Just when my recent posts of Colourpop Run and Penang Bridge International Marathon were talking about being lucky, I won a 2 days one night staycation at Pan Pacific Hotel along with one race entry by participating in a contest held by Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon through a Facebook contest! ? Thank you Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore! ?

Truly appreciate the staycation as it meant that I don’t need to wake up much earlier and ping ping piang piang to race site ? It’s my only staycation in Singapore this year because of more overseas races. I’ve already registered myself for the half marathon, the win meant more bling blings to be collected, I registered 5km with the win. I’m at the walking pen as there’s no other selection left available for other pens. I think it’s because of sold out due to limiting the numbers of runners in each start pen to ease congestion during event day.

Last year I suffered foot injury after Osaka Marathon till every single step hurt that I have to forgo running the half marathon category that was two weeks after. The medal was a beauty and I missed it. Even though Willis and I had a staycation at Carlton Hotel near by, it hurts so bad that I couldn’t even go to race site to cheer and support but just to stay in the room and rest.

Race Expo was at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Hall. Willis and I went to collect race pack on Thurday after work in the evening. Then we found out that our friends Justina, Chee Beng and Yi Heng were there as well. There’s quite a long queue but the queue was fast moving within 15 minutes it’s our turn. The queue was separated into the different distance categories, it seems like the queue with most people in the queue were the marathon and half marathon category and the rest of the categories such as 10km, 5km and ekiden was not so much of a queue. It’s the first time I have the thought that the entire world are all runners. So many people were there to collect their race pack.

I asked if I could collect the 5km distance category race pack too and I’m glad I’m able to collect it as well. They offered this double up challenge this year to encourage runners to sign up two different distance category with discount held on different days so it would be a hassle if we were to queue twice. Because I signed up half marathon and then the 5km category separately, I didn’t get the additional double up challenge medal.

We received the race bib with timing chip together with a baggage sticker to paste on the huge transparent bag for depositing out items on race day, a running magazine, a drawstring bag, a pair of sunglass, event guide and some freebies such as eye drops and muscle rub. Was quite disappointed with the race bib this year as its not personalised with our name printed on the race bib. The bib was in running number so they just grab it, scanned it and tadaa that’s your bib. Though it did speed up the process but I would really prefer a personalised bib ?

We were also issued a ticket which stated the size of the race singlet we had selected previously and proceed to the next counter to collect, which was separated into male and female runners and collection was fast and efficient. This year’s race apparel sponsor was Under Armour same as the previous year, I like the material of the clothing and last year’s Under Armour event tee was too huge but I didn’t went to change. Many of my oversized running T-shirts are comfy and I wear as “pajamas” to sleep ?

After all the collections done, we proceed to the Race Expo where we found our names listed out under the categories we registered to run in. So far it’s the only run that I went to that even acknowledged the 5km runners. It just felt very appreciated, 5km is also not an easy feat to many. Maybe the kids dash’s kids also have their name listed out somewhere just that I didn’t see? Then it’s all the SCSM merchandises and collectibles such as bags, caps, tee shirts, water bottles, plush lion toy and etc. Was telling myself don’t see, don’t buy, I can sign up for another race with that amount of money! ?

Then it’s the section with many photo opportunities, which we enjoyed ourselves with taking lots of pictures. I really enjoyed the race expo, especially the last part of it where they introduced many overseas runcation packages and there’s so many runs which I did not know about. Speaking of which, I’m already looking forward to my runcations next year already! ? First up, Amazing Thailand Marathon which will be held in February 2019 in Bangkok. Registration is still open ?

I only remembered that the win from the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon includes access to VIP tent after I ran both the 5km and half marathon as when I went to the Iron Man office, the staff only passed me the voucher for staycation but didn’t pass me the identification tag for entry of the VIP tent and I totally forgotten about it ? It’s also after that that I know that they sell VIP pass to runners as well at a high price! ?

Eleanor ran the 5km with me on Saturday and next day she ran the full marathon ? I got no courage to run a full marathon in hot hot climate anymore ? We didn’t buy shuttle bus ticket as its too early and seems like cater more for the 10km runners that flag off earlier. It’s fine as well because the 5km flags off at 7.45am, all forms of public transportation is in full operation by then. And also it’s pretty hot by then,
so that’s what the sunglass with the race pack were for? ? Flag off for all categories were at F1 Pit Building except the Kids Dash which was held in Universal Studio in Sentosa ? Somehow I felt that 10km and 5km run should be held in Sentosa as well. Double Up Challenge runners run two days around the same area and parts of the same route eh ? As at the 5km run I saw many children and teenagers as well, if the route for 5km included Universal Studio, it would attract much more runners to sign up with their families or teenagers with their friends. I don’t mind if they offer like packages such as paying additional money for entry or rides in USS since the race slots were already considered crazily expensive.

The 10km runners were flag off at 7am but the 5km runner/walkers were flag off only at 7.45am. We arrived at about 7am at Promenade MRT station and there were still plenty of 10km runners around. We identified 10km runners by their pink race bib and alphabets A to E on their bibs, and 5km participants were just F and G, with F the runners and G the walkers in yellow bib. It almost 7.30am when we were allowed into the Pen. Those super late 10km runners who missed their time to enter the start pen were to flag off together with the 5km participants. Eleanor and I took it easy as we have a long way the next day. I was quite disappointed as the roads barricade up were not wide enough, it was pretty congested and I had to slow down at many parts of the run and siam here siam there. Though I was in the walking pen, but I over took many 5km runners in the running pen which means the 5km runners who were in the running pen also can’t run as well in the pace they want to run in.

There were two hydration points along the 5km route and when we were running back passing by F1 Pit Building, I saw pedestrians/tourists/runners who finished their run want to the cross the road but the road was barricade up for runners to pass by. ROAD IS BLOCKED FOR SCSM. I can only imagine it was so difficult for the Auxiliary Police on duty there to explain to them to walk further up to The Flyer and cross over by the overhead bridge. So we be considerate to other runners still running and crossed the bridge after our run ?

Maybe Padang would still be a better place like the past years. I have a love hate relationship with the medal, the Merlion looks pretty but I don’t like the SIN-GAP-ORE in 3 syllables. The run ended at The Float and we need to walk a few hundred metres to go back to F1 Pit Building. Even the 5 and 10km runners were offered ice cold towels! ? We were offered super cold bottle of mineral water, 100 plus and banana ?

On Saturday afternoon Willis and I arrived at Pan Pacific to check in and the Deluxe Room was awesome. We slept at around 10pm and set our alarm clock at 3am in the morning. Still I was reluctant to wake up, flag off for both the half marathon and full marathon category were at the same location at F1 Pit Building but was separated into different pens. Pen A and B were only for full marathoners while Pen C onwards were a both the half marathoners and full marathoners. Pen A were Elites pen and then Pen B are super fast runners as well followed by Pen C, and so on.

It’s the first time that I noticed that National Anthem was played before the race other than Majullah Walk and Run which is to celebrate National Day. Flag off was punctual and in waves just minutes apart. Willis had a very terrible fall and didn’t run much for the past one month prior, he asked me to go ahead and don’t wait for him else he would walk the entire distance. So I ran the whole run mostly alone.

This year, it’s a new route which I have never run before at the West Coast Highway something new and different. But honestly, not much of a scenery and that I would recommend foreign runners to participate the full marathon instead of half marathon category for its only Central Business District area and then ore than 10km was running on the boring expressway for the half marathon route ? Full marathoners at least ran passed Gardens by the Bay as well as Marina Barrage which were much of a more scenic route.

It’s a humid morning and just 2km into the run, I’m already drenched with sweat. My Garmin went crazy as suddenly I realised its only 5km distance marker but on my Garmin, it’s 6km ran already. And it showed that I ran 1km in 4 mins which was impossible ? Many other Garmin users experience the same problem as well.
Before going up the expressway, the elites were already after the u-turn at their 16 or 17km while many of us were only at about 6 or 7km. Heard many runners cheering and clapping for them. Saw many familiar runners along the route and we gave each other some encouragement and have some small chats along the way ❤

Noticed something new this time, at one of the hydration point, there’s a huge container with water. Runners can use a scoop to scoop water to pour of themselves to stay cooling.

At the 19km mark, the run was separated into left and right, the left side are for half marathoners who’s about to finish the and the right for the full marathoners. I was happy that I’d made the right choice to register for the half marathon instead of the full marathon if not I would still need to continue for another over 20 something km.

As soon as I reach back F1 Pit Building area, Willis sent me a stalker photo because from the SCSM app he received the alert that I’ve completed the run and knew I would be somewhere around. And I was feeling meh because this injured men who only had running mileage of 10km for the past month finished the half marathon even faster than me ?

Luckily I managed to complete the run before Sun starts burning and weather gets hot. Went to get ice cream at the Toyota booth and went Seiko booth to take some photos before the crowd starts to come back ? (Previous day when I finished the 5km run everywhere long queues ?) Didn’t explore much around the race village and went back to Pan Pacific and take a shiok shiok soak in the swimming pool. After we checked out and had our lunch around the area, we still saw runners who looks like just finished their FM and its already more than an hour past the 7 hours cut off time. In the hot hot Singapore, I really felt the 7 hours isn’t enough for the 42.195km but thank you SCSM for letting those runners who didn’t finished in the COT still get their finisher entitlements. It’s a tough run! ?

The Santa Run for Wishes is organised by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with its objective to grant wishes to children with life threatening medical conditions. It is held at the Sports Hub, OCBC Square on the 2 Dec. The run originated in Arizona, USA, and is now held in many countries around the world in the name of charity.

There are 3 categories to this year’s edition: 2.5 km fun run, 5 km fun run and 10 km competitive run. My friend Skye and me are taking part in the 10 km category.

Event Shirt

There are 2 designs: the santa for adults and elf for kids. The designs, which I believe are standard in the same race in other countries, are in line with the theme of the run. Though I feel that it could somewhat only be suitably worn during this run or when you go shopping and sight-seeing at Orchard during the Christmas period.

Race Day

We had originally planned to meet at Kallang Wave Mall at 6.45 am. But I overslept (first time for a race) and reached at 7.30 am. After some consideration, we decided to run the 5 km route instead, as the 10 km runners had already been flagged off at 7 am and would now be in their return leg. Also, we didn’t want to wait for the 5 km flag off at 9 am as we felt it was quite late and we had more than an hour before 9 am.

Wasting no time, we commenced our run after some warm up exercises.  I had been here for the past races so I was quite familiar with the usual race routes; whereas this is Skye’s first race. I shared with her some of my race experiences, as well as the joys of running in Gardens By The Bay East. In my opinion, it is more enticing to run here in the evenings to enjoy the beautifiul night scenery this area has to offer. We passed the first hydration point outside Passion Wave and turned back when we reached the 2.5 km mark. By now, the 10 km runners were heading back towards the Finish Point and we joined them for the rest of the distance.

We rested a while, before proceeding to the Start Point to witness the flag-off for the 5 km and 2.5 km run. There was really a much bigger crowd of participants here compared to the 10 km run, with many families and their young kids in tow.  I had initially wondered why there was a 2 hr time difference for the flag offs between the 10 km and 5 km runs, but now I believe the organizers arranged thus so that the timed 10 km runners have an unblock passage of way.

There was a host of activities at the OCBC Square: a bouncy castle, carousel and stalls selling nice ornaments.  We lingered a while before taking our breakfast at ‘My Kampong’ at level 2. It was around 10 am when we left. Skye commented she had a fruitful morning and that she is keen to participate in other races. I said, ‘why not’?

Comments

I think 9 am is a bit late for the 5 km and 2.5 km runs. I suggest the following categories and flag off times: (1) 10 km competitive run and 5 km fun run – 7 am (2) 2.5 km fun walk – 8.30 am.

The heavy downpour during Penang Bridge International Marathon 2018 (PBIM18) has certainly raised a storm of angry protest among its runners. Rightly or wrongly, even keyboard commentators also rained down (pun intended) criticism on its organizer.

What began as an almost-perfect flag-off of this international marathon has somehow exploded into a drama of various issues that has left runners disgruntled, PBIM18 organizer chided, run cancellation queried – and a pacer nearly struck by lightning!

So much has been posted on the social media; ranging from the frustration of 10-km participants, the wrath of terrible weather, the inaccessible mall, to the long queuing time for parking and medals, the Chips’More-size 10-km medals, the late-comers who demanded their medals and many more.

Consequently, accusations were thrown at PBIM18 organizers for their alleged incompetence and lack of contingency plans. The question was whether all the flak was thoroughly deserved or just a proverbial storm in PBIM18 teacup.

As a PBIM18 Full Marathon (FM) finisher, let me objectively offer my assessment. I will not touch on all the issues, but focus my review on 3 key areas:-

1. The decision to cancel 10-km run, but continue with FM and HM (Half Marathon)
2. The long waiting time for the medals
3. The manning of water stations

TO CANCEL OR NOT TO CANCEL, THAT’S THE QUESTION!

Post-PBIM18, some participants predictably vented their frustration and disappointment over the internet, chastising the wisdom of 10-km cancellation and citing the extent of training and expenses they had undertaken in preparation for the event.

Before coming to a conclusion, let me share my experience of the storm! After the flag-off of FM (1.30am), ominous clouds soon gathered in the sky.  The weather took a turn for the worse, when it began to rain around 4.30am. What took everybody by surprise was how fast the drizzle abruptly erupted into a squall – with flashes of lightning and claps of thunder.

Abetted by the strong sideways wind, the heavy downpour incessantly assailed the marathoners left, right and centre. Every raindrop felt like a sting on the skin and at times, the participants ran into headwind. There was no shelter from the ‘assault’, especially for runners out in the open on the bridge, where they were completely at the mercy of the elements.

Perhaps the thought of discontinuing did cross the mind of the marathoners. Frankly speaking, the option of stopping on the bridge amidst the thunderstorm was equally unattractive; hence my decision to press on!

Despite what others may say, my personal view is that the bold decision to cancel 10km run should be applauded, instead of hammered! The overriding factor should be the runner’s safety. It would be much worse if the 10km run had continued and a few runners were injured during the tempest. A few also argued that the rain has already subsided around 630pm (10km flag-off time), but who could guarantee that the storm would not return with a fury?

We certainly don’t need a repeat of runner’s accident! Perhaps we still recall the unfortunate demise of marathoner Evelyn Ang from Klang City International Marathon 2017 and the mishap of participants in Pahang Marathon 2018.

Some also asked why HM & FM runs were not called off during the downpour and comparisons were inevitably made to the recently-cancelled Putrajaya Night Marathon 2018 (also due to bad weather).

Well….. perhaps this is something that PBIM18 organizer should come out to explain! In all honesty, I was expecting the run to be stopped; hence I could only half-guess the reason for their decision.

A possible flow of thought was that most HM and FM runners should be either just approaching the bridge, or somewhere near the mid-span, when the thunderstorm struck.

The million-ringgit question was if PBIM18 organizer abandoned the entire marathon, could they somehow promptly mobilize many sweeper buses to fetch thousands of unsheltered runners stranded on the bridge? Unless they readily worked out a contingency plan (eg dozens of buses already on standby), this could trigger a logistic nightmare and may even expose the runners to the additional risk of more vehicles plying the bridge during the storm.

Remember that with hindsight, everything is always 20/20.

THE WAITING GAME

The long queue for the medal seems to be a perennial problem of PBIM plaguing this run for several years. With this matter still fresh during PBIM17, it was a surprise that this issue still reared its ugly head this time. Was there any valid justification for the waiting game?

Let’s examine what has happened!

It should be anticipated that upon the 10-km-run cancellation, its participants would make a beeline for their medals. Unlike the gradual arrival of finishers, this time there would be a sudden bottleneck of 11,000-plus queuing runners.

Given the task magnitude (unless somehow PBIM18 organizer can instantly have additional counters and helpers), it was understandable that there should be some waiting time for 10-km medals.

However what truly puzzled us was the feedback that some exhausted FM runners also had to wait at least 20-30 minutes in the rain for theirs. Perhaps more helpers or stations may be needed in future.

How about pre-packed goodies bags (medal, finisher tee, food etc)? And the collection lanes created based on T-shirt size (as conducted by other established marathons)? This would surely minimize the checking and shouting of T-shirt size and last-minute packing of goodies bags, which may cut down waiting time.

Perhaps PBIM organizer could learn from the experience of other run organizers – for example despite higher participation (38,000 runners), Dirigo Events (the organizer of Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon) seemed to handle the medal distribution rather well. No congestion or complaint of long waiting time, with the medal collection process rather smooth flowing!

MUSIC TO MY EAR

One plus point about PBIM18 was the numerous water stations along the run route! These stations were about 3-4km apart, with a few perhaps about 2km away from the next one.

A special mention must also be made about the volunteers and kids who were in charge of these water stations. Despite the tempest, they steadfastly remained at their assigned sites.

As a marathoner myself, nothing dampened the spirit of runners, more than the sight of abandoned water stations. Not only did these volunteers distribute the much-needed food and drink in the rain, they also loudly encouraged the tired runners to persevere.

Indeed their cheering voices sounded like music in the rain and helped to lighten the dire situation. Their enthusiasm has definitely won much admiration from everyone, especially the marathoners!

On behalf of all runners, my utmost appreciation to these unsung heroes again – “kudos for your dedication and a job well done”!

After all is said and done, so where does that leave us now?

In my opinion, PBIM18 organizer surely has to improve on certain aspects of their event, but not all censure from their critics was warranted.

In his PBIM18 message, YAB Chow Kon Yeow (Chief Minister of Penang) said that “I am confident that the new PBIM committee will continue PBIM’s reputable legacy and take the PBIM to greater heights”; hence the onus must fall on PBIM committee to do the right thing to scale that lofty altitude!

In view of the mounting criticism from runners and public, it will be wise if PBIM18 organizer positively takes the feedback from public on various issues, critically analyze their processes, build on their strength and look for areas for improvement. If necessary, try to benchmark with other world-standard marathons, as well as consider whether to change the event date to avoid the raining season.

Perhaps they should make a public announcement on their findings and how they intend to improve for PBIM19. Only then will they be able to restore public confidence and receive continuous support from the running community. “Keeping silent and hoping people will forget” should not be their modus operandi!

As the motivational saying goes “Life is NOT about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to run in the rain!”

Ratings for Penang Bridge International Marathon 2018