The Bloomberg Square Mile Relay is an immersive, incisive and purpose-driven running race that takes part in 13 cities around the world, including Singapore.

Team-building and employee well-being 

It is the only global corporate relay running race of its kind that places team building, employee well-being and local community support at the heart of the event.

Participating companies form teams of 10 runners each, with every team member running the unique one-mile course around The Promontory @ Marina Bay.

I took part 

The Singapore leg took place last Thursday evening and I was one of the runners taking part this year.

A total of 147 teams from Singapore’s biggest businesses were running in the event.

Race village and meeting my team

The race village opened at 5pm. 

I reached just after 6pm and after the mandatory baggage check, I quickly found my team mates, collecting my bib and the baton from my team captain.

As we had discussed earlier, we were all dressed in white tops and black shorts. 

We had also discussed that we would wear glow light sticks, which I put on my wrist.

We hung around before the start, catching up with familiar faces and making new friends. 

The race village was super happening right from the get-go, with plenty of banter and camaraderie from runners and teams. There were lots of booths with food and drink items available.

There were photo opportunities aplenty too. The organisers were very generous. It felt pretty awesome and happening, just like I was at a carnival. 

At a separate corner of the race village, dinner was also available. I planned to redeem this after I had finished my run.

The race beginning 

The race was scheduled to flag off at 7pm. I was to be the first runner.

At about 6:30pm, there was a warm-up by the event’s gym sponsor, Anytime Fitness. 

This was quickly followed by a mandatory race briefing on the race route and how to transition. 

Then the first runners were all instructed to make our way into the start pens. I duly did so. 

My Run

About a couple of minutes after 7pm, we were officially flagged off.

The pace was very fast from the beginning and everyone took off like a rocket.

I tried to hold a sub 4mins/km pace but I think I could feel myself fading a little around the 500m or so mark. 

I did try my best to hang on but I ended up slowing down somewhat, to eventually finish the mile in an official timing of 6 mins 33 sec, calculating to an average pace of 4:05 mins/km. 

Despite not pacing myself properly due to overestimating my abilities at the short distance, it is nonetheless still my fastest mile to date. 

In future, I think I probably do need to work on my pacing properly for taking on such short distances.

I am more used to running long distances such as the marathon, and pacing yourself for a mile is completely different to that. While it is short, it should not be an all-out sprint at the beginning.

Refreshments time

After finding my team-mate, Justin, in the transition pen, and handing over the baton, I caught my breath and then collected my finisher medal and t-shirt and headed over to the refreshments area where I helped myself to the free soft-serve ice cream. It was extremely yummy and rewarding after the hard run.

I also picked up a coconut juice too, which tasted very refreshing and nice. 

Having a good time 

The running style of this race reminded me of my sports day school relays, whereby everyone has lots of fun amidst a casual yet competitive environment.

While some teams may have been in it to win, we were just around to enjoy ourselves and have a good time. And we all sure did!

The rest of my team-mates slowly filtered in throughout the evening after completing their respective legs. 

We all caught up with one another on how our runs had went, as we tucked into our dinner.

I picked the halibut dinner, which was served with rice. This was quite nice. There was a walnut cheesecake for dessert. Drink options include coca-cola, green tea and 100plus. Water was available too, for those who didn’t want sugary drinks.

As we chatted, the race results slowly filtered in on the giant screen, with the race emcee continuing providing live commentary throughout the evening.

The relay winners

Winning the relay was Macquarie 1, who finished in a team time of 57:32 mins. Another team from Macquarie also took second place in 01:05:41 hours and rounding off the top three was BlackRock with 01:06:49 hours.

First and second teams were from Macquarie.

To put it into perspective of how insanely fast these timings are, our team finished in a combined time of 01:21:50 hours.

The last runner 

The relay’s very last runner to complete, was escorted back in the last couple hundred meters by the winning team Macquarie 1, as well as receiving a standing ovation on return. This was so cool. 

It was a great evening

I must say that it was definitely a super fun and enjoyable evening and I truly loved the vibe and happening atmosphere of the race. It really resonates teamwork and bonding amongst colleagues and friends. And this makes it quite different to many of the other mass running events in Singapore. I hope to be back!