The kite festival is back for the second year running, with kite flying days on 18 and 19 September at The Promontory @ Marina Bay. The Singapore Kite Festival is a large-scale weekend extravaganza of activities centred on kite making and kite flying with enhanced performances from musicians, dancers, puppeteers and magicians; kite making workshops; and exciting performances by ten international kitemasters from Thailand, Switzerland, Japan, Malaysia and the U.S – eight more than last year.
I wanted to introduce my children to this fun outdoor activity of kite flying and the whole family was there to soak in the festive atmosphere, and of course, brought along our own kites to fly! Here’s a look at the event through my lenses:
On the glorious Sunday of September 12th, 2010, I was awoken at the ungodly hour of 3am to prepare and to catch the chartered bus to the Padang, the start point of the SAFRA Singapore Bay Run – Army Half Marathon 2010 (SSBRAHM2010). I was participating in the half marathon (21km) which started at 5.15am.
Touted as the largest annual mass running event in Singapore (with participation at 70,000 in 2009), SSBRAHM2010 was jointly organised by SAFRA and The Army.
Besides the unique route taking 21km runners over the iconic Benjamin Sheares Bridge, for the first time, participants of the 21km AHM and 10km race ran past the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort (IR) along Bayfront Avenue. Those who took part in the non-competitive 5km Fun Run enjoyed a visual treat of the Marina Bay landscape as they ran along the iconic Helix Bridge and Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade.
This year runners from 10 foreign armed forces came to take part. The competition was pretty intense!
A carnival atmosphere greeted the runners at the end point,with many finishers making a beeline for a well-deserved rub down from one of the sponsors.
I had a very positive experience at this year’s run. From the time I woke up to the time I crossed the finishing line, I felt good at every stage of the race and was very glad to have joined and completed the run.
I did not bettered my 21km PB timing, but I was quite happy with my timing of 1hr 47mins (net) and that put me at the 4th percentile of all finishers in the half marathon.
