Safari Zoo Run 2009

Safari Zoo Run 2009. First 'race' of the year. And a very expensive one at that. At $38 registration, and being held in an ulu location and with no competitive category, I thought the turnout would be poor but boy was I surprised when we reached at 3.30 pm and found the car park almost full. Turned out there were about 4000 + participants in the first ever run to be held in the zoo. I guess most of the people wanted to kill 2 birds with 1 stone - visit the zoo & night safari and get in some exercise as well. For me, it was the novelty of visiting the Night Safari in the day time that attracted me to the event.

The event was fairly well organised. The runners were flagged off in 3 waves in 10 minutes interval - the elites runners first, followed by 'normal' runners and finally the 'abnormal?' runners. We started right at the back so I supposed that made us abnormal runners but it's okay. We were there for the fun of it and not looking to smash any PB - maybe get a PW.

After flag off, we walked into the human jam caused by the narrow pavement and the gates of the night safari.So it was a slow slow jog all the way. Disappointingly, all we got to see in the night safari was scene like this

Where are the animals?

So there was a sort of a mini jam when the runners spotted the first animal or rather bird in the Night Safari and camera toting runners like me stopped to take a shot.
Along the way, bumped into a few familiar faces mainly from the Running Lab but few sgrunners other than those wearing the sgrunners t. Hmm maybe I should take part in more sgrunners events to recognise the many new members?

Out of the night safari (distance about 3km) in a cool 31 mins, saw a most welcome sight:
Yes the Milo van. Can you believe that after so many years of taking part in races, I never ever had a chance to drink from a Milo van yet? This time die die must stop to drink even though I was not thirsty. Grabbed 2 cups - one for myself and 1 for Alicia before going into the Zoo.

At last, finally chance to see the animals. Of course, the famous man-killing White Tiger, many different species of deers, a real giraffe:and this not real giraffe.
Back to the finish point in 15 mins (I had abandoned my walk/jog and decided to do a run) and seeing so many people still mulling around, decided to go for a 2nd loop in the zoo. Caught up with Alicia who was taking the photographs and walked with her back to the finish line finishing the whole run in 1 hour 25 mins. Ha ha a record for a billed 6.5km race .

Stayed behind for the food, and the 2 lucky draws. Didn't win anything but 2 friends in the group did win something in the sgrunners draw so it didn't turned out too badly at all.

All in, it was a fun event. One which I enjoyed myself very much with no self imposed pressure to do a PB or outrun the people in my sight. Is this a sign of old age?