Singapore recently celebrated her 54th Birthday on the 9th of August.

An Online Running Event 

And to mark this occasion, the Run For Singapore Online Challenge, organised by RunSociety and SpaceBib, took place from 1 – 31 August.

This was an online running event, and runners had the option of completing a distance of either 5.4KM or 54KM throughout the one-month period. 

2019 was also the second time when RunSociety and SpaceBib had organised this online challenge.

The online nature of this event had meant that there was no fixed time or location for the run, so runners were allowed to run or walk anywhere that they wanted in the world during the event period, and uploading screenshots of their GPS activities as proof that they had completed the distance and therefore be worthy of receiving the Finisher’s Entitlements.

Commemorating Singapore’s Growth

And as for the unique race distance, this had been the organiser’s way of commemorating what Singapore has gone through, from a fishing village to the thriving city-state that she is today.

Race Categories

There were three different categories in the Run For Singapore Online Challenge, and these were Basic, Classic and Premium, with the entitlements and prices differing for each category. 

For instance, in the S$10.98 Basic Category, runners would be entitled to just a Finisher’s Medal, whereas for the S$44.98 Premium Category, runners would get a Running Singlet, Finisher’s Medal, Finisher’s Tee and a Commemorative Running Coin.

My Participation

RunSociety extended a slot for me to join the Run For Singapore Online Challenge, and I participated in the 54KM Premium Category.

My Running Singlet and Commemorative Running Coin found their way into my mailbox, a few days prior to the start date. I thought that this was quite efficient as it meant that I could wear the singlet in time for the beginning of the online run.

Logging In And Uploading Our Runs

The event portal at SpaceBib did not open up for uploading our runs till the first day of the challenge, which was on 1st August. So I was unable to check it out and navigate through it in advance to find out what to do. 

But my worries about how to use the web portal were unfounded, because when 1st August came and I logged into my profile page on SpaceBib, I found that it was very easy to upload the screenshots of my runs.

The web portal, in my opinion, had been rather fuss-free and easy to use and navigate. The design was simple and worked well. So I think that any runner with basic Internet knowledge would be able to do this challenge without much troubles.

Upon login to access our SpaceBib profile page, the first thing that caught my eye was an orange button about midway down the page, with white wordings saying “upload result.” 

And when I clicked on it, a pop-up window would then appear, where we could upload our run screenshot, alongside keying in the distance and the time of our run before submitting.

Any GPS recording screenshot of our run or walk, as per the instructions, had to state the date, distance and duration of each run, so that there would be no cheating. The only exception to this rule, was treadmill screenshots, where a digital photo of the treadmill screen would need to be taken and uploaded, instead.

The Race Progress Bar

And once each run has been submitted, I would be able to easily see my overall race progress in the form of an orange bar, which was located directly above the “upload result” button on the home screen of our race profile page.

For me, I have been uploading my runs regularly, so that I can see my continuous progress, in real time.

While it is also possible to upload everything in one shot at the end of the challenge, I found it easier to do so after each run.

And for runners who preferred to accumulate everything at the end, though, I noticed that the SpaceBib portal gives participants three extra days to upload their workouts. So this means that while the deadline for running is 31 August, the uploading deadline is actually on 3 September. I think that this is quite fair.

Can Continue Uploading After Our Completion

Once we had completed either the 5.4KM or 54KM that we had signed up for, it is still possible to continue uploading screenshots of our runs to accumulate more distance and contribute to the organiser’s cumulative running distance target of 54,000KM.

Since completing my own 54KM, I have been doing this, and I hope that that my mileage clocked, will go a small way into helping them to achieve this.

Receiving My Finisher Entitlements 

My finisher entitlements, which had consisted of a finisher’s t-shirt and a medal, arrived two weeks before the end of the Run For Singapore Online Challenge. I was a bit surprised to see them reach me so early.

Though I had already completed the 54KM, I admit that I was not actually expecting the finisher stuff till the challenge was over, as is usually the case with most online runs that I have participated in.

Nonetheless it was an efficient move, on the part of the organisers.

And in the eyes of the organisers, it may also have been easier to dispatch the finisher entitlements in batches once participants had completed, rather than sending out everything at one go, as this would probably mean a little less admin and paperwork once the challenge is over.

Nonetheless, I think that the finisher t-shirt and the medal are both well-designed and lovely and I feel these will serve as great reminders and mementos of how I had celebrated Singapore’s 54th Birthday, last month.