Taking place at 1,400 locations in 22 countries around the world, parkrun is a global phenomenon that has taken the globe by storm since its inception in 2014.

As part of popular parkrun culture, New Year’s Day is a special one for regular parkrunners worldwide, because it is the only time in the year whereby seasoned runners, or those relishing a challenge, are able to take part in two parkrun events and log two different timings.

With four different parkrun events now taking place in sunny Singapore – at Bishan, West Coast Park, East Coast Park and Bedok Reservoir respectively, Singapore residents had their first opportunity to log two parkrun events on New Year’s Day. 

During earlier years, this opportunity to log two parkruns in one day had only been restricted to countries which had hundreds of parkruns, such as in the UK and Australia. 

In fact, as a result of this, parkruns stagger their starting time, so that hard-core runners will have the time to head from one event to the other. So as a seasoned runner, I was relishing the challenge to do this here in Singapore.

The Bishan and West Coast Park parkruns

The two events in Singapore staging a parkrun on New Year’s Day had been Bishan at 7:15am followed by West Coast Park at 9am.

Credit: Bishan parkrun

I decided to join the fun and take part in both parkruns on the same day. It had been hectic and tiring, but lots of fun, to say the least.

Bishan parkrun

I reached Bishan at 7:00am, meaning I had a bit of time to spare before the start of the 5km event. I used the time to catch up with some of my regular parkrun buddies who were also present. The mandatory run briefing took place a few minutes before 7:15am and we started the run on the dot.

Credit: Bishan parkrun

The Bishan parkrun route is pretty flat and comprises of two laps of the course, of which I had completed in just over 29 minutes. 

I have run the Bishan parkrun course a few times, but with other parkruns located nearer to where I stay, I don’t see the need to travel there regularly on Saturday mornings.

As it had still been early, it was quite humid and I was feeling sticky within the first ten minutes or so of running. Thankfully though, it had not been hot yet.

Upon finishing the Bishan event, I hung around for a short while, before catching a ride to West Coast Park with several other runners who were also keen to head down to their second parkrun. Apparently there are quite a lot of crazy runners residing in Singapore.

West Coast Park parkrun

Chit-chatting in the car on the way down, our small group of runners reached the West Coast Park at about 8:30am, with ample time to spare. 

However, several other runners had already reached the start point and were hanging around too. We used the time to stretch out our legs before beginning the second run.

I didn’t even contemplate the option, but I later found out that a runner had attempted to run the 15km distance from Bishan to West Coast park, but had failed to make it on time for the 9am start though.

My second parkrun of the day started a few minutes after 9am, once the mandatory run briefing had taken place. West Coast Park is an area that I rarely run at because it is quite far from where I stay, but I feel that having the change of scenery once in a while is always nice.

The West Coast Park parkrun course is in the shape of a figure eight around the park.

Unsurprisingly, my second parkrun was significantly slower than my first. 

I did it in just over 33 minutes, which is not too shabby, considering that I had been using the run as a recovery attempt while keeping my heart rate in the easy zone. As well, the heat also didn’t help, as the sun had already come out by this time.

Finishing and Breakfast

So it was a relief to see the finish line up ahead. I ran through it gladly, and then I took the time to catch my breath and recuperate for a while.

After that, I joined my regular parkrun buddies in walking over to the nearby McDonald’s outlet there to catch up with my buddies as well as tucking into a hearty breakfast of scrambled egg sausage burger and coffee. I have to say that I definitely deserved the sinful food, after completing the double runs.