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After enjoying a great run in last Sunday’s adidas KOTR run, I am back at the Padang for the SAFRA Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon 2011. This was a pre-dawn race consisting of 21km, 10km and 5km fun run. I was running in the 21km half marathon and the runners were assembled on the Esplanade Bridge, all charged up for the 5.15am start.

As this year was the 20th anniversary of the SAFRA Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon, there were many “Firsts” ranging from a refreshed running route, to a first “Father and Child Challenge” category. The 21km running route took runners past 20 of Singapore’s iconic landmarks, including Marina Barrage, Bay east at Gardens by the Bay, Old City Hall, Anderson Bridge, to name a few.

After exiting from Marina Barrage, we ran along the Gardens by the Bay that connects to Tanjong Rhu View. This section of the route was similar to that of Marina 21K run which I did back in July, and which I dislike due to having to run on grass patches in the dark, as well as on uneven footpath. Other than this little inconveniences, the running route was refreshing, and the myraid of colourful street-side performances at various locations along the route certainly provided the runners with much welcome relief.

My timing for this 21km run was 1h 40mins. I had an enjoyable time during and after the run, congrats to the organizer for a well-organized race and all the volunteers for their hardwork! Now it’s time to let some post-run pictures continue the story.

After several road races where organizers tried to outdo the competition by coming up with ‘out-of-the-box’ themes and running routes in far-flung starting point, I was back at familiar territory with the Adidas King of The Road (KOTR) 2011 run at the Padang in the early morning of 28 Aug.

The race distance was 16.8km with the start point on Esplanade Bridge and finishing point at the Padang.

Coming on the back of some rather disorganized races earlier, this adidas kotr was a very well organized race, befitting this global sporting brand that is Adidas. The route, which brings runners past many icons in the Marina Bay area, was adequately marked with huge visible distance-marker, and water-points were long to accommodate the massive throngs of thirsty runners. Overall, I had a very satisfied race experience, and I’m sure most, if not all of the runners, local and overseas will agree with me.  Let’s take a photowalk of the post-race carnival.

I finished the race in 1h 17.05m, and was mildly surprised by this result.

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).

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