With both virtual and physical running race elements, I had been intrigued by the unusual concept of the RunAsOne race, when I first heard about this running event from my friends.

This is because unlike other virtual races where you pick your own running route, RunAsOne, which is organised by MetaSport, offers a fixed race route. As well, it is mandatory for all participants to download and use the RunAsOne race app to track their run.

The aim of implementing these measures are to remove the variables of using different devices and routes, in order to level the playing field and offer greater consistency for all athletes.

So then, when RunAsOne reached out to me to try out their app and do the run, I agreed, eager to see for myself, what their groundbreaking app had to offer.

I took part in the 12.9km distance. There is also a 5.6km race available.

The 12.9km distance is one loop around the beautiful Marina Bay, beginning and ending at the iconic Singapore sports hub.

In order to be eligible to race, we have to nominate a pre-arranged date and time to run. Otherwise we would be disqualified.

For me, my time slot was for last Wednesday evening from 7pm-8pm.

I was originally planning to be there on the dot at 7pm that evening, but I was running late due to work, so I arrived at 7:20pm. It was still well within my time window though so I was quite safe.

But I took 10 minutes to figure out where the exact start point was. I had been expecting some flags or markers to be placed there by the organisers with regards to the start point, so when I did not see any, I got a bit lost at first. 

It took me a while to figure out that I didn’t have to start at an exact spot, but rather, at any point within a 30-meter radius around the Sports Hub’s beach volleyball court. 

As long as the “countdown” button appeared on the RunAsOne app screen, I realised I could actually begin running.

Logging into my running account was a simple task of entering my name and my registration number.

My own 12.9km race officially began at 7:30pm.

Being directionally challenged, I had been afraid that I would get lost or take a wrong turn along the way.

As a result, I had made sure that I’d studied the route prior to my race date in terms of navigating the turning points and the various checkpoints.

Usually when I take part in a race, I don’t bother to look much at the route; I would just follow the person running in front of me.

However when the app was fired up, I realised that my fears were unfounded.

Upon pushing the ‘countdown’ button, the in-app audio cue begins with an introduction to the RunAsOne experience, before the 10-second countdown starts.

I used this spare time to get my GPS fired up and mentally prepare myself to run the race.

After I began running, I went on to discover that the app guides you with detailed verbal directions regarding which direction to run, and where to turn.

The run began with me running through the Kallang Riverside Park, a part which I am not too familiar with.

But the in-app directions had been similar to the GPS directional navigation for cars, and I thought these were really helpful in terms of keeping me on the right path and preventing me from taking a wrong turn.

Types of directional cues that I was given, for example, included, “Stay on the park connector with the waterway on your left for the next 2km” or “in 500m, take a left turn.” The GPS was definitely on the ball and it was quite accurate too with regards to my actual location.

Whenever I came to each intersection, the app would tell me which fork in the road to take i.e. cross over the bridge instead of going through the underpass at the Geylang Road intersection.

Moreover, when you have navigated a turn successfully, the app also reassured you that “you are on the right track.”

I have to say that MetaSport did a great job with these directional cues; i.e. unless you don’t know what is “left” and “right”, I felt it is not possible to get lost or to take a wrong turn along the way, as long as you are paying attention to the cues.

However I do have to say that you need to turn your phone volume up to maximum in order to make sure you hear the cues.

This is because at a busy public location such as the Marina Bay park connectors, there are noisy cyclists and scooters who whiz past and chitchat loudly along the path, so they may drown out the in-app voice cues. 

This had happened to me and I missed a couple of the cues, even though my phone had been turned as loud as possible. Luckily it was along the Marina Bay area, a point which had been quite straightforward. I knew I would be on track as long as I followed the reservoir.

In between the directional cues are also audio cues regarding the location that you are running at. Some of the locations introduced were the F1 Pit Building, Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay and the Satay by the Bay. 

Though these are locations which I am familiar with already, it was still interesting to learn a little bit more about them, via the race app.

But the app particularly “taunted” me at the Satay by the Bay section, by asking me whether the satay smelled delicious… then it immediately reminded me that I had a run to complete. Well at least that the organiser has a sense of humour, I suppose.

Besides keeping you on track with regards to location, the app also calculates your pace and time and determines whether you are on target, ahead of target, or falling behind. However in order to get this, you need to enter an estimated time prior to the start of your run.

I had entered a modest timing of 1 hour 30 minutes for the 12.9km, but I felt good so I ended up running faster than that. 

At every kilometre, the app repeated my timing, as well as telling me how far ahead of target I was. This had been a great help in keeping me on my toes throughout my run.

The in-app motivational audio cues telling me how well I was going, and to keep on putting one foot in front of the other, had also been great in ensuring that I kept my pace up.

Another feature of the app is to compare yourself against two running friends who have already finished the race. By selecting them, the app will constantly tell you how far ahead or behind you are, in comparison to them. 

However I opted not to use this feature, because my running friends are either much faster or slower than me… and I didn’t want to have this extra pressure during my own run.

In the end, I had completed the race about six minutes ahead of target, which I was quite happy about.

The total distance based on my Garmin was just over 13km, so the in-app distance of 12.9km isn’t very far off.

For the turning point to finish, you have to pay attention to the in-app cue; this is because it is a sharp left turn towards the Water Sports Centre rather than running straight along the main path. 

Luckily a friend who had run this race earlier warned me of this, so I made sure I was listening and I didn’t miss it.

Upon finishing, the app breaks out into cheers and congratulates you on your finish, which brought a smile to my face.

However moments after that, the RunAsOne app then reminded me to quickly move away from the finish line.

While this had been a bit of a bummer as I could not really stick around to celebrate my finishing, I guess that this reminder is necessary in terms of maintaining safe distancing. Though at around 9pm on a Wednesday night, the Sports Hub had been pretty quiet, anyway.

In line with contactless delivery and social distancing, race entitlements for the RunAsOne race experience are sent via bluPort. 

This meant that runners would nominate the most convenient bluPort location and when the entitlements have been delivered to the bluPort locker, we would receive an SMS notification to head over there to collect.

Overall I have to say that RunAsOne had been a good and fun racing experience, even though nothing beats real racing surrounded by crowds of thousands of like-minded runners. Unfortunately we probably won’t get that again, until a Covid-19 vaccine has been found.

Nonetheless, kudos to MetaSport for the hard work and effort they have put into their app, to create this unique, hybrid RunAsOne racing experience that I definitely enjoyed, every step of the way.

Disclaimer: Unicorn not part of race package.