The 26th edition of the nation’s largest Half Marathon running event, the Safra Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon, took place this morning at the Padang with over 41,000 runners taking part altogether.

Click here to view the Army Half Marathon 2018 photos.

Themed ‘Together We Run’, the event was graced by the Minister for Defence & Chairman of SAFRA Board of Governors, Dr Ng Eng Hen – as the guest of honour.

Organised by Safra and the Singapore Army

Jointly organised by Safra and the Singapore Army, the main aims of this annual running event are to bring together Singapore Armed Forces active servicemen, NSmen and their families together to keep fit and bond, as they train and run together. 

And participation amongst families of Singapore Armed Forces National Servicemen had indeed reached a record high of over 7,400 family members this year – a significant increase of 40 per cent from 2017.

The 2018 event had featured various categories – a 21.1KM Army Half Marathon, the Safra 10KM Competitive Run as well as the the Safra 5KM Fun Run, NS Team Run and Families For Life 800-metre Challenge.

Took part in the 21.1KM 

I took part in the 21.1KM Army Half Marathon, which was flagged off at the early hour of 4.30am today. It was a struggle to wake up, and at first, when my alarm went, I admit that I pushed down the snooze button. 

But after plenty of inertia, I eventually dragged myself out of my comfortable bed and managed to get down to the race site by about 3.40am, still in a half-asleep state.

Upon reaching, I picked up my media pass and then I made my way into the start pen, where I was then ‘ambushed’ by the bubbly and energetic emcee Ross Sarpani, who had been hyping up and entertaining the crowd.

I noticed that there were also LED stilt walkers stationed at the start line, to create some energy and buzz to the event, as well.

Flag-off was delayed 

The eventual 21.1KM flag-off was delayed by about five minutes and I began my run at roughly about 4.35am, in the first wave. 

I had later heard that there were three waves altogether, which were each flagged off about ten minutes apart.

Running to heart rate

Straight out of the blocks, my heart rate had hit the higher end of my Easy Zone, possibly because of the pre-race adrenaline. 

This had been despite the weather being fantastic this morning. It was not as humid as the past few days and the sun had not come out yet, making it cooling for Singapore standards, at the same time.

Added Marcello Cacioni, 32, a Safety Manager, “It was a nice run and the weather was awesome.”

Signages and marshals

As I continued running, I noticed that there were plenty of signages telling runners when to make a left or right turn, as well as marshals stationed along the way, to ensure that runners stayed on the path and did not get lost.

However I also quickly realised early on during the race, that it was going to be difficult to pace myself – this was because the reading on my GPS watch did not tally with the kilometre markings, which had been sometimes 500-metres to one kilometre off from my watch figures.

Route

But I was not sure whether this could also have been due to the heavily built-up area that we had been running at that was messing up the GPS signals – as the race route itself had taken runners round the city centre, from the Esplanade Bridge through the Marina Bay Sands, Tanjong Rhu, East Coast Park as well as the Kallang area, before then returning to the Padang. 

According to the event organisers, the choice of route was a visual reminder to national servicemen of the prosperous home and unique way of life that they are defending.

But as it was not yet dawn, I felt that there was not really much to see in terms of the icons and landmarks, when I was running.

Poor Lighting 

This had also been a slightly different route to previous years, but I thought that there were certain sections that were quite dark. As such, this could have posed a tripping hazard for runners who may have been running fast.

Said Marcello, “The route was good, but maybe there could have been more lighting at certain points. East Coast Park was a bit dark.”

Added Yip Yow Yeng, 47, a Service Planner, who thought likewise, “The East Coast Park segment was dark and the visibility was not very good. I almost tripped there.”

Narrow paths

While I had not faced any major bottlenecks as I ran because I had begun my run near the front of the first wave, I did note that there were some narrow pathways though, where I had been forced to slow down my speed a little, due to the large number of runners making their way through these areas.

But for runners who had begun in later waves, I realised that these areas could have had the potential to become bottlenecks.

And agreed Yow Yeng, “There were a couple of bottlenecks that were quite bad during the race. One was at the beginning when we turned into Robinson Road. Another one was when we were running into East Coast Park. Overall it was a good run though.”

Raymon Ramesh, 51, the owner of a car workshop, also felt similarly. He said, “There was a small bottleneck towards the start of the run, but that was the only obstacle and apart from that, the route and the race was good.”

Plenty of Hydration 

At least there had been plenty of hydration points along the way. I could see a hydration point situated at every 1KM-2KM of the race route.

But even though some were serving both water and 100PLUS isotonic beverage, there were others that had only water.

Because I had needed an isotonic drink, I picked the 100PLUS whenever I saw this, and to my delight, this was ice-cold. But I can’t comment on the water though, as I did not have any.

Agreed Marcello, “I had thought that the water points were great. There were many of these on the route, and there were also 100PLUS and bananas available, in addition to first-aiders. It was good.”

The sheer number of water points available, was also a massive improvement from previous edition of the Safra Bay Run & Army Half Marathon.

But other runners had pointed out though, that there had been no hydration station at the Padang prior to the race; the hydration tent there, only opened after the race.

However I did note that no gels were available at the hydration stations. So this had meant that it was necessary for runners to bring their own gels along.

En-route festivities

Along the way, I particularly liked the street-side festivities, such as the cheerleaders and the musicians who had been enthusiastically encouraging runners to keep on going, as well as the various run-through zones that had represented the various Army sectors. 

Some of these zones had consisted of placards and signages, whilst other decorated zones were more elaborate, with mist cooling stations for runners to run through – and prevent ourselves from overheating.

Together with my music, all of these had really helped to keep my mind occupied as I continued running, so that I did not focus on the pain and boredom.

Added Marcello, “I loved the crowd cheering us on the way. It also helped that the cheerleaders were beautiful, pretty ladies. They really encouraged us and supported us so that we could finish the race.”

Finishing the Run

Somewhere around 16KM to 17KM of the Half Marathon, I spotted my running coach, Ben Pulham, the founder of the heart-rate training programme Coached of which I have been training under, together with his colleague Jim. 

This was somewhere around the Mountbatten area and they both had stationed themselves there to cheer on runners passing by. 

Though my heart rate at this point in time had been in the lower end of the Steady Zone, it had still been quite nice to see them there and have them encourage me to keep on going for the final few kilometres.

The last segment of the run had brought us down Republic Boulevard and Raffles Avenue, passing sights such as the Singapore Flyer and the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay.

Knowing that the run was about to finish, I picked the place up slightly in order to finish strong.

The final kilometre was particularly motivating, with signages counting down as we passed every hundred metres, till we saw the finish line right up ahead. 

For runners who may have been targeting a personal best at this race, I thought that the signages had been quite good in terms of helping them pace themselves.

When I was about to reach the finish line, I saw the emcee and I ran past him – and that was when he announced that ‘Pris Chew was finishing the race.’ I wasn’t sure whether it was a good or a bad thing to have been recognised!

Completing the Race

Upon completing my 21.1KM run, I took a few photos at the end point before heading over to the finisher tent to pick up my entitlements. 

These were a finisher tee shirt, 21.1KM finisher medal, a can of 100PLUS and a banana.

Race Carnival

I then caught up with some of my running friends – including national marathoner Ashley Liew who had wished me luck for my upcoming Berlin Marathon next month, and I also had a quick look around the race village before making my way back. There had been a few different booths, with the layout rather basic.

I noted a few of the booths, such as the Safra membership booth, as well as a 100PLUS hydration tent, a booth by Gatsby where they were issuing wet wipes to runners who may have wanted to wipe away their sweat, and another tent by sponsors JBL where they were giving away items such as speakers and headphones after playing a simple game. 

I was initially interested to play, but I must admit that the long queues for this had put me off from doing so.

There was also a massage tent for runners who had wanted to soothe their weary legs. Though a massage would have been good, I did not make use of this service.

And as well, at the Padang, families also had the chance to try out various activities used by the Army to train their soldiers. These were at the Soldier Strong booth such as the agility ladder, sled, tyre flip and battle rope. 

I didn’t try these activities out for myself, but the kids who were playing around with them, had certainly looked as though they were having fun.

Overall despite a few shortcomings here and there with some aspects of the race, the 2018 Safra Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon had been quite well organised.

And agreed Raymon, “Everything was very good and the organisers did a great job.”

Concurred Yow Yeng, “Overall everything came together well. Safra is one of the best running races in my opinion.”

Families For Life 800-metre Challenge

Shortly before leaving the Padang, I also caught the Families For Life 800-metre challenge flagging off.

The most popular category at the event, this saw a new race record of 3,600 NSmen and their families running with specially designed, superhero themed event tees and face masks to match. 

The kids had looked really adorable and they were definitely a sight to behold.

This category had been flagged off by Senior Minister of State for Defence and President of Safra, Dr. Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman. He was accompanied by Families for Life Council Member Jeff Cheong. 

I also later found out that the Families For Life 800-metre Challenge category had broken the Singapore Record for the Largest Mass Run Wearing Masks, setting a new record of 1,379 runners.

And in the process, this had also eclipsed the earlier record of 1,191, which had initially been set at the 2014 edition of the Father & Child Challenge during the Safra Bay Run & Army Half Marathon.

Said Cheong, “Seeing so many dads and mums in the specially designed superhero-themed tees and masks is a poignant reminder to parents that we need to be role models for our children, to look up to and call a hero.”

He added, “If parents can make the conscious effort to spend more family time with their children through platforms such as today’s run, we can not only strengthen the parent-child bond, but also guide our children in developing their character and values positively.”

Organisers are happy with the event

The organisers are also pleased with the 2018 event and how it had turned out.

Said Colonel (NS) Simon Lim, Chairman of the Safra Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon Organising Committee, “The event continues to be a key platform for us to build strong soldiers who have the physical fitness, mental resilience and a strong belief why they serve National Service.”

He continued, “To attract more families to participate together with our servicemen this year, we introduced a comprehensive series of training activities, including the Soldier Strong Coaching Programme and fitness workshops, to encourage them to get more active. We are very glad to see the strong response from servicemen’s families across all the categories open to them and I am sure this makes the event even more meaningful for our servicemen.”

Click here to view the Army Half Marathon 2018 photos.