This morning, the Terry Fox Run Singapore returned to Angsana Green, East Coast Park, for its ninth edition.

Who Was Terry Fox?

The charity run aims to keep alive, Canadian cancer sufferer Terry Fox’s aspiration of a cancer-free world.

In 1977, Terry had been diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and was forced to have his leg amputated 15 centimetres above the knee as a result. 

During his time in hospital, Terry was overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research and his journey was termed as the Marathon Of Hope.

Unfortunately though, Terry never completed his journey. Running close to 42km per day through Canada’s Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario, Terry was forced to stop running outside Thunder Bay, because the cancer had spread to his lungs.

By this stage, he had run for 143 consecutive days and covered a total distance of 5,375km. He passed away from his cancer at the age of 22, on June 28, 1981.

A Key Charity Event For Cancer Research

Today, the Terry Fox Run, which is an entirely volunteer-driven event, has become one of the key charity events in Singapore for cancer research, attracting hundreds of participants each year in both the 5km and the 10km non-competitive categories.

Since my mother had been diagnosed with an aggressive Grade Four glioblastoma (brain cancer) in 2014, I have made it a point to throw my support behind and participate in the cancer-related charity running events each year in Singapore, such as the Terry Fox Run.

And this year was no exception; for I took part in the 10km run, which was flagged off at 7:30am today.

A Cool Morning

It had been a cool and breezy morning when I had reached Angsana green at roughly about 6:35am. I took the time to compose myself, have a quick look at what was available at the race site, and also get my body ready for the run ahead.

It was also around this moment when I saw a familiar green truck reversing into the parking lot – of course, that was the Milo truck and I made a mental reminder to myself to help myself to some of the Milo from there, when I was done with my run.

As well, I also caught up with a few of my running buddies, whom I run together and hang out with every Saturday at the weekly parkrun. It had been great seeing them again at this event.

Official Warm-Up Begins

The official event warm-up started at 7:00am and then there was an announcement for the 10km runners to head into the starting pen at about 7:20am, just in time for the flag-off for this category. 

The 5km runners would follow shortly after, as this category would be flagged off at 7:40am.

Race Flag-Off

The race start had been a very simple and fuss-free affair.

Photo: Facebook/Terry Fox Run Singapore 2019

Once we had gathered and our GPS watches had picked up the signal, the organisers mentioned a few words that I could not quite catch, and then they blew a horn and we were off, after that.

Running Route

The race route had been a rather straightforward one, heading from Angsana Green to East Coast Carpark B1 and then u-turning, running all the way back to Angsana Green after that. 

It was quite a familiar route to me and one that’s impossible to get lost, because I run at East Coast Park quite often.

Congestion At Beginning

I found the first couple of kilometres to be a bit congested, no thanks to the narrow paths and the construction works that are currently taking place at East Coast Park at the moment.

So as such, I felt that my race start had been pretty slow, and I only managed to pick up the pace a bit, somewhere around the Rain Tree Cove area, when the paths got wider.

Sun Comes Out

However the sun came out soon after that, and from that point on, it began to feel exceedingly humid.

As a result, I found myself exerting more energy to maintain my speed, and my breathing was becoming quicker and shallower as my heart rate shot up at the same time. So I figured this meant that I had to slow down, in order to keep my heart rate stable.

Race Hydration 

There had been about three water points along the way, with volunteers stationed at these, giving out full bottles of water to the runners.

Photo: Facebook/Terry Fox Run Singapore 2019

Despite the high humidity levels, I didn’t take any, because I did not want to end up carting along a half-drunk bottle of water while I was running. And I know that I can still tahan 10km of running without taking hydration midway.

Volunteers And Signages

Being an untimed charity run, though, there were no kilometre markings en route, so I kept track of my pace and distance by using my GPS watch.

But there were volunteers as well as signages along the way to keep the runners on track and prevent us from straying off the path. I thought this was quite well organised.

Second Half Of My Run

After I had reached the halfway point, I found myself counting the kilometres down. I think that my running pace slowed down a little bit more somewhere around this segment of the run, in order to conserve energy so that I could finish strong.

Eventually we passed by the Siglap Canal which meant that we were now on the home run stretch, with just over two kilometres left to go. 

Picking Up Pace

I tried picking up my pace again at this stage, but at the same time, also keeping a watchful eye on my heart rate so that it did not exceed the higher end of my Steady Zone.

There was a slight uphill at the Cicada Woods Trail area, located around Area D of East Coast Park and I adjusted my pace accordingly to keep my heart rate under control as the searing heat and humidity continued to seep into my very bones.

It was a relief to see the Singapore Wake Park because at this stage, this meant there were only a few hundred metres left to go. 

There were a couple more slight upslopes around this segment of East Coast Park, but the thought that the finish line was just up ahead was enough to keep me going.

Finishing The Run

And soon enough, I could see it – the finish line, together with plenty of volunteers cheering on the runners along the final few hundred metres.

And the volunteers’ shouts of encouragement had definitely been what I needed, to push myself for the last stretch and run through the finishing arch.

It was not quite the sprint finish that I had imagined, but at least I had completed the 10km run.

Post-Race Refreshments 

After completing the run, I met up with my parkrun buddies again and we chatted to one another for a while, before then heading over to the refreshments area – where I got myself a bottle of water, a chocolate chip cookie and a banana. 

I thought that the cookies, which had been sponsored by Marina Bay Sands, had been particularly crunchy and delicious.

Then I made a bee-line for the Milo truck.

This had been something that I had been looking forward to, since the beginning of the run, and I was definitely not going to miss out. 

And just as I had expected, the Milo was definitely sweet, cold and refreshing and it tasted really good.

Merchandise Booths

Besides the food, the race site had a few charity booths by the Singapore Cancer Society and the Canadian Association of Singapore, which were selling merchandise such as Terry Fox Run t-shirts, plush teddy bears and some hand-made items which had been prepared by the cancer patients themselves.

I stayed around to have a look and also take a few photos of the items that were available. I thought the little bears were really cute!

As well, I saw a few other running friends whom I had recognised, and I acknowledged them and we chatted for a bit, before I then subsequently made my way home – stopping to get McDonalds’ new Yuan Yang Coffee Milk Tea flavoured soft-serve cone.

While exploring the post-race site, it was also interesting to see a group of runners who had dressed up as some of the Journey To The West characters, the monkey Sun WuKong and the pig, Zhu Bajie, amongst them. Apparently they had completed the 5km event whilst fully dressed in their costumes, which had been quite impressive indeed.

Had A Great Time

Overall I would say that despite the humidity levels which had made the 10km event at the Terry Fox Run 2019 a more challenging run than I had expected, I’d still had a great time at the race this morning.

This might be quite a small-scale event compared to many other mass runs in Singapore, but I think it was well-organised enough and quite functional, and I would be back for future editions, as long as I am in Singapore.