Trail Running at Pulau Ubin

Good friend, ultra marathoner and trail lover, Kelly Lim has started a facebook group dedicated to trail running. The objective of the group according to the burb on the page is "An online trail running community to bring together trail runners based in Singapore, provide a platform to exchange info on training and local/overseas races and running routes, and to inspire more to step out to embrace nature".

To kick off the group, she organised a trail run at the last running frontier of Singapore, Pulau Ubin. The last time I went there to run was in 2011 for the North Face Series and I thought why not? So I too went along for the fun.

Apparently great minds think alike and about 50 persons turned up for this inaugural run. Weather was great and everybody was in a good mood except for maybe a rather "wet" photographer, Marcus Lim from Running Shots who went into the sea at the island to retrieve a dropped handphone of one of the participant.

Photo from trailrunning.sg

The distance to be covered was only 10km. But there was a long long break to walk the broadwalk at Chek Jawa and photo taking and that took up nearly an hour. Some of us decided 10km wasn't really enough for a good workout after coming all the way and went an extended distance of another 5km. For once, most of the runners managed to stay together during the run so it was rather enjoyable running at a leisurely sight seeing pace. I think everybody had a great time.

For those who are interested in joining future trail runs, do check out their facebook page for the latest update.

TNF Trail Run Series #5 Pulau Ubin

Woke up to an orange sky and the wind howling and trees rustling. Oh no not again! Sure enough, it starts to pour. It was the morning of the TNF Trail Run #5 at Pulau Ubin. Rather pessimistically, I changed into my North Face attire. Is the Pulau Ubin jinx going to strike again? It had rained the first time we went in February to recce the route and as a result, we had aborted the recce and postpone the run in February. Then at our next recce, it rained again and we had to delay going over to the island until nearly 8 am. It didn't rain during the last recce but it poured right after we finished our recce. So don't blame me for being apprehensive.

The rough sea after the rain

By the time we reached the ferry point, most of the hardcore runners were already waiting. Still it was a smaller than usual crowd. Only about 30 persons compared to the usual 50 - 60 of the past few runs. Credit that to the rain and the early meet up time. Fortunately, the rain stopped and we sailed over no doubt most of us with a silent prayer that it will not rain again. 

And the sky held up! And in the end the rain turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it became one of the best run ever with beautiful scenery, cool weather and great company.

RL Brokie pointing the way to the Secret Garden

Our route took us through various highlights of the island. First was the cutesy named Secret Garden which was actually a garden with all sort of vegetables and fruit trees including coffee, bitter gourd, starfruite, pomelo, corn, watercress.........

From there, it was a winding run through the trails passing swamp, rubber trees and cemetery to the Chek Jawa wetland. We stopped for a group photo at the jetty. However, I think everybody was busy eyeing the beautiful coastline of Pasir Ris and Changi and looking for the many sea creatures hiding in the seagrass. That plus the windy breeze and it was with great reluctance that the runners finally decide to continue the run.

Never Stop Exploring - TNF Trail Run #5 Preview

Pulau Ubin must be one of those places that most Singaporeans know about but have not visited. On weekends, the place is bustling with cyclists. So the group of us must have made a odd sight for the bicycle shops owner with our hydration bags but no bikes. 

We were of course not there to cycle but to run. More precisely to carve out a running route for the next TNF Trail Run. We had with us a "tour guide" Ayin who showed us the way.

Our very first Kodak moment was this beach. In fact along the way, there were another 3 or is it 4 beaches all with breathtaking view of the sea.

 Then there are the quarries. Mainland Singapore has 4 quarries. Pulau Ubin has if the info on the net can be trusted 25 quarries and this is just one of them.

Then we got to run through a rubber plantation. Very nice and shady but lots of mosquitoes though.

We came out to this dike or dam which led to a swamp like area.

And we round off the run with what else but another quarry!

All in, it was a nice easy run. No major slopes, no technical trails, just fresh air, nature and our stinking sweating bodies.

NTUC 350

It never rains but it pours! Just like February was destined to be the hottest month, looks like March will be the wettest month. It started pouring in the middle of the night and the rain did not look like stopping.

I was like shit!@$ I had paid nearly a hundred bucks for the 4 of us to take part in this run and I be dammned freaking mad if the rain wash it out. I was so looking forward to this. The last time I was in Pulau Ubin was like a decade ago and I have always wanted to run there for the longest time. Also, this was the first time the whole family was going to run together in an event and I wanted very much for this family outing to be a success and enjoyable one. Not one where we will end up like miserable wet dogs!

Fortunately the rain eased off a bit by mid afternoon when we boarded the ferry for the island. My first impression of the place was that nothing much had changed there except that there were more seafood restaurants now. The wayang stage was still there as was the thousand of bicycles although due to the rain, there wasn't that many cyclists around.

We were early and walked around in the light drizzle before the Kid and I started off at 3.50pm in the 10 km run. The run was sounded (no flag) off by 'Brother'(?) Lim Swee Sway. Sounded like a church event. Wondered why the MC called him that? Shouldn't it be comrades?

Anyway, because it was a run and not a race, there were very few participants - probably about 1000. No elites too and best of all, no human jam! Anyway, like the MC said, it was a run not a race so we took our time. I stopped every now and then to take photographs (see the complete set on facebook) but reckoned I was still running in the first quarter of the field. Met an old schoolmate. Good to see friends from the past. Also, one of the volunteers at a water point called out my name and I was like who? but waved hi, cracked a joke and left still clueless who he was! Completed the run in slightly under 1 hour. Thought the distance was a tad long based on my pace but maybe it was the small slopes here and there that made it seemed so. Anyway who's counting?

The rain was by then just a very light drizzle, humidity was almost non-existent and there was no sun and heat. It was the perfect condition for a run and I totally enjoyed it! The Kid came in almost on the hour mark. Complained of stitch at around 8km. Still need some work on the mileage. The Princess and MOHA did the 5km. The Princess is using this run as a final tune up for the national school cross country next week. Hopefully, this run will help her get the feel of the pace.

All in all, a wonderful run nevermind that there was no goodie bag. It was for a good cause and it didn't get rained out and I had fun. That's all that matters.