Last Saturday morning, the Coffee Tea Runners running group, together with FLEXISEQ® Sport Singapore, had organised a 50km self-supported running event.

Formed in March 2016, Coffee Tea Runners aim to promote fitness and health through running, with the aim to care for the community and the environment, at the same time.

Photo: Facebook/Coffee Tea Runners

And Saturday’s event had been put together to support home-grown ultra-marathon runner Lim Nghee Huat, who is in his sixties and will be taking part in a 345km ultra-marathon across Scotland on 18 – 22 August this year.

FLEXISEQ® Sport, a brand of non-drug sports gel that relieves muscle soreness, pain and stiffness, was developed in collaboration with professional sporting partners to meet the needs of the sports and active-lifestyle market. Lim is one of the brand’s sports ambassadors in Singapore.

A fun, no-frills running event at East Coast Park

This fun, no-frills event, which had began and ended at the Big Splash in East Coast Park, had attracted about 30 plus runners who had wanted to lend their support to Lim.

Photo: Facebook/Coffee Tea Runners

Lim is quite well-known in running circles across Singapore, with one of his most notable ultra-marathons being his 2,500km in 50 days challenge to celebrate Singapore’s 50th birthday in 2015.

Carol Goh, 41, an admin manager, had been one of the runners. She said, “He is preparing for a 345km race next month. I think that is amazing and is very motivating for us. At his age, if he can go for it, it is a great way to inspire all of us, whether we are slow or fast runners. That is why I want to give him my moral support.”

Added Jaz Ang, 44, a designer – who had also showed up to lend her support to Lim, “He is running for a charity and completing more than 300km. That would be more than 100 hours of running. For us to spend half a day here at East Coast Park, that is nothing in comparison. So why not?”

Photo: Facebook/Coffee Tea Runners

Straightforward running route 

And the running route had been quite straightforward and simple too, with runners completing multiple loops beginning at one of the shelters near the Big Splash area, and running towards the Fort Road and Bedok Jetty directions before then heading back to the starting point.

Each loop had been approximately 10km long and runners could stop anytime that they had wanted to. So this meant that those who did not feel up to it, did not need to run the full 50km together with Lim.

Photo: Facebook/Coffee Tea Runners

Though a small group of runners had completed the full 50km together with Lim, many of the other runners chose to use the event to clock their weekly long runs instead, completing about 20km.

Jaz had been one of them. She said, “This is supposed to be a recovery week for me. I just did a full marathon overseas, so my body felt too tired to run the full 50km. So my target today was about 20 – 25km.”

Hydration and food were provided 

Hydration and food was provided at the event too, with a hydration station at the beginning and end point serving water and isotonic beverages. There was also food, such as bananas, apples, Oreos and Snickers for runners who needed the energy as they were running.

As well, another hydration point was positioned at the midpoint too – so that runners would not need to worry about their hydration needs throughout the long run.

Functional and well-organised

Runners had thought that everything at the run was good. Said Carol, “For today’s event, everything was well-organised, including the water supplies and the food. The support was very good and the weather was great too.”

This had been because weather-wise, it had been quite a cloudy and sunless morning. And though it may have threatened to rain at some stage, the rain fortunately appeared to have held off for the runners.

Agreed Rey Muk, 36, a Project Manager, “The event was very well-done. For the food and support, it was great, and the location at East Coast Park was quite a convenient place to come to. The logistics had been very well put together too.”

Runners would be happy to return 

And if the event – of which Saturday’s is the second edition – is held again, runners added that they would definitely return to support it again.

Said Carol, “This was the first time that I had joined the event and it was something new to me. But I would definitely support it again if it is held again next time.”