Last Saturday and Sunday, the Race Pack Collection Expo for the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run was held at the Suntec City Convention Centre.

Run takes place on Sunday 9 September 

The run will be taking place on my birthday – next Sunday, 9 September – beginning at Changi Village and finishing within the grounds of the Changi Prison.

There are two different event categories, the 5km Fun Run and the 10km Competitive Run. I will be running in the 10km event.

Video Booth

When I arrived at the expo last Saturday afternoon in order to collect my race pack, the first thing that I had noticed was the video booth. I have seen photo booths quite commonly, but a video booth was something new. So I tried this out for fun.

For the video booth, we were given a microphone and we had about seven seconds to deliver a short message about second chances. We would then subsequently have the video emailed to ourselves.

I thought that this had been quite a cool idea and a twist on the typical photo booth that I usually see at race expos as well as at races.

Mini Tree

Apart from the video booth, there was also a mini tree whereby runners or visitors could pen their messages onto a yellow ribbon and stick it there, in order to send messages to the ex-offenders and to show their support for second chances.

Photo Booths

And a couple of photo booths were also available too, for those who may have been tongue-tied or else not comfortable with having videos taken of themselves.

Sponsor Booths

As well, there were also booths set up by the Yellow Ribbon Project, as well as the event’s official publication RUN Magazine, and Horticultural therapy company Green Haven Halfway House, and SalonPas in order to help runners relieve their muscle aches. 

Horticultural therapy is definitely an interesting skill for ex-convicts to develop in addition to helping them to rehabilitate and overcome their past mistakes at the same time, making themselves into productive citizens of society.

And cafe chain Bettr Barista were also present at the expo too, selling coffee to participants and other patrons around the vicinity.

Race Information 

Runners who wanted more information about race day could also check the route maps and event-site maps which had been printed out and were on display at the Race Pack Collection Expo.

Layout simple, but functional 

As a whole, the layout of the race pack collection expo was simple, but functional, with the basic essentials available. However there had been no avenues for last-minute running-related shopping though, as I did not see any running booths there.

Fuss-free pack collection 

The pack collection process itself was a fuss-free affair; I admit that as a social media advocate, I did not need to queue to pick up my race pack. 

But I did note that there were plenty of counters and that the queues had been moving pretty quickly.

Walk-in Registrations available too 

Walk-in registrations were available on-site too, for runners who may have decided at the last minute that they may want to run for second chances.

However it must be noted that those who register at the expo do not receive a personalised bib.

Items in the race pack

With regards to the items that were inside the race pack, I would say that the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run is one of the better events in terms of what runners get. 

One of the most useful things that we were given, was definitely the waterproof handphone pouch because these days, it can be really unpredictable with regards to the weather in Singapore.

Besides this, there were also some sponsored and discounted goodies, such as packets of biscuits and discount flyers in the pack, as well as a CompressSport Dry-Fit tee shirt and the relevant race bib with every runner’s name and category printed on it.

And there was a foldable fan in the pack too, perhaps for runners bring along to cool themselves down after the race.

Items aside, the yellow Dry Sack Bag that runners receive though, is also9 quite useful. This seems to be waterproof as well, meaning that I can bring it out when the weather is wet and not have to worry that my things inside will get soaked. 

I also like the design of the Dry Sack Bag too. It is translucent and I can foresee myself using this on casual outings.