A national campaign aimed at giving ex-offenders a second chance at life, the Yellow Ribbon Project aims to promote a more accepting society, one that is willing to give ex-offenders the chance at making good.

A meaningful run for a good cause

The Yellow Ribbon Run is an event that I have supported annually since 2012. That year, it was also very first running race that I signed up for, ambitiously joining the 10km event when I could barely even walk, let alone run, 10km at that time.

I feel that the cause behind the Yellow Ribbon Run is a very meaningful and significant one. Everyone makes mistakes, so why should we continue to stigmatise people for mistakes that they have made in the past?

After all, they have already paid their dues and served their punishments for their deeds. We should give them a chance to make change.

Took on a virtual format

Priced at $15/pax, the 2021 event took on a virtual format for the very first time, due to the covid-19 pandemic. The two categories are YR Inspire and YR Challenge.

YR Inspire has no distance limit. You only need to complete a minimum of one run, walk or hike in the shape of a yellow ribbon within a single activity. There is no upper limit.

YR Challenge requires you to complete 60km in a minimum of one activity and a maximum of 5 activities, with each one being in the shape of a yellow ribbon. 

5 runs, averaging 12km per run, how hard could it be for a seasoned runner such as myself, I thought.

I am always up for a challenge, so I went for this category.

Creating yellow ribbons

However, as I have never had the knack for Strava art and the only thing I see when I look at the road map is street names and roads, the plotting of the yellow ribbons proved to be the hardest thing about this challenge.

I have to admit that it took me a while before I was able to begin seeing the yellow ribbons on the streets of Singapore, but once I had successfully mapped out first ribbon, it then became somewhat easier to spot ribbons after that.

The running turned out to be the easier part – provided I could memorise the street names and directions to go.

I tried to go for park connectors and running paths whenever I could, but it was not always possible; some of the ribbons brought me to streets and pavements where I often had to stop for traffic lights.

My runs and ribbon routes

I managed to complete the challenge within a total of five runs, each one ranging in distance from 2.9km to 20.5km. 

As I did not want to repeat any routes, the five ribbons took me all over Singapore. My ribbons were as follows.

A 2.9KM route around the outskirts of the Kallang Practice track, Mountbatten Road and Old Airport Road.

A 14.2KM route around Yishun and the northern part of Singapore.

A 20.5KM route through Marine Parade, East Coast park and Dakota.

A 14.2KM route at Bedok Reservoir.

And a 9.4KM route around Katong and Tanjong Katong, touching Marine Parade.

How my running went

For the more complicated routes where I was not too familiar with the locations and the surrounding landmarks, I was fortunate enough to have a running buddy who helped me with the plotting, and whom I could rely on for directions while running.

Throughout my 60km of runs, I admit I did make small mistakes such as taking a wrong turn. But fortunately for me, my errors were not significant enough to mess up the shape of the ribbon, so thankfully none of the runs needed redoing.

Overall I would say that the Yellow Ribbon Run proved to be challenging, and tested my Strava art ability to some degree, but it was a great experience and I had lots of fun plotting and running the routes, both by myself and with running buddies.

Support second chances and sign up too

Thank you Yellow Ribbon Singapore for the chance to take part in this virtual running event and to be able to run for second chances.

Slots are still available and you have until 24 September to register and 30 September to complete your run. Sign up at https://www.yellowribbonvirtualrun.sg and support giving second chances too.