Last night, the Puma Night Run 2015 took place, with more than 3,000 runners taking to the streets along the scenic Marina Barrage in a brand new 10km route. This event had been brought to the city for the first time. (The inaugural 2014 event had taken place at Sentosa).

Puma Night Run 2015 took place at the Marina Barrage.
Photo credit: PUMA

Celebrities such as Elvin Ng, Kimberly Chia, Shane Pow, Carrie Wong, Dawn Yeow and Derrick Lee had also been invited to join in the run – to add some spice and colour to the running event.

PSI Reading threatened to enter the unhealthy range

People had already reached the Puma Race Village at 6.00pm.

However, I must admit that I hadn’t been sure if this run would have taken place – as the haze was threatening to re-enter the unhealthy range, after a brief reprieve around noon yesterday. But with the 4pm PSI level at 100 and the 5pm PSI reading standing at 104, I had decided to take a chance, and still headed down to the Puma Night Run race village anyway.

And fortunately for all of us at the race site, the Puma Night Run flagged off at about 7.30pm, as originally scheduled.

Lots to see and do already at the race village

Runners showing off their tattoos.
Photo credit: PUMA

And as I reached the Puma race village at about 6pm, many runners were there already They probably had the same thoughts as me, about heading down in spite of the fluctuating PSI levels.

And then I saw a long line of people queuing up for the Puma-themed temporary tattoos, probably to get themselves in the mood for the run! Though I may not have joined the queue, I had thought that the tattoos were quite interesting.

Saying “cheese” by the PUMA sign-board

Other activities at the race village also included face painting, picture-taking at the official photo booth, as well as plenty of food and drinks by DoSiRak and Hic Juice.

Pre-race, I helped myself to some of the juice – and that was delicious – but decided not to eat anything, just in case I sustained stomach cramps while running. I think that this paid off in the end.

Runners waiting for the start pen to open.
Photo credit: PUMA

Warm-up session prior to running

Prior to flag off, some trainers from True Fitness led the runners trough a mass warm-up session, which I thought was useful – for those who had not warmed up properly yet, for the evening run.

I had this taken officially at the Puma photo booth prior to my run.

A scenic and enjoyable city run

As for the run itself, this was a very scenic and vibrant one and I really enjoyed it. Flagged off by Mr. Philippe Le-Bretton, who is the General Manager PUMA Southeast Asia, the route took us to many iconic areas of the modern Singapore landscape.

Race route for the PUMA Night Run 2015.

These had included the Helix Bridge, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Flyer, Singapore Sports Hub and the Gardens by the Bay.

The start line prior to the race.

Rather than pushing for timing, I chose to run this at an easy pace, soaking up the sights of modern Singapore in the process. Though I have run around the Singapore cityscape in the early mornings and during the day, I must say that it was quite a different feeling to do so on an evening run, when the nightlife is starting.

We ran past some beautiful sights like the Singapore Flyer.

And as we passed through the Satay by the Bay foodcourt in the first few kilometres of the run, the smell of delicious satay wafted through the air. I admit that this made me slightly hungry as I had not had dinner yet. But then, when I was thinking of the scrumptious post-run food that we would be getting at the Puma Night Run race village, this helped to calm down my stomach a bit.

Also, the beauty of the Singapore cityscape, such as the Singapore Flyer all lit up in brilliant bright lights, didn’t fail to amaze me, even though I may have seen this several times before.

6KM down, 4KM to go.

From the Singapore Flyer, the route took us through Republic Avenue, Crawford Street and past Kallang Road before heading through the Singapore Sports Hub, en-route to Marina Barrage. I must admit that the latter part is a route that I am rather familiar with, through group training runs as well as running races. But I still enjoyed running through there.

Kilometre markers were slightly different to other running events

One more kilometre….

At the same time, I also quickly noticed that the kilometre markers for this race was also quite different to most others – instead of stating the distance that has been completed, the markers state how many kilometres are left to go.

This was pretty depressing at the beginning when there was still a lot of distance left to cover – but towards the end of the race, it was really motivating. When I saw the “1km left to go” marker, it spurred me on to run harder, and this also applied to the “500m left to go” and “250m left to go” signboard markers.

Runners queue up for DoSiRak after their run.

While most of this race was relatively flat – quite different to last year’s challenging route which had been mainly uphill – it ended with a small uphill segment at the Marina Barrage bridge, before we subsequently crossed the finishing line at the Barrage – to cap off a beautiful night run.

Time for dinner at long last

Finally, the run was over, so I had one of the DoSiRak rice bento bowls. I had thought that it was really delicious and I found myself polishing everything up – probably because the running exertion had increased my appetite! So fortunately for me, DoSiRak meals are really healthy and low in calories!

As well, I also helped myself to a slice of pizza from the media tent, as I was part of the media.

My DoSiRak bento box was delicious!

Other post-race activities at the Puma Night Run had included performances from Tosh Rock, Joshua Tan and Bunz of Ah Boyz To Men fame as well as a lucky draw comprising of attractive prizes such as Seiko timepieces, Klipsch earphones and True Fitness gym memberships.

The grand prize was a pair of return tickets to Tokyo, Japan. I admit that I had secretly been eyeing the Japan trip – but maybe next time round!

Winners of Puma Night Run

Thomas Kiprotich won the Men’s Open category at the Puma Night Run 2015. Photo credit: PUMA

Emerging as the winner of the Puma Night Run 2015 in the Men’s Open category – and thus defending his title in the process, was Thomas Kiprotich, who completed the run in 33minutes 57seconds. Coming in second place was Kennedy Kyule Matolo with a timing of 34minutes and 12seconds. Third place was Suresh Tilija with 36minutes and 12seconds.

Cheryl Chan won the Women’s Open category by completing the run in 44minutes exactly and Anna Helowicz Hebrich came in a close second at 44minutes and 49seconds. Marsh Rebek Ah Karen Patrica came in third, with a timing of 46minutes 16seconds.

Cheryl Chan won the Ladies’ Open category.
Photo credit: PUMA

As the overall champions, Kiprotich and Chan walked away with SGD2000 PUMA vouchers, a one-year True Fitness membership and also a Seiko timepiece of there choice.

Puma is thrilled to bring the second Puma Night Run Singapore to the city

Said Mr. Gabriel Yap, Head of Marketing at Puma Southeast Asia, “Running is one of the key focus for PUMA and we’re thrilled to bring the second Puma Night Run Singapore to the heart of the city. It was wonderful to see participants take on the challenge while enjoying themselves in the process.”

He continued, “Puma Night Run Singapore is our annual running event and we look forward to a more exciting race next year for all running enthusiasts!”

Thank you Puma, for inviting me to take part in this enjoyable running race.

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