Taking place in several cities around the world, the Illumi Run is billed as the ultimate party on the run, where runners light up the night as they run an un-timed 5km route through Illumi Glow Water and also experience electrifying music in the Illumi Dance zones.

Click here to view the Illumi Fest Run 2018 photos.

Photo credits to Illumi Fest Run.

Regardless of whether you are a runner, dancer or partygoer, it is marketed as the wildest fitness themed party of the year.

Run tied up with the iLight Marina Bay festival

Organised by events design house Infinitus Productions, the Singapore edition of the 2018 Illumi Run, renamed the Illumi Fest Run because of its tie-up with the iLight Marina Bay festival, took place last Saturday evening at Marina Bay with an extended Illumi experience and more than 4,000 runners taking part, in a dazzling spectacle of colour.

With 22 different enthralling art installations spaced out over the Marina Bay area, the iLight Marina Bay is Asia’s leading sustainable light art festival, showcasing light art installations created by artists from both Singapore and other parts of the world.

I took part in the Illumi Fest Run, which was flagged off at about 7pm. I had been part of the third wave, so I began my run at about 7.20pm.

I took part in the fun run

The route was quite simple, taking us from The Promontory at Marina Bay on a loop through the Marina Bay Sands area, as well as the Merlion and Esplanade areas.

Said Rebecca Regan, 45, a Senior Vice President in Banking, “It was such a lovely route that represented iconic Singapore. The bay was really well lit at night and the Esplanade especially looked really beautiful.”

Four different ultraviolet zones

Along the way, there were four different ultraviolet zones – Crazy Laser, Neon Life, Bubble Pop and Glo Mania to run through.

The zones were quite fun to run past and my favourite one, that left the most impression on me, was the Crazy Laser Zone. Here, we ran through a tunnel comprising of laser lights and doing so had really made me feel as though I was in a disco rather than running at Marina Bay. It was pretty cool and immersive, I must say.

Added Charles Less, 49, who works in the Television Ad Sales sector, “I liked the Laser Zone as that was fun. But I wish that the zones could have been a bit longer. I also think there could have been a water slide zone and a mandatory dance zone along the route.”

While there was a water slide present at the Illumi Fest Run, this was only at the race village, so it meant that runners were able to choose whether to slide down into the pool of glow water… or not.

Could have been more Glow Water

However I must admit that in terms of the spraying frequency of Illumi Glow Water onto runners, this had felt a bit anticlimactic. For an Illumi Run, I was expecting to have been sprayed with Glow Water all along the route, but the only part where I really encountered Glow Water was at the finish line, where the Illuminators were waiting for us with water pistols.

There had been a few Illuminators at the main stage near the start line waiting with water pistols to squirt onto runners, but they seemed to have been targeting mainly those near the front of the stage, though.

I actually managed to stay relatively dry along the route itself, with the only segment where I encountered probably one water pistol was inside the Neon Life zone, at roughly the halfway point of the running route.

However I later found out from event organiser Infinitus Productions, that the lack of Glow Water at this year’s Illumi Run had been because of numerous restrictions with hosting the event at Marina Bay, which is essentially a public place. So as such, I suppose this issue could not really be helped, then.

Previous editions had taken place at Sentosa, and had featured much more Glow Water than the 2018 edition, with most runners getting drenched in it.

Marina Bay has plenty of pedestrian traffic on Saturday evenings

As well, I had also felt that while the organisers had done their best to try and segment the running route from the general public, I realised that Marina Bay is just a really busy area on a Saturday evening.

So as such, I found myself having to constantly weave in and out of people who were walking along the promenade, and this got a bit rough at times. It also broke up my running rhythm and so I had to stop a few times behind people before they saw me and I was able to continue on.

Said Ryan Habana, 42, a Development Manager in the Electronics industry, “The only problem was that there was a lot of human traffic along the route, especially at the Merlion area, but there’s not much that can be done about it, considering that it was a Saturday evening and the day after a public holiday too. But everything else about the run, was great.”

And agreed Charles, “The route was too crowded as there were too many members of the public along the route.”

Despite the large crowds, the marshals along the way did a great job though, to watch out for runners and tell us which direction to go, so that nobody would get lost.

Added Ryan, “The run was very well organised and there were plenty of ushers to show us the way, which was kind of nice.”

I also felt that most of the marshals along the route were quite attentive too, but as I was running past the Jubilee Bridge area, I did encounter one marshal who was too busy with his phone and as a result, he did not notice me coming.

So I had to stop and ask him several times whether to turn, towards the Jubilee Bridge or to head straight – before he finally looked up from his phone and suddenly noticed my presence.

Photo credits to Illumi Fest Run.

The Post Run Carnival Grounds

As the Illumi Fest Run tied up with the iLight Marina Bay festivities, the post run carnival was within the grounds of the Prudential Marina Bay Carnival.

Photo credits to Illumi Fest Run.

And at the end, there was a giant fluorescent paint party against the backdrop of iLight Marina Bay, fuelled with fresh beats from DJ Cookie and Rave Republic. Runners and partygoers danced the night away at the only glow in the dark paint party, at the heart of the city.

I had thought that the music at the race village was great and I really enjoyed swaying along to the songs. The choice of DJs by the organisers were spot-on.

However, Constantine Chong, who is in his mid 30s, pointed out that the songs had been repetitive.

Said the procurement manager in the education industry, “I liked the party disco songs, but the problem was that they kept on looping every 20 minutes. That made it quite repetitive.”

Nevertheless, I felt the party songs were catchy and vibrant and they had really helped to get my heart pumping and my adrenaline rushing.

I was not the only one having a great time though. Around me, everyone else had been clearly enjoying the after-party and also soaking up the vibrant and lively atmosphere.

Photo credits to Illumi Fest Run.

However, I wished that there could have been some music along the run route as well though, as this would have further added to the ‘party on the run’ theme that the Illumi Fest Run is promoting.

Added Charles, “With the way that the Illumi Fest Run was being marketed, I had thought there would have been music the whole way, at least. There could also have been more to do prior to the start of the run, as runners had been simply sitting around waiting for the event to begin.”

But there was plenty of merchandise available for sale at the race village, such as Illumi Glow Water, as well as glow in the dark apparel like headbands, tee shirts and waterproof lanyards, and a wide variety of food and drinks like fruit juices, hotdogs, ice cream, burgers and meat dishes.

As I was feeling a bit hungry after my run, I tried the Bratwurst sausages, which was served with potatoes, and though the portions were quite small, I had thought that the food tasted decent enough.

I didn’t buy any merchandise though as the prices were fairly high. For example, 250ml of the Glow Paint cost $12 and the lanyard cost $13. But I admit that having the paint definitely would have been fun, to spray on my friends.

Added Charles, “The prices of the ink and the spray could have been lowered so that more people can buy it and spray each other with it, like in the Colour Run. It would also be great if every runner could carry a water pistol or a squirt gun; my son had a water gun and he had a great time but the ink was too expensive.”

Runners also got to enjoy an Illumi Bar as a vibrant gathering point as well as the interactive Neon Playground themed Illumi space showcasing giant installations of popular games such as Twister, Hopscotch and Jenga.

I really loved these old school games as they reminded me of my childhood days when I used to play them during my primary school recess periods – in a much simpler day and age before technology took over the world. This was probably my favourite part of the Illumi Fest Run village.

Overall, despite a few shortcomings here and there, the Illumi Run was a great night out for me and my friends, and we definitely enjoyed ourselves.

Said Rebecca, “The event was great and everything was well organised. This was the very first running event for me and my family and we all had a great time.”

Photo credits to Illumi Fest Run.

Added Ryan, “This was my first Illumi Run and I found it a very colourful and fun experience. I loved the whole run cum festival idea as it’s rather different to most runs I do, which are generally the competitive running races.”

Organisers are quite pleased with the event

The organisers are also quite pleased with how the Illumi Run Fest had turned out this year.

Said Jeffrey Foo, Director of Infinitus Productions, “Illumi Fest Run is a unique party on the run that adds joy and glow to fitness and creates incandescent bonding moments for our runners. We are constantly evolving the concept to create new realms of experience, and are proud to have been able to bring back this event for the fifth edition this year.”

Click here to view the Illumi Fest Run 2018 photos.

Thanks to Illumi Run and Hapz for this opportunity to review the Illumi Fest Run 2018.