you are lucky enough to get yourself a window seat, SIA Charity Run provided us with picturesque scenery of the Kallang River, Marina Bay Sands and also, The Singapore Flyer.

A smooth flight

Reputable for providing a smooth flight, SIA has planned a fairly smooth running route for the race too. With little slopes, the run was a pretty easy one that would not be too taxing for any beginners out there. Unfortunately, there were several areas (the Kallang River area) that were pretty narrow and congested. For competitive runners, this can be quite a hassle as your timing for the race will be affected. In fact, due to the non- competitive nature of 5km run, many of the participants were walking. This resulted in a huge congestion around those areas and many of the runners had to either run on the grass patches to keep up with their timings or, to walk together with the other participants. Besides, there were also a lack of road marshals at several important points that resulted in several race participants cheating their ways across the race by cutting across the race route. Yet, all these congestion and problems were eased with not only the strategic location of the water stations along the wider areas of the race route, but also, the integrity of the majority of the race participants.

Due to its abundance of volunteers, there were almost zero queue for both baggage deposit and medal collection.  In fact, unlike many of the races in which you have to endure a long queue before getting into the restroom, there were plenty of restrooms for this run.

Having a themed photobooth is a trend nowadays and SIA did not miss out on that! After the race, one can grab a picture taken with not only a pilot and an air stewardess, but also, with a cute airplane background. Not to forget, Ironman and Captain America were spotted there too!

Overall, SIA Charity Run is one that is not only family-oriented, but also, well-themed. It is a run that you will witness parents piggyback-ing their kids, guys dressing up as air stewardesses, kids dashing along the race routes, all in one day. As a competitive runner, I would join this run again though most likely, for the 10km category instead.

A new Night Run in Singapore!

Sundown Marathon used to be the only “night race” in Singapore. In recent times, there were more of such runs. One example is the Illumi run.

This race is Puma’s first running event in Singapore. I understand the Puma running club in Malaysia is pretty established and thus it was great to witness a sports brand holding a run in Singapore especially after Adidas and Nike pull the plug on their respective hosted runs this year.

Setting its sights in Sentosa, the key attractions to this run is obviously running in the night and “running areas in Sentosa never ran before“. For a typical tourist, Sentosa is pancake flat. However the same couldn’t be said for race routes; be prepared to go past never-ending hills and expect a challenging race.

Puma night run did not disappoint in that respect. Seriously I have no idea where I was running. But in summary the two km was pretty flat. Thereafter it was either ups or downs all the way till the final km.

 

Getting ready

I drove in and was greeted with a smile at the gantry. Thereafter i slowpoked my way towards a makeshift parking area specially created for drivers. Parked my car and made our way towards the starting point. It was a km walk towards the start line and i thought it was a good way of channeling everybody towards the start point, especially in a race site like Sentosa.

The baggage deposit was placed strategically on the upper levels. I though that was a brilliant idea to ensure proper flow of runners! I did not deposit any baggage, hopefully collection was a breeze!

When i reached the start point, i was 15mins away from flag off. The MC was asking all of us to stop our warmups if we want to participate in the first wave.

When i arrived at the pen area, i realized there were no much areas to do any warmup. With that, i did none and walk straight into the pen and squeezed as front as possible. By then, i was jammed 15 rows behind the starting point.

Of course, the coolest aspect is to be able to run with your fellow Mediacorp celebrities. Here you could see Sham enjoying himself with their company!

I only knew there were celebrities after flag off where their respective fan clubs stand by and support their celebrities. I believe Elvin Ng was there. His fan club was screaming for his head lol.

And so the race begins!

The first 2km was rather flat and manageable. However there were peeps walking just after the 1km mark, which was disappointing to witness. There were some minor hills on the way to Cove Drive which was still manageable.

The killer came at the 4km mark where there was this mini route of up and down hills. Thereafter at the 6km mark, there was this unique huge “roundabout” of up and downhills. That was pretty manageable as you could see the front runners running uphill while you’re going down, giving you a sense of what to expect.

Once out of there, you are basically on the same route back to where you started. I like how there’s every km marker on this race, a rarity nowadays. The accuracy seemed to be off abit but who would complain about a shorter distance, right? 🙂

I was amazed by the volunteers and the management of the water stations. They are extremely enthusiastic and would take the water out for you before you crash into the station yourself. Though i stood there for few seconds waiting for mine in one particular station, that wasn’t a problem as i knew they tried. I would prefer to be handed water than to pick one myself at running pace!

The distance markers looked something like that. Don’t we love the 400m and 200m distance markers? These are the most motivating markers throughout the entire race! Not to mention 400m marker was right smack beside the “Bikini bar” 😛

With 200m left, i give a last surge, lifted my arms and celebrate with joy!

The after-race party

While the race comes to an end, the start to the after-party begins!

As the rest of the runners trickles in, there were entertainment planned for everybody.

Free wave rides for runners, concert-liked performances, beer offerings, instant photo booths etc. The aim if to create a party-like atmosphere and i thought this was rather unique for a 10k race! Thumbs up Puma for creating that atmosphere.

I took part in the instant photo booth while the queue is short and was smiling with glee upon receiving my photoprint 😀

Thereafter, i made my way to collect my car. I recall there was a ‘towel’ to be collected, but unfortunately I couldn’t find a booth that says towel collection. With that i walk my way to my car and like the rest, drove out before the crowd came back.

In summary, the good and challenging parts of the race are as follows:

Pros

• Unique race concept
• Night race for those whom prefer racing the night
• Bright pink event tee with nice sizing (Can be cons for some guys whom hate bright pink!)
• Volunteers are extremely enthusiastic
• Water points are well managed

Challenging aspect

• Hilly run, not a good race for PB
• Lack of warmup area
• Not so value for money

All in all, it was an excellent race for those seeking a challenge and for those whom run best at night instead of mornings! It was short, around 9.7xkm, not sure if that qualify as a pro or con! 😀

– skinnykenyan

Another Sunday, another early alarm.

0345 today, this is getting ridiculous! This time I slept on the sofa so as not to disturb Mrs Strider, and crept around the house very quietly to avoid the dog freaking out and barking at me. This seemed to work out OK and just before 4 I was out the door on my way to collect my usual race partner Shug.

Today we’re off to East Coast Park for the Newton Challenge. 32k, a classic ‘pre marathon’ distance and that’s exactly what we (and most others I suspect) are using this race for, pre SCMS. Today’s plan is to do 5min/k pace steady for the whole race. SCMS target is 3:20-3:30 so if I can do this today without major disaster I know I am ‘in the ballpark’ as the Americans say.

Last time I did a race of this distance would have been 2003, as a build up to my first London Marathon. In the UK, it’s a ’20 miler’ and my memory of that one was that it was freezing (UK early morning in March) and quite hilly.

East Coast Park today is neither of those things. It’s flat as a pancake and it’s hot. I’m on a two gel strategy today (GU – courtesy of Neil, who kindly stepped in when I realised I didn’t have any at 7pm on Saturday night! – cheers mate 🙂 ), having had a banana in the car on the way over. Shug is going with the Camelbak full of iced Squincher, his race tipple of choice.

Loads of cars on the Service Road, so we end up parking somewhere down by CarPark B1, meaning we have about a kilometre walk up to the start line. Quick bag drop and head for the starting pen. Wow – starting pen is really narrow and there are already loads of people in it. Shug and I push through as best we can but we get stuck a long way from the front. In fact, so far back we end up in the Second Wave ! That’s a new experience for both of us, but the plus side is we spend pretty much the next 2.5 hours overtaking people.

Second Wave flag off is about 5 minutes after the first guys have gone, so probably around 7 mins after the first flag off. Since we aren’t racing today, this isn’t such a big deal, but it’s a good reminder to get there early when we ARE racing.

Flag-off

We push our way through to the start line for wave 2 and quickly we are on our own. Wave 1 back markers are still 6-7 mins up the road, so we have the first 2-3k pretty much on our own. Slowly we start to pick up the wave 1 runners and by the first turn at NSRCC I am recognising the usual people I race against just ahead of me.

Pace is spot on and it seems very very easy at this stage. First gel at 10k. Top Marks for the organisers, Pocari Sweat and Water is Ice Cold at every station. The big lump of Iced Squincher in Shug’s camelbak thumps up and down at the same tempo as our feet (side note – lucky for us, our stride is pretty much identical – so running together is easy – have you ever had to run a long time next to someone with a different stride length to yours? For me it’s one of the most distracting and annoying things ever, I just have to get away ASAP!)

Heading back down the park on the Ocean side, nice breeze – here’s where we start to see the 18k front runners coming through – Lexxus Tan, the F1 coach is leading the 18k and already he seems to have about 500-600m clear space from the next runner.

About this time Ming Ham (official F1 photographer) appears out of nowhere, sprints ahead of me, turns and takes a photo, then disappears again – haven’t seen that one yet – but I am sure it will be great.

Round the loop and back up to NSRCC, we are still working our way through the field, chatting comfortably and holding this 5min pace pretty well (at this time ave pace was 5.05min/k). Into the last section of park up alongside NSRCC and all of a sudden several groups of rude road bikers appear, trying to ride at full pace down the middle lane of the park connector whilst hundreds of runners are in the inside and outside lanes running in opposite directions. This upset me a bit, because it was just unnecessary. 1) they could just chill out a bit for the 1 kilometre of their ride when they have to slow down a bit 2) surely as fellow athletes they could be a bit more gracious 3) its a well publicised large running race, so just go somewhere else if you can’t do 1) and 2). After shouting at the worst offenders, we make the turn at 22k for the last 10 back down to the finish.

Second Gel and second wind, we picked the pace up slightly, moving to 4.55min/k’s from there to the finish. By this point the paths were pretty busy with 18k’ers, but not a problem and seemed to be a day for runners with good etiquette (unlike cyclists!)

I had elected to wear my Mizuno Racing flats as another pre marathon experiment, previously I have done 1/2 mara in them with no problems, but this distance (more like this much time I think) they are not so good. By around 25-27k my feet are starting to feel quite sore, so I grind out the last 5k as quickly as possible to get finished.

At the finish line

Crossed the finish line in 2hrs38mins, average pace 4.59min/k. Excellent pacing, spot on the target and a nice negative split. Felt great throughout and it’s given me (and Shug) a lot of confidence for the coming marathon.

Funnily enough it was pretty much the same time as I did the North Face 25k in, meaning I managed 7k more in the same time on the flat.

Arrived at the race village, caught up with some mates, found out that friends Stuart & Carol won the 32k, Lexxus and Vanja won the 18k and Ben (JRL member!) was 3rd in the 18k as well – so lots of congrats throughout the extended group of running mates I am making here in SG.

Great selection of food and drinks again (more ice lollies) finished off a really good race for me.

I dont think I would do this distance unless I was entering a marathon shortly afterwards, but as an event I would put this one right up at the top of the list alongside North Face and Mizuno Passion Run – really well managed and executed.

Strava Screenshots below show the nice consistent pacing and the negative split

Enjoy your running…..

SinaiStrider