Betshopboy.net

Marina 21K is an inaugural race consisting of a half marathon and 10km run, in a packed calender of road races in Singapore. To set itself apart from the competition, Marina 21K’s race route took participants through the Bay East at Gardens by the Bay of Singapore, as well as passed through Tanjong Rhu and Kallang River Basin. Never too far from the water, this race was touted to open up participants’ senses by drawing them into the captivating scenery of the Singapore Marina Bay skyline.

The event site was rather inaccessible, somewhere in Tanjong Rhu area.

The scenery at the start point was indeed captivating, and was a welcome change to the usual start point set in the city center.

For the 1st km, runners were treated to the above scenery of the Marina Bay skyline, after that, my race experience started going downhill. If last week’s Tri-Factor Run was a disaster as a result of insufficient route marker and lack of race marshals at critical junction, leading to some runners eventually taking the wrong route, this Marina 21K was not any better.

The flag-off time of 10km run was a good 2hrs ahead of the 21km run, and this created a human-traffic jam at the clearly insufficient baggage deposit counters when 10km finisher and incoming 21km runners converged, which I believed many 21km runners were caught in the queue and were eventually late for the flag-off.

The route (sans the first km) was clearly not meant for a road race, much less a half marathon. In many stretches, runners had to run on grass patches, poorly-lit and uneven footpath and cutting across pedestrian path in the Tanjong Rhu residential area. The lack of distance-marker was really a sore point for me.

I’ve never been so critical of races I had taken part in, but the organization of Marina 21K bordered on being amateurish and my race-experience was at a low never felt before. With that said, I was glad to complete the race in 1 hr 48mins (gun time).

Early Sunday morning I was at the F1 Pit Building for the TIMEX TRI-FACTOR Run 2011. I was registered for the 21km run, which was flagged off at 6am.

The race course was not as flat as the Sundown Half Marathon, it was a tough course with several up slopes, and many twist and turns along the route.

To make matter worse, the 21km route was poorly marked (I only saw one distance marker), and some runners missed a turn and ran extra distances before realizing their mistake! I felt sorry for them, especially those going all out to better their PBs, their race was ruined by confusion of the route.

I finished the 21km run in 1 hr 46 mins (gun time) and here’s me in my finisher’s pose:

Here’s a closer look at the finisher medal

The official results of the Sundown Marathon 2011 was released, and here’s a look at my Runpix race result statistic.

My time of 1hr 42m, placed me in 42nd place in a field of 3500 men’s finishers. I did not manage to better my PB, but all in all, I can’t complain considering I took part in the Passion Run 25km race just a week earlier!

The certification of appreciation was also available for download and here’s my copy.

The fourth edition of the Sundown Marathon took place on the evening of 28 May. It was the first time I managed to sign up for this race, and it was a Sundown half marathon for me. This popular race event (race slots are sold out very fast) consisted of 10km, 21km and 42.195km categories. The full marathon started at 10pm, hence its tagline – “Sleep Can Wait Beat The Sunrise”.

The Sundown half marathon route was relatively straight forward with minimal turns, and the course was very flat. A major distance of the route was the same as last weekend’s PAssion Run 2011, thus it was fairly deja vu for me.

The flag-off time for half marathon was 8pm, but I arrived an hour and a half early to take in the sights of the runners’ village.

Although it was a night run, runners still had to endure a very humid run. I finished the race in 1hr 42mins. Here’s me posing with the finisher medal after the race.

Here’s a close up shot of the 21km Finisher medal

The 100Plus PAssion Run was back last Sunday and it was my 3rd time to experience the PAssion, and I signed up for the 25km category. It was a dusk-run, and the start-off time at 4.30pm was a real scorcher! It was too damn hot and humid!

Before the runners of 25km were flag-off, the 500m kids dash took place with great fanfare and shouts of encouragement from the parents!

The throngs of runners eagerly anticipating the flag-off for their 25km run.

Here’s me posing with the finisher medal. I took 2hrs 20mins to complete the race.

Here’s a picture of the finisher medal, finisher-Tee, and the race singlet

Let’s take a closer look at the finisher medal, which feels like a key-chain to me!