My Running Addiction

The 14km trail route was cohesively organized by Tiong Bahru Community Centre Management Committee and Tanjong Pagar, Tiong Bahru Community Sports Club, with Ms Indranee Rajah, Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC, as Guest-of-Honour.

This year  saw a total turnout of 1600 participants which is 600 more participants as compared to last years turnout, This year turnout exceeding even beyond the initial targeted of 1,500 participants.

This year, it will be the first time participants can run on the former KTM Railway track, capturing a slice of history. An approximately 2.5km of the former KTM Railway track starting at Alexandra Village will be part of the trial challenge.

The Tiong Bahru Urban Trail Run’s objective is to encourage more road runners to give a shot at trail running.   While road and track running can be mundane on flat grounds, trail running tends to traverse varying terrains that inject more excitement for the adrenaline junkies.

The Race started at 7.30am at ZhengDe primary school, from there participant made their way to Lower Delta Road, Telok Belangah Road and onwards to the Marang Trail.

Upon reaching Marang Trail, many slowed down due the narrow pathway and the steps up the trail was a challenge to on its own.

As they reach up the Marang trail the route continue into the winding uphill and downhill slopes of Mount Faber, making a big loop in Mount Faber before entering Highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore, The Henderson Wave, such a breathtaking view every single time one crosses the bridge.

It was all downhill from then one till participant reaches the entrance of the KTM located next to the Ayer Rajah Expressway. Participant made their way across the 2.5km distance remains of the KTM tracks.

The route led participant back the Lower Delta road and then towards the finish line at ZhengDe Primary school. Upon crossing the finishing line, finisher medal were distributed which follows the prize giving and lucky draw session.

There were two categories – Men’s and Women’s Open with the following winners:

WOMEN’S OPEN

Position	Name	Timing
1	Rachel See	01:09:08.61
2	Kiyomi Urbas Muraki	01:12:49.83
3	Hana Cheong	01:14:52.44

Overall, it is a well organized event. As the holding/ starting area was located in a school compound, there were sufficient facilities such as toilets, baggage point and gathering point available. Being conducted in the school the race site t was easy to located and it is very accessible for participant to get to via public transport or personal transport.

The only thing that I feel is bad or rather dangerous is when participant have to cross to the other side of the road. As there are no road closure in place, participant would have to cross certain junction using traffic lights and overhead bridge. Even-thought there were marshall in place to guide the participant but I feel that there weren’t either enough or  capable of controlling the situation as there were several occasion where a huge number of participants would dash across the road junction dangerously rather than take the pedestrian bridge which was part of the route.

But as a whole it was a very scenic yet challenging route that challenge the participant in a variety of terrain from uphill to downhill and from hard Road to muddy Trails.

Gear use:  Salomon XR Mission (Read Review)