Review: SAFRA Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon 2009

Event Details
Date: 16 August 2009, Sunday
Start Point: Esplanade Bridge
End Point: Padang

The largest Running Event in Singapore was the tagline for the Salonpas Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon 2009. It is organised by SAFRA and The Army on the 16 August 2009. The event comprises both the competitive 21-km half-marathon and 10-km routes. Social runners can also participate in the non-competitive 6-km Fun Run category.

The event aims to promote healthy lifestyle and reinforce SAFRA and the SAF’s emphasis on physical fitness. Over the years, participation has grown from 15,000 when it first started in 1992 to about 70,000 last year.

This year will be my 3^rd time participating in this event as this is the only 21-km event organise before the Singapore Marathon, it will serve as good conditioning training for the Singapore Marathon in December.

Race starts at 5:30am for the 21km category; we have decided to overnight at Marina bay the night before as not to be late for the flag-off. It was a beautiful night; the temperature was fine, good enough for us to at least get a few hours of sleep before race starts. Since we were part of the National Day Parade Marching contingent, we have gotten very familiar with the area as we had a 3.2km route march there about a week before.

Championship Bib

Just like the previous years, we run up the Sheares Bridge; Fort Road to East Coast Park. The flag-off time had been move to 5:30am which is an hour earlier compared to the previous years, therefore the runners was not severely punish by the heat of the morning rising sun as they ran across East Coast Park and back.

Route Map

After making the U-turn we make our way to Republic Avenue, Singapore Flyer F1-Pit and push on to the finishing line located at the Padang. After the U-turn it seems that the run is getting easier as we are already familiar with the route due to our countless City route marches in preparing for the National day parade.

We crossed the finishing line, tired but happy as we were able to beat our personal best timing for 21km. Finisher medals were given out right after we crossed the finishing line.

21km Finishers’ Medal

We hang around to explore the booth set up at the Padang in celebration for the upcoming Youth Olympics. Overall it was a wonderfully planned event; sufficient water point, portable toilets and road marshals was there adequate making the run more enjoyable and more convenient. Surely, we will be back next year to participate it again.

Team Addicted To Run