With the Singapore economy being hit by the effects of the Covid-19 global pandemic, the country has slipped into recession and there is no clear indication of when we will emerge out on the other side.
As such, hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans are facing an uncertain future with regards to unemployment.
A new virtual running initiative
So to help out, Orange Room and Novastella have therefore come together to launch a new virtual running initiative, called Leaderboard: Run for Your Future, to provide an innovative solution that aims to help Singaporeans and Singapore companies survive the recession as well as to thrive in the post-COVID landscape.
This initiative is ongoing for the next few months and will end in April.
For this initiative, running has been selected as the core activity given its accessibility and popularity among the majority of Singaporeans.
Two categories, competitive and social
Leaderboard has two categories, a social and a competitive category.
For the competitive category, which has a fee of $9.50/entry, the top 30 runners from each month will be selected to take part in a physical 5KM running race at the Singapore Sport hub in April, with over $8,000 worth of prizes to be won for the overall champions.
On the other hand, the social category is free of charge to enter, so that Leaderboard is inclusive to everyone regardless of income level or financial situation.
Registration for Leaderboard is quite simple. Besides entering our particulars, you also need to choose the key growth industry that we are interested in and would like to represent.
The key growth industries featured in Leaderboard have been identified by the government in order to overcome the current economic challenges.
I chose the Sports, Arts & Entertainment sector.
The run itself
For the run itself, I completed my 5KM on a cooling January weekday evening, in an easy out-and-back route from Marine Terrace to East Coast Park.
A seaside route, this might not have been one of the most scenic running courses in Singapore, but it was chosen because of its proximity to my house and also because of its lack of traffic lights. It is also a route that I am quite familiar with.
The weather was muggy but thankfully it was not too hot because it was around 7pm when I did the run and the sun was not blazing. There was a light sea breeze which was good and helped to keep me feeling comfortable when I was running.
The route was also pancake-flat and there were minimal twists and turns along the way.
I finished the run in about 32 minutes 40 seconds and submitted the result via the link that was sent to me in my email.
This was a pretty easy thing to do and not complicated in the slightest. The hardest part was probably having to dig through my emails to locate the Leaderboard email which had been sent to me.
Race results are updated on the Leaderboard website after the month is over. So you can now see the full set of results for both December and January.
Finisher entitlements
Competitive challenge participants are entitled to a beautiful finisher medal as part of their entry fee, with a finisher tee being an additional $15 top-up purchase.
On the other hand, for social challenge participants, there is an attractive virtual goodie bag filled with discounts and vouchers, that awaits them on their race completion.
Interested to sign up for this interesting and novel Leaderboard running initiative?
You can check out more about Leaderboard at https://www.leaderboard.sg.
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