The Income Eco Run is South East Asia’s premiere eco run which champions environmental conservation and aims to encourage everyone to play their part in supporting the cause.

Click here to view the Income Eco Run 2018 photos.

Income, which organises the Income Eco Run, had been originally established in 1970 to provide affordable insurance for workers in Singapore. Today, two million people in Singapore look to Income for trusted advice and solutions when making their most important financial decisions. 

And to many of the runners taking part in the Income Eco Run, this is a cause that resonates strongly with them.

Said Laura Binns, 29, an events project manager, “I think that environmental conservation is important, and it is an issue that is a bit behind in Singapore. So it is good to know that events like the Income Eco Run are raising awareness for this cause.”

Agreed Sasa Stiasni, 42 and who works in IT support, “I believe in protecting the environment and I like the fact that the run encourages us to reduce plastic. The environmental conversation fact is promoted very well at this event, so that is one of the reasons why I ran this race.”

He continued, “I take measures at home to look after the environment too. I do not use much plastic and if I do get supermarket plastic bags, I will reuse them for trash. My water bottles are also stainless steel and I do not buy plastic bottles.”

Altogether, about 9,000 runners had participated in the event, across the four categories of the 2018 edition of the Income Eco Run. The race took place this morning at the F1 Pit Building, with the 5km, 10km and 21.1km Half Marathon categories for the adults and an 800m Kids Dash for the young ones.

I took part in the 21.1km Half Marathon category, which had flagged off at the early hour of 5am this morning.

I had been busy covering the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens the previous day, so I did not really get much sleep at all, the night before the run. In fact I had still been writing and posting rugby related blog posts onto my website at about 3am in the morning. I realise that this is not the ideal way to prepare for a race though and I certainly do not advice doing it.

I would actually have liked to take a bike to the race site to be more environmentally friendly, but because I was rushing for time, I ended up taking a cab down instead – so that I could make it there on time. 

Still, I had reached the F1 Pit Building somewhat later than I would have liked, and quickly headed to the media tent to collect my media pass before making my way towards the start pen. I realised that I was quite late because the start pen had been filling up really quickly. But I had still managed to get myself into the first wave though.

As we all waited in the start pen, the event emcee tried to build up some event hype and get our adrenaline levels pumped up for the half marathon ahead. I admit that I was feeling pretty sleepy as I was waiting and I had to fight the urge to doze off as the minutes ticked by.

The race was flagged off punctually and I crossed the starting arch at about 5.03am.

Said Adam Sack, 54, the principal of IFC (International Finance Corporation), “Sometimes races in Singapore can be a bit disorganised at the start but this time it was good, so well done, Income.”

The route was quite simple, taking runners from the F1 Pit Building around the city area, passing landmarks such as the Singapore Sports Hub, Gardens by the Bay and the Singapore Flyer along the way.

Because my body had been still tired and groggy from a lack of sleep, I was not in any state of mind to run a personal best. So I instead decided to take the run easy, running with the 2 hour 30 minute pacers. This is a pace that would put my heart rate in the higher end of my Easy zone to the lower end of my Steady zone.

The pacers had been certainly a fun and lively bunch to run with too, and they constantly made statements and cracked jokes as they ran. As well, they had playfully pointed out certain Singaporean landmarks to runners who were listening.

It was also quite hilarious that in a bid to create some music to keep runners motivated, the pacers had attempted to sing the chorus of the ‘YMCA’ song.

Other pace groups may have had actual music, though I can’t speak for them personally. But commented Laura, “Some of the pace groups had good music that had kept us going.”

Early on in the race, I had also realised quite quickly that I would be in for a really humid morning. In fact, I had found myself sweating much more than usual in the first few kilometres and because we were running through the heart of the city, there was not much breeze or wind either. As a result, I think that my heart rate may have risen higher than it usually does when I run at the same pace.

Agreed Laura, “The biggest challenge had been definitely the humidity this morning.”

But thankfully, the hydration stations were adequate and taking in regular fluids had helped to keep my heart rate and my breathing firmly under control though. The stations had been positioned roughly every two to three kilometres along the route. Some were serving only water but others had both water and 100PLUS isotonic drink. As well, one station also had energy gels for the half marathoners. I was pleased that the beverages served was ice-cold. 

But the cluster of runners crowding around the hydration tables meant that there was a lot of pushing and shoving in order to get the hydration.

It must be noted that most runners, however, did not really bring their own bottles and had preferred to use the paper cups that were placed in a stack on the table.

I also noted that there had been large plastic drink dispensers at the ends of each of the hydration tables for runners too, in order to tie in with the eco friendly theme of this race. These were for runners to fill up their own plastic bottles with. Unfortunately they too, had been a bit overcrowded with some runners pushing. 

Added Adam, “Maybe there could have been a bit more signages so that runners can track their progress along the way.”

Also, according to my Garmin, the positioning of some were accurate but others had appeared to be a little bit off. I think that they pretty much evened out at the end though, with my watch measuring 21.3km at the end of my run.

Added Laura, “I thought that the 21.1km run was the right distance and the measuring was correct.”

And as for myself, I had been running at a pretty comfortable pace and with the pacers helping me to look out for obstacles along the way such as errant cyclists, steps or humps along the path, I did not have any issues, but I did note that some areas were rather dark and not very well lit along the way, though. 

Added Laura, “It had been dark for a long time along the route.” 

So as such, I thought that this may have been a tripping hazard for runners who may have been running faster or targeting a personal best. I feel that if there could have been more lighting at such areas, this would have been good.

There were also a couple of narrow paths along the race route too, such as the part when we exited Area A of East Coast Park, that had the potential to result in bottlenecks, but fortunately I was still able to run and did not need to slow down to a walk at all. So I suppose these parts had been relatively well managed by the race organisers in preventing actual bottlenecks.

Other than some minor issues here and there though, I had thought that the race had went by pretty smoothly. And with the pacers running just behind me and continuing to keep me entertained throughout the 21.1km journey, the kilometres passed by all too quickly and before I knew it, we were approaching the end of the race.

With plenty of energy left to spare, I sped up slightly in the last couple of kilometres, and my heart rate had crossed into the lower end of my Steady zone. The final section of the race brought us through the Marina Bay Sands area and NTUC Centre, en route back to the F1 pit building.

Seeing the 20km marker was particularly motivating because this meant that there was just one more kilometre left to run and I would then complete the race. Thought I was running at an easy enough pace, nothing ever beats the feeling of running through a finishing arch.

Agreed Laura, “To finish is always my favourite part of any race.”

I crossed the finish line still feeling very comfortable, in just under 2 hours and 30 minutes with my heart rate firmly in my mid-steady zone, and then collected my finisher entitlements which were a medal, black finisher tee shirt, a can of 100PLUS isotonic drink and a banana.

I noted however that Zero Waste Runners would receive the 100PLUS drink and the banana only and they would enter a separate finisher tent compared to other runners. 

The Zero Waste Runners category is a relatively new category introduced only last year, that falls in line with Income Eco Run’s theme and this is supposed to be targeted at reducing production waste at a mass running event.

Though I strive to reduce my environmental footprint, the only reason why I did not opt in as a Zero Waste runner is because I collect running medals – each and every race medal earned, holds a special place in my heart.

Upon finishing the race, there had been quite a few activities that fell in line with the event’s theme of educating runners to reduce waste and become more environmentally friendly. I thought that these little activities were definitely educational and enlightening, showing that you do not really need to take massive steps into becoming more environmentally friendly.

For example, runners could pen a pledge to save the environment by taking little steps at home flushing the toilet on half flush instead of full flush and only do the washing at home on full load. And runners who did so, would then be rewarded with a Cornetto ice cream for their efforts to save the environment.

It was heartening to know that this booth had attracted pretty long queues because this had showed that runners are indeed interested in doing their small part in saving the environment, not only for themselves, but for generations that come after them as well.

Said Adam, “If we do not get it right in terms of recycling our waste and becoming energy efficient, we are handing our children and grandchildren a declining and diminishing world. So we have a duty not just to ourselves but also to generations after us, to take care of this planet, as we only have one.”

Wanting to do my part, I made the pledge and then took an ice cream for myself. This creamy dessert had been particularly delicious and refreshing after a long run.

Another little game also had runners guess the number of plastic trash bottles that were glued together in a structure and the runner who guessed closest to the actual number of bottles would be able to win a free trip to the Blackmore’s Sydney Marathon. 

I think that the purpose of this activity was to make runners alarmed into how much waste is being generated… and I would say that it is definitely a lot.

As well, I also caught up with a few friends at the race site and we exchanged thoughts and comments about how our respective race had went. As well I also sought out my coach, Ben Pulham from Coached, who had been the official coach at the Income Eco Run and had a booth there with a large flag. 

Ben and I had exchanged a few words about my race and I think that he was pleased to know that I had chosen to take it easy this morning. Unfortunately he did remark that I’m crazy to run a half marathon with little sleep, though!

I also realised that after I had finished the race, it had been gradually growing hotter and the heat began to feel quite suffocating, even when I was under the shade in a large marquee. So this had made me glad that I was already done with my run for the day as I could not imagine running in such heat. But I guess that is one of the drawbacks of living in the tropics, though.

As a whole, though I would say that there were some minor setbacks here and there with the Income Eco Run, it was generally a well organised and functional overall, as a running event.

Said Adam, “It had been a well organised race and it was lots of fun too. It made such a difference to have a large crowd to run with, as opposed to running solo.”

Added Sasa, “This is one of the better races in Singapore; everything was done quite well and I don’t really know what can be improved on.”

However, I still feel that this being an eco event, the organisers may be able to take even more drastic measures in future editions to further reduce wastage or trash generated. 

And these can include completely doing away with the paper cups so that runners will have to bring their own plastic bottles, or perhaps having a more environmentally friendly alternative to the single-use packages of energy gels that runners always take during endurance running events as the plastic packaging of such gels certainly generate plenty of trash.

Click here to view the Income Eco Run 2018 photos.

Thanks Income Eco Run for the race slot.