A Letter to Nparks on MacRitchie Reservoir

Dear Nparks,

Thank you Nparks for thinking of our welfare and safety.

Thank you so much for putting in more fine gravels and providing such nice mini steps so that our precious feet in our expensive running shoes will not be dirty and we will not trip over those sharp ugly rocks and roots and injure ourselves.

Since Nparks place such premium on taking care of us who visit MacRitchie Reservoir park, can I request for more?

- How about providing a shelter throughout the whole trail. That way, rain or shine we can visit the beautiful park and be in tune with nature. And no need to worry about falling branches injuring anyone.

- Also our weather is rather hot most of the time and it can get pretty hot and stuffy under the trees. So maybe when building the shelter, Nparks, you can consider like put in air con. Maybe enclosed the whole shelter, put in air condition and while we at it, maybe a travelator like those at the SEA Aquarium. Then really, rain or shine we can visit the park. No need to get wet. Our expensive Nike shoes won't get dirty and best of all, the filthy monkey can't get our lobster roll.

- At every 500 metres, provide drink vending machine. As you know, it is rather hot in Singapore and I am sure you don't want us poor park visitor to get dehydrated. And of course I am sure you know that we Singaporeans are so gentle, we don't have strength to carry water bottles so a drink machine every 500 metres will help us fill our hydration needs.

And oh I noted that you are doing some major renovation works at the Male shower area for the past months. It looks like very major since it is taking so long. I am rather excited. I hope Nparks instead of having stupid open shower, can you provide jacuzzi and onsen instead. Those smelly fellas who want to bath can bath inside the shower stall. The rest of us after walking around the park, will surely enjoy a nice soak in the jacuzzi or onsen. So please do take your time to do up the place nicely. 

I am so looking forward to the air con sheltered trail walk, the jacuzzi and the onsen. Thank you in advance.

Your most loyal MacRitchie Reservoir visitor.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2014

Note: When I penned the below post last night, it was without the knowledge that the organiser of the SCMS had actually asked runners who failed to meet certain unspecified time at unannounced designated points, to be diverted to run a "shorter route". Since the publication of my post and following media queries,  the organiser has made a public announcement on this here.

I would therefore like to offer my sincere apologies to the individuals who were included in the post below for any embarrassment that I have caused to them. While I have decided to keep the post, I have deleted the photos and any references to the identity of the individuals. I know no apologies or words can right whatever that has been done but once again I would like to tender my apology.

Well I was at the Garden by the Bay East on Sunday taking photos of the runners doing the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore. (SCMS). This was roughly at the 35 km part of the race. The first runners came by around 7 am roughly 2 hours after the flag off. Those were the elites. A rough back of the envelope calculation - the average 4 hours runners will reach this area around 8.20 am and indeed the 4 hours pacers came pass me at 8.19 am.

But way before that I had already noticed a very unique hi usual thing. As a regular runner and active photographer for the past years, I can recognise a fair number of the local runners who can do sub-4 and there aren't really a lot of them here in Singapore. And even if I don't recognise them, I can tell by the way they run that they are seasoned runners and used to that type of timing. But what was interesting this time was that I could see many unfamiliar faces and people who pardoned my saying so, do not look like runners who are capable of doing this type of timing. Now I know looks can be deceiving but it is kinda difficult to believe that these following people can run sub 4 marathon.

And more over as I came to find out later, runner with orange bib are self declared sub 5 hours runner and starts in a much later wave. So they couldn't have been so fast to reach 35 km in just over 3 hours!

And true enough, my instinct was right. A quick search at the event site and these are their race splits. Looks like all of them skipped the distance between the 10 km checkpoint and the 30 km checkpoint slashing a cool 20 km off the total distance. 

And everyone seems to be doing it. Not just the not so athletic looking people but the young folks like this guy

And foreigners as well

And even the very athletic looking guys are doing it. The type that looks perfectly capable of doing this sort of timing but look at the splits

And there are more, too many for me to list them all here.

Looking at the splits, almost all of them turn off after the 10 km checkpoint which is somewhere around the  Sports Hub. I believe after coming out from that area, instead of going towards Fort Road and East Coast Park, they simply turned right on Tanjong Rhu to Garden by the Bay East and continue on from there. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt that they got lost but I really really doubt it is the case. 

And again I like to think that the weather was too hot for them and they decided not to continue on but turned back. But they should then do the right thing and not cross the finish line but in all cases they did which leaves me with only one conclusion - they just want the finisher tee, medal and the bragging rights that come along with it and are not interested at all in completing the distance!

Me think it is high time race organiser takes steps to weed out these sort of behaviour. It is not good for a "gold class" event and a waste of resources and hinder the genuine runners. For starter, I think event organiser should stop giving away finisher tees at the finish line like  what many overseas races do. I am very sure that the event won't be so attractive to the non-runners if there is no finisher tee for them to wear around town to show off. Race organiser should also ensure strict compliance of race rules and barriers and marshals should be deployed at vulnerable junctions and points along the routes to reduce such inAnd last but not least, get the timing system working properly so that their status is stated as DSQ and not "Finished".http://runeatgossip.com/2014/12/standard-chartered-marathon-singapore-2014.html/

Hello Kitty Run Singapore

So the claws are out - for the poor organiser of the 1st ever Hello Kitty Run in Singapore. Social media and rather surprisingly, even the main stream media has exploded on the so called "chaos" that erupted during the race.

The unhappiness stems from 2 main areas - the rain and the medal distribution.

First the rain. The organiser, Pink Apple (PA) is being blamed for the rain, the lack of wet weather plan, the lack of shelters, the lack of poncho and generally everything that is associated with the rain. But are they being fair?

How can anyone blame the organiser for the rain? That is something that is beyond even the PAP government control so how do people possibly expect  PA to ensure good weather? No wet weather plan? Actually all good event organiser will have one and in this case, PA do have. It is very simple. If heavy rain falls before flag off, postpone the start of the run. If  after postponing for a reasonable period of time and the rain does not stop, cancel the run. This has happened in several races previously but I can imagine if PA has really cancel the run and the rain stopped after say 30 minutes. I am sure the will be braying for the blood of everyone in PA.

Next some people went on to suggest PA should have provide poncho for the participant. And how do these people expect PA to do that? Put a poncho inside each race pack? Let be honest to ourselves. If they do that, how many will actually bring the poncho to the event? I dare say very few will do so. And distribute poncho on the ground? Do these people really expect PA to have 17000 to 18000 ponchos available at the site? And then if it rain after flag off like what happened on Saturday, how do they expect the PA to get the ponchos to the people that is already out on the route? And if they are under shelter, they don't need poncho do they?

Some people even suggested PA put up shelters along the route. How many shelters do they expect PA to put up? And enough to shelter 17000 just in case it rains? That must be the most ridiculous self centred suggestions ever. If anything, Sentosa is probably the best place to run in the event of rain because there are buildings practically everywhere and especially along the beach with the many pubs, restaurants, rest rooms and other attractions. The people could have easily seek shelter at any one of these. Do they seriously expect PA to put up tents along the narrow roads of Sentosa!

So I think there is nothing that PA can do when it started to rain. After the first 2 waves were flagged off and it rained, they held back the next 3 waves and that was the best they could do. What else do the participants want?

Now on to the medals. According to the complaints, the distribution was chaotic. There was not enough medals for everyone and people collected multiple medals. And this to me was a big surprise. PA is a very experienced event organiser having organised many races with many on a bigger scale than this Hello Kitty. Usually, after the participants crossed the finish line, they will be directed to a chute where they collect the drinks, medal and finisher tees from volunteers. To ensure that people do not collect the medal more than once, it is usual for the volunteer to put a tick on the race bib. So exactly what happened?

I believe the rain was the main problem. Because of the rain, everybody squeezed into the Pavilion which was where the medals were being distributed. The number of people overwhelmed the volunteers and likely, just helped themselves to the medals on the table with the poor student volunteers being unable to stop them. Staff who raised their voices at the participants were labelled as being rude but how do you control an unruly crowd without being loud and firm?  The same thing happened a few years ago at the Shape Run where the people just grabbed the medals that were placed neatly on the table. Some people went behind the table and took medals from the boxes that were lying on the floor!

One of the criticism that were levelled was that PA should have marked off the bib. PA has informed that they had choose not to do so to avoid defacing the bib as most people would likely want to keep the bib as a souvenir. So a kind thought and gesture misfired. On hindsight, PA should have put a small box on the bib to check off or added a tear off tab at the bottom of the bib to exchange for the medal. 

So people took more medals than they were entitled to resulting in medals running out for those who came late. So whose fault it is? PA or the cheapskate participants who took more than they are entitled to?

Some other  criticism that were levelled at PA - the route was not 5 km. There was congestion at the bus station at the Siloso Beach end and people had to wait long period before they can get out of the island. Well, I don't think any serious runners actually signed up for this to run 5 km. It is a fun run and most people I am very sure signed up more for the limited edition Hello Kitty plush and other memorabilia rather than for the run. And on their website, there is a statement that the distance was actually 4.2 km and not 5 km. For marketing purposes, obviously it is nicer to call it a 5 km run rather than 4.2 km run. 

About the congestion - Sentosa is always congested on weekends and long wait for the limited number of buses is expected as Sentosa do not allow private hire buses to ply on the island. So people should just have continue to enjoy the sights on Sentosa instead of leaving straight after the run. Isn't that the purpose of travelling all the way to Sentosa for?

Of course, there are something that PA could have done better like being aware that Sentosa with its narrow roads cannot accommodate 17000 people at one good and kept the number to a more manageable size. Communicate with the volunteers could have been better so that the volunteers can inform the participants of updates instead of just relying on social media.

Ultimately, I think PA do not deserve all the flaks they are getting in the local media and social media. If anything, it is the ugly participants, the greedy one who took more medals than they should, the self centred one who think only of their own comfort and not think of how their ludicrous suggestion can not possibly be implemented and the spoilt brats who are asking for refunds for the "bad" experience but who have conveniently forgotten that their $65 or $75 already gave them an exclusive t-shirt, an exclusive plush toy and an unique personalised race bib which collectively is, I am very sure worth more than $75.00!

The Problem with Singapore Races

Went down to the Army Half Marathon to take photos yesterday morning. Me and Marcus, my Boss at Running Shots decided that we wanted to be nearer the finishing line. So we parked at Adelphi and walked over to the Padang. To our surprise, at Coleman Street we were stopped by a army boy who told us the road was closed. That we understand so we told the army boy we were walking on the pavement and not driving on the road. But no go, his instruction was the road and the pavement was closed to everybody, car and human. So we had to detour. And it was the same further down the road next to the Supreme Court at Parliament Lane. Eventually we had to walk all the way down to the Singapore River before we can get to the Esplanade Bridge.

This just proved my point that Singapore is not a race friendly place - not for the participants or for the spectators. Like the Shape Run 2 weeks ago. Somewhere towards the end, the 5 Km and 10 km crossed path and when I said crossed path, I meant it literally. The runners literally has to run across each other path in a X manner  - the 10 km runners coming from the right and cutting to the left while the 5 km runners came from the left and cut across to the right!

And one of my pet peeve is that whenever there is a major race at East Coast Park, the service road is closed to traffic and so spectators and runners alike have to make their way there from Marine Parade or park at the faraway car park.

And don't get me started on the ungodly hours that races are flagged off. Even 10 km races are flagged off at 6.30 am! Whatever for?

It would seems that race organiser are only concerned with getting the sign up rate and everything else is secondary. As long as there are suckers who continues to sign up for races despite all the bad service and high fees, the organisers will not bother to improve and get their act right.

As for me, I voted with my feet long ago. No more local races unless it is a real cheap or unique race that I think is worth my money and early wake up!

The Runner and her Phone

You know this crazy obsession with mobile phones has gone overboard when people stares at their phone when walking, going up and down the escalator, driving and running. It seems that if they can bring it into the water, they probably will. Wait a minute, isn't there waterproof phone now available?

Anyway, I am really intrigue why people will bother to take part in a running race and then while running, keep staring at their phone like these participants here.

 

Ok maybe they need to communicate with their friends on their whereabout but surely they are a nuisance to other runners. I mean how do you message and run at the same time? I tried walking and texting and cannot even do it what more running?

Seriously folks, put the phone aside, enjoy your run and take it out only after the run. You won't miss anything.

The Cyclist vs

Cyclists in Singapore have always been on the wrong side of the news. Either they are immortalised on youtube and stomp for their riding antics or they are making the headline as accident victim. Social media here (and I think in other countries as well) are full of complaints about cyclists.

Over in Singapore, one of the biggest pet peeve is cyclists who continues to cycle on pedestrian walkways, which except for Tampines town, is illegal in very other estates. Yet these cyclists ride like they own the pavements and expect pedestrian to jump out of their way when they zoomed by. On the road, the tables are turned on them when motorists forced them to the curb and in some extreme case, mow them down like bowling pins. Yet, despite these risks, the behaviour of cyclists on the roads seem to have gotten from bad to worse and worst still, even if they are the one in the wrong, they behave like they are not like this one here.

Just this morning, I was running along Changi Beach Park when I came across an altercation between a group of cyclists and a runner. It appeared the cyclists were cycling on the pedestrian path and not on the empty cycling path. The runner apparently shoved one of the cyclist. Not too sure whether that was deliberate or accidental. What I gathered was the cyclists were angry he had pushed one of them down. He, the runner was angry the pack of cyclists were forcing him off the path onto the grass patch. There was loud voices raised and it looks like 2 of the cyclists was not going to let up. The runner stood his ground and insisted that the cyclists should have not been on the pedestrian path. They in turn retorted that there was a child on the cycling path and so they had detoured onto the pedestrian path. At one stage things got pretty heated up but eventually better senses prevail and everybody moved on.

I cannot judge who was right or who was wrong. A lot of us runners also run on the cycling path as it is made of asphalt which is kinder on the leg than the concrete on the pedestrian path. So to fault the cyclists for cycling on the pedestrian path can be hypocritical. But having said that, when a whole pack of cyclists rushed down a narrow path at speed of 35 to 40 km/hr, it can be quite scary for the pedestrian and is an accident waiting to happen. I go to the East Coast Park frequently and I am always shocked at the irresponsible attitude of pack (yes I will describe them as pack rather than train) of cyclists. Even though they are cycling on the cycling path, East Coast Park is not the place for competitive cycling. The cycling path is between the pedestrian path and the facilities on the other side and all park users has to cross the cycling path to get to the toilet, car park or the underground passage on their way to Marine Parade. There are pedestrian crossings at regular intervals but I have never seen a cyclist stop for anybody. With so many people including children and pets running across the cycling path, it is really scary to see pack after pack of cyclist charging down the path scattering everybody in the way.

It is the same situation on the road. At Upper Thomson Rd, I see pack of cyclists cycling together. Perhaps they think there is safety in number and they are more visible to motorists. But some part of the roads are single lane, like Old Upper Thomson Rd and motorists are forced to crawl behind them until the road widen enough or there is no oncoming vehicles and motorists then overtake them against the traffic flow. But of course the cyclists don't care because they expects motorists to give way to them just as they expect pedestrian to give way to them on the pavement.

Either way, cyclists are not endearing themselves to the general public with their blatant flouting of rules like riding across overhead bridges, failing to stop at pedestrian crossings and very rude and obnoxious shout at people or  the incessant ringing of the bell to clear the way for them. At the end of the day, it is a life at stake be it theirs (most of the time) or that of the pedestrian (very rare). If only they can realise that and rather than try to be king of the road, practice a little humility and patient and learn to co-exists with other road users without coming across as the villain in all the situation.

Protectionism

Recently, Running Shots, the photography group that I shoot with got a message from an event organiser. That is nothing new considering that nowadays we get a lot of request from event organisers to take photos of their events. But this latest request was not a request to take photos. It was rather different. In fact, it was a request for Running Shots not to upload the photos of their events immediately after the event but to delay the upload for a month. The reason?

Let me reproduce part of the message here:

"We respectfully request that you do not post photos of our events on your site for at least one month following our events in order to allow these photographers time to receive the benefits for which they are employed. We fear that the posting of photos too soon will hurt the profession as a whole as we believe this talent and service should be provided first and foremost for a fee to ensure local photographers can continue to be paid for their work"

We were stumped. This was a first and we have no idea whether to agree or not to agree to the request. But here again we see an element of protectionism creeping in. Just like the saga after the Commando Challenge late last year. And this got me pissed off. Let look at the reasons behind the request.

- to allow these photographers time to receive the benefits for which they are employed.

- posting the photos too soon will hurt the profession ......... this talent and service should be provided first and foremost for a fee to ensure local photographer can continue to be paid for their work

There it is again. - benefits / pay. What utter baloney!

This is a free world. Where in the world nowadays can one company ask competitors not to compete with them so that they can make money? I thought protectionism exists only at the country level but it seems this isn't so. Seems like the paid photographers expect to be handled a golden platter to make money without competition. The argument is seductive. Hurt the profession = No more support from these photographer = no more photos. But is this really true?

The impact of such a policy will simply mean that the interest of a small group of people (ie the paid photographers) is protected and deemed more important than the interest of the majority (ie the participants in an event). Let me quote from this article by Murray N. Rothbard in 1988: "Invariably, we will find that the protectionists are out to cripple, exploit, and impose severe losses not only on foreign consumers but especially on Americans. And since each and every one of us is a consumer, this means that protectionism is out to mulct all of us for the benefit of a specially privileged, subsidized few—and an inefficient few at that: people who cannot make it in a free and unhampered market." This was written in the context of the Japanese flooding the American market with their products in the eighties but it is as relevant now to this current situation as it was then. To apply it to the current request - this is what they the event organiser is saying to participants."Don't take the free photographs from the volunteers. Pay big bucks to our paid photographers for your photos instead" Does that sound fair? I suppose yes if you are the one selling the photos and definitely no, if you are the one who have to cough up the money for it!

I said before and I said again, the paid sports photography market is going the way of the dodo bird. With over prized photos, quality that are not much better than what amateurs like us are taking, there is simply no way for such a business model to continue to be viable. With cheap and good quality dslr readily available nowadays, anybody can take a fairly decent photo. And most people nowadays do not print hard copy of their photos. Most are just happy to have a soft copy residing on their pc, tablet or phone which can easily bring around to show their friends instead of having to lug heavy photo albums. 

But instead of reducing prices or coming out with more innovative way to sell the photos, they resort to trying to block volunteer photographers from competing with them. But is that going to work? Mass events are public events and they cannot possibly shut out the public or stop anybody from taking photographs of the events and subsequently uploading them to social media or photo sharing sites. Even if Running Shots agree to their request, there will still be other groups out there like Running Kakis, Chasing Shots, Run Mo Cap etc around. Are they going to try to block everybody? And if they succeed, who benefits? The participants or the paid photographer?

No wonder a friend I met in Tokyo commented that Singapore event organiser do not have the interest of the participants and are only interested in making money off them and which is why he no longer participates in local event. Judging from the request of this particular event organiser, he is not far off the mark in his appraisal. And it will be a sad day for the local sport scene if volunteer photographers are sidelined so that the paid photographers can cream off the participants.

NB: the views expressed here are my personal opinion and do not represent the view of Running Shots and my colleagues there.

Free or Paid Photos?

Got this message from an Australian company Super Sport Images on the Running Shots facebook page after the Commando Challenge on Sunday:

"Hi Guys,
As the contracted photographic partner of the Commando Challenge, your advertisement of images conpletely flies against supporting your field. We invest heavily into supporting events such as this, are the contracted provider with exclusivity and having a photographic entity that seems to want to take care of things in their own manner, does not support the photographic industry at all, it merely cheapens it.
I would ask you kindly, to please respect our business, that has invested money and resources into this event and others iin the hope of being sustainable.
Director of Supersport Images"

The more I read the post, the more pissed off I get. Here is another freaking ang moh who thinks that he is the all and be all and only his professional set up is qualified to take photographs and we, the locals are cheapening the profession!

Here are another 2 posts that the Aussie put up on the Commando Challenge Facebook Page where he repeats the same thing in response to somebody:

• Supersport Images www.supersportimages.com Anuroop, the costs of your entry has nothing to do with us as we are a 3rd party that is the official photographic partner of the event with our own costs to absorb. We support events of this type and take huge financial risks to do so. We aim to make our products as costs efficiently as possible and we have packs which include ALL of your identified images for just over $30. This allows you to download your full res files forever. Products and prices vary with varying options to choose from. If you guys are happy to support those out there that cheapen the market by turning up in no official capacity and simply show no respect to business like ours that aim to offer a competitiive product then the end result will be no photographic providers providing any coverage at any event. it's disappointing to hear such comments frankly.

  Like · Reply · 8 hours ago
• 

  Supersport Images www.supersportimages.com Hi Guys, I'd like to address a couple of comments to let you you know we have a range of products in our cart which are still being determined so any comments on prices is speculation.Our products range from under $20 also with a good variety of choices. It's important to point out that if competitors are willing to support individuals who cheapen the market by simply turning up, shooting hard and then making images available free or for next to no cost, not only does it cheapen the market, but you guys will all have no businesses who will be ablle to provide their services at any of the events you guys choose to do. Please think about who you'd like to support, those that invest into giving you the best coverage and systems we can that support a huge vareity of events, or individuals who just turn up and offer images for nothing and totally cheapen the market place. We have individual images, full electronic downloadable packs, prints and special event designs for very reasonable prices. We invest a great deal into our partnerships both finanicially and in resources and Ming and others are showing little consideration for those who are full time in the industry partnering all manner of events. I ask you guys to think about this please.

  Like · Reply · 13 hours ago
• 

My fellow volunteer photographers asked me not to get worked up. But reading this ang moh chap's arrogance makes me boil. 

1. What does he mean when he said we photographers cheapen the market? Does he meant that because he invested heavily, and we did not, we are cheap? As far as I know the practice, most of these professional photography company engage freelancers who more than often than not, are people like us, to shoot on their behalf and pay them a miserable sum. Are his photographers much better than us or his equipment better than ours? I take real offence when he said we cheapen the industry. All of us at Running Shots, and I am sure my esteemed colleagues at EyeSeeEyeShoot, Running Kaki, Chasing Shots, Run Mo Cap to name just a few are definitely insulted by this cheap shot. We sacrifice our time, our equipment braving the sun and rain to take photographers of competitor so that they can go home with more than just a mental memory and some chap who think only of making money dare to call us cheap!

2. He threatens that if the public support us free photo sites, then there will be no event coverage if we pull out. I will let the record speak for itself. Where was SuperSportImages or Marathon Photos or Finisher Pix at Lion Dash, Let''s Take a Walk, Project Happy Feet, Newton Challenge, Venus Run? Do I need to list more races? If anything, Running Shots was at all these events and we covered almost 99.9% of races (competitive, fun, charity) in Singapore in the year 2013! So who do you think will pull a disappearing act for other events? SuperSportsImages or Running Shots or even other groups like Running Kaki, Chasing Shots etc? If anything, it will be us the volunteers who will shoulder on rather than the profit greedy company who will pull out the minute they find no monies to be made in our Singapore market.

3. I can conclude that he is afraid of competition. If indeed his photographers are so good, then he should not be afraid that people will not buy his photographers and go for our low quality free photos. But the true is he knows that his photos are not much better than ours and at the exorbitant prices that he and like companies charge, nobody will buy from them. If it is not because these companies charges an arm and a leg, there will be no need for us to come into the picture. It is precisely because of companies like Super Sports Image that we get so much responses from race participants. 

4. SuperSportsImage has probably made a very elementary error when he choose to come to Singapore. He failed to do market research and did not realise that there are a whole lot of committed dedicated volunteers who are willing to take photographs for free. And when he found photos of the Commando Challenge sprouting up everywhere and free for download, instead of trying to find a way to beat the competition, he decided to belittle the competition and scare the locals with threats of no race photographs. He asked that we respect their business. Why? Its a free economy! There should not be any restriction of trade.He didn't do his homework too bad. I asked that he respect the competition and try to be better than us. The question is - can he? 

At the end of the day, we  the volunteer photographers do all these not because we want to kill the market for race photographs but because there was a crying need for cheap accessible photos. And we are glad to provide this service as a service to the running public. At Running Shots, we do not sell photographs although we do charge a nominal fee for request for high resolution photos. But frankly that fee is more to deter request rather than to profit from it. If we have to depend on this income, all of us would have quit long ago.

But having said all these, tell me - which do you prefer? To pay money for a "professionally" taken photo with border, event logo and timing or just admire your free photos courtesy of Running Shots and the various other photography group? If the majority said they prefer the paid version, I will gladly keep my free time to do my own running and nature photography. Let me know ya?

Those Freaking Arrogant Ang Moh

I like to think that I am not a racist but sometime I love to stick it up to those frigging ang moh who still think that white is supreme and only they can dictate to the world what the rest of the world should do. 

I have blogged more than once about bad encounter with ang moh whilst running here. There are also videos floating around of arrogant ang moh cyclists riding on our road. I know there are many nice ang moh and I have met many while running at the Running Lab weekly run but reading these comments on the runningahead.com site where I upload my run details, it makes me wonder ... are those loudmouth the minority or do the majority of ang moh feels the same way:

There this thread on the SCMS cheating guy on the Runningahead forum but somehow some frigging yayapapaya fellas got round to "suaning" Singapore:

And this guy. Is he for real?

It was the same when DC Rainmaker came last year and made some disparaging remarks about our running scene when he ran the Brooks Happy Run. Read about it here.

Maybe I am too sensitive but I hope these fellas really come here, do a real race and let see them do a sub 2:50 in our weather!

Patching Up MacRitchie Reservoir

Sometime ago, a fella fell while running at MacRitchie Reservoir. Subsequently, he wrote a letter of complaint to the press asking for the rocks and roots to be removed to make it safer for runners. Read about his complaint here. Of course, he got a whole lot of ridicule from the public and a lot of indignant trail runners. Then Nparks came out with a reply which got everybody cheering. So everybody thought that was the end of the silly complaint. Or is it?

This is one part of the trail in MacRitchie Reservoir now. Gone is the dirt track and in its place a nice silvery grey layer of granite chips.

Picture by Kelly Lim

Apparently, Nparks has decided to do something and this section of the trail has been paved over with crushers. I don't know whether it is in response to the complaint or what but trail runners are pretty upset. But I suppose for other regular park users who just want a nice place to walk, this is definitely an improvement over the previous wild tangle of roots and rocks and uneven ground.

I have mixed feeling about this. On the one hand, I must admit that I do not like the particular section parallel to the SICC leading to Lornie Road. It is uneven, full of rocks and roots and I never ever run this section for fear of falling and injuring myself. So having all this even out, will allow me to run this section. But on the other hand, I hate to see nature being replace by man made things. The trails in the reserves should be left as it is. We do not need nice walking path. If we want them, we could always go to Sengkang Riverside Park, Admiralty Park or even the Pasir Ris Park. 

But having said that, MacRitchie Reservoir is in a rather unique position. It caters not only to trail runners but many many other visitors most of whom are there just for fresh air or some light exercise. So the tracks have to cater to a wide segment of visitors and I suppose this is a good compromise. After all, its not like this is the first time Nparks have done something to improve the trails there. I am sure everybody who runs to Rifle Range Road from MacRitchie appreciates the concrete steps that were created next to the stream. Prior to that, there was a big mound which could become muddy and slippery when wet. Several of the more muddy sections have also been filled in with rocks and stumps and even the section immediately after the Ranger Station; that was also filled in with crushers after the track was reopened after the landslide.

Hopefully, these will be all that Nparks will do to the trails. What I could hate to see will be those tiles which Nparks loves to lay in the parks and then call it a "trail". 

Singapore Bay Run/Army Half Marathon 2013 - Screw Up of a Race!

The Army Half Marathon was the first race that I took part in back in 2004. So I always have fond memories of it. Over the years, I signed up for it 7 times, ran 5 of it and did not start 2 due to injuries. The last was in 2010. Since then I have stopped doing it, disappointed by the sheer size of it and the consequential poor race experience.

This year, however, seduced by the super low registration fee of $12.00 for NS man and the promise of 3 event apparel comprising a race singlet, an event tee and a finisher tee, I signed up for it. I also thought that this could be a perfect way to test my race fitness for the upcoming biggie. Big mistake!

First was - there was no event tee. Okay maybe I did not read the fine print that it was either a singlet or tee. That I could accept. But the race day itself.... it was a huge huge disappointment.

The flag off time was 5.15am. I never understand why they need to start a short 21km race so early. So I had to get up at 3.30 am to make it there. As it turned out, due to the heavy traffic from Orchard Rd to Bras Basah, we reached at 5am. By the time we walked to the start bay, the race had been flagged off. But even then there was still a big crowd at the bay. We took 10 minutes to reach the start off before we could start jogging.

First foul up. With 30000+ half marathoners, why didn't they start the race in waves? Even smaller races like the 2XU and the Run350 starts their races in several waves to ease the congestion. I estimated we were somewhere in the last quarter of the pack. Fortunately, Robinson Road was wide enough and I could run at a steady pace but overtaking was really impossible and rather pointless. There were 3 mini bottlenecks at Maxwell Rd/Shenton Way junction; Shenton Way/Marina Boulevard junction and Marina Boulevard/Marina Bay waterfront. At all these junctions, runners on the vehicular roads which were 4 lanes wide were forced into a 2 metre wide lane. Bottlenecks built up but thankfully these were short stretches and while we had to walk through, it was still passable.

From the Marina Bay waterfront onward to Garden by the Bay East, was the second foul up. The place was in semi darkness with minimal light from the buildings and park light. There were also many structures outside Marina Bay Sands Shoppes. With the poor lighting, while I did not see anybody fell, there were subsequent posting of runners who tripped especially at the staircase leading to the Helix Bridge. Again it makes me wonder. Did anybody from SAFRA or the event organiser note these type of details? Why didn't they put up portable lights along the way instead of throwing a few light stick on the ground? This was not touted to be a night race and runner safety should always be a priority but somehow some people seem to think that runners have night vision goggles and can see through all that darkness.

Rolling in the big bucks?

Recently, we at Running Shots (RS) decided to charge a nominal fee for people who request for high resolution copy of their photos. We also decided to extend this to include a hard copy. The move unexpectedly has caused some unhappiness and misconception among the runners. Some runners seem to think that that was our ultimate motive when we started Running Shots i.e. to make money and worse runners seem to think that we are rolling in the big bucks from these "sale".

Nothing is further from the truth.

To begin with, RS was set up by a runner friend who was also a photography enthusiast. His main objective than was to return to the running society a little bit of what he has benefited from since he started running. Over time he realised that as a one man show, he couldn't possibly cover every event and so roped in more similarly like minded people.

Once the race photos are uploaded, we do admit that we get a good ego boost when people like and commented on our photos. Along with the thousand of likes and comments, come request for high resolution photos which we originally provide free of charge. However, over time as the number of photos increases and the request increase, we decided that we have to impose a token charge to cover for:

1) The time our photographers spent to take photo, process them, upload them and if there are request, to process these requests

2) Cost incurred by our photographers in going down to shoot the events. Most run events starts very early and our photographers have to take taxi down, or if driving, park somewhere. All these require money 

Of course earning enough money from photo sale to cover the above is not our objectives. It is just to defray some cost and right now frankly what we get is not even enough to cover a taxi fare from Jurong to cover say, the 2XU run. Which leads me to my next point:

Rolling in the big bucks. I will be candid. Since we started imposing charge, we have a grand total of 4 requests for photographs netting us a princely amount of S$28. Just as a comparison, we spent double that amount to print the photos for the Venus Run photo contest. And I haven't even add in the cost of the transport to each and every event! Rolling in the big bucks? Don't make me puke! And for those who think we are being paid by the event organiser, dream on. Except for one race recently where the event orgainser was kind enough to pay us a token amount, we have got absolutely zero for the rest. And for this particular event, one of our photographer commented that the amount is so little compared to what one single professional photographer can charge for covering an event!

But I am not complaining. We went in with our eyes open that we are not in this for the money. We sacrifice our time, our equipment, our sleep and our money as a form of service to the running community. We do not expect any rewards although it will be nice of course. But we will still shoot with or without. The token amount we charge is merely to cover some expenses and frankly as a deterrent to too many request for high resolution photos.

Last but not least, for those who think our photos  are crappy, yes we are aware our photos are not "pro" quality. We have always emphasis quantity over quality as we shoot for the mass and there is absolutely no time to frame a shot properly or get the best exposure. We will try but when there are thousand of runners and with changing light condition, it is not always possible. And most of us are too poor to own prime lens. Maybe if we are really rolling in the big bucks?

Finally, for those who like our photos, a big thank you. Much appreciated. And for the detractors and critiques, we will try out best but if our best is not to your standard, there are many other people taking race photos out there.

The Problem with Garmin Watches in Singapore

My 2 year Garmin 110 is still ticking away but unfortunately, like a runner, while the "body" is still working, the "legs" have gotten injured. But unlike a runner who can walk into any hospital in Singapore, it is not possible for the watch to get "treatment" here.

First to go was the watch band. That wasn't so bad since worse case I can use a rubber band or a wire tire to secure the strap.

Spot the difference. 210 on the left and 110 on the right

Then I discovered a small break in the strap itself. And another break between the watch body and the strap. Which means the watch certainly won't last another run.

The 2 breaks in the watch

So I thought to get the watch strap replaced. And that was when I discovered being a Garmin watch owner has its disadvantages. Polar watch can be replaced here. So same with Casio. But Garmin?

The local distributor said they don't have the equipment to do the replacement and have to send it to Taiwan.  And it will cost $95.00 for the replacement and another $60.00 for the service. And it will take 3 - 4 weeks. And the friendly guy on the phone has the cheek to tell me it is more worthwhile to get a new watch!

I think it is a shame that the local distributor does not see the need to invest in the equipment to service the  local market considering that Garmin is the most popular running GPS watch here.  They have taken us runners for granted.

Me. I took the guy advice and promptly went a buy a new GPS watch - but not a Garmin. A Timex!

PS: Updated: The watch strap disintegrate into several pieces eventually. It appears the strap is not suitable for our local weather and is too brittle.

1.5metres and Cycling Lane

Another weekend, another cyclist died in an road accident. According to reports, this is the 12th death in 8 months! Unlike the last accident where a young man was the victim, this time round it is an older guy with a pregnant wife and a young son. His death has finally awaken the cycling community from its inertia and raised much more noise than it has done previously.

Picture from  http://www.ridestrong.org.nz

As of time of writing, in as far as I know, there is now at least 2 open letters to the PM and to the Transport Minister. There have also been some feedback to some of the MP via their facebook pages and there are also 2 online petitions. Essentially, the cyclists want a safer road to ride on. Top of their wish list is a dedicated cycling lane at selected roads, increased enforcements against reckless drivers and harsher punishments for errant drivers. 

Will LTA stick to the old song and said they will monitor the situation and eventually do nothing except for maybe a short perfunctory period of increased enforcement? Will the cyclists succeed this time round in getting their demands met? I suspect not.

Frankly I am not optimistic. My guess is that LTA will repeat that cyclists should travel on the island wide park connector and the cycling path sprouting out in some HDB estates. Even if another dozen more die in the next 6 months, I don't think they will do anything unless some higher up intervene. Let me try and second guess their excuses:

1. Cyclists should ride on the park connector and the cycling path. The park connector are clearly marked out and pedestrian and cyclists should stick to the designated path.

2. There is no space on the road to create bicycle lane.  Currently, each road lane is about 3.6m wide on average. A typical car takes up 2m, a truck slightly more. Some clearance of about 0.5m is required on both side of the vehicle. Thus not sufficient space. To create the space, the roads will have to be widened considerably, turfs have to be removed blah blah blah.... there is no budget for this.

3. Traffic Police and LTA are constantly and vigorously monitoring the situation and will not hesitate to take necessary actions to enforce traffic laws.

4. Last but not least, the cycling population and motorist should learn to respect each other and share the roads. Education is the key and the LTA will step up efforts to educate both parties.

Look out for these stock replies coming soon to a paper near you. So forgive me if I don't think the petitions, the many web postings and even the few ministers that have spoken out will be able to force the change. The way I see it, changes will come about only when somebody big shot or important enough is hit. Only then will the gahmen wake up and do something! I hope I am wrong. 

Someone said I am evil for saying that but I think that is the reality. Right now what is lacking is the political or economic reasons for the gahmen to do anything. Somebody compared this to the maids falling their death and how the gahmen put into place a legislation to curb that. That arises because foreign maids falling to their death in our country is politically sensitive. Or maybe if Singapore decides to go big time into hosting a Tour de Singapore and needs to clean up our reputation. Will that day come? Don't hold your breathe!

10 Things that Get Me Pissed

Don't you just hate it when you are running and

1. You get nasty cigarette smoke wafting into the nose - why go to the park for fresh air and spoil it all by smoking all those cigarette?
2. Ang Moh cyclists who think they are doing the Tour de France charged down the path cursing and screaming at you to get out of their way
3. Group of cyclists/pedestrians/runners who ride/walk/run across the whole path forcing you to go onto the grass verge
4. Parents and people who allow their toddlers and dogs to run all over the path without looking left or right and forcing you to take evasive actions to avoid knocking into them
5. Runners who spit or throw their balance water without checking whether there is anybody behind or next to them and getting the spit and water onto you
6. Cyclists who comes up behind you and expect you to jump out of the way for them
7. Cyclists who ride illegally, like across overhead bridge, failing to stop at pedestrian crossing and still scold you for blocking their way
8. The sight of isotonic bottles, cans, gel packages lying along the paths or trails, obviously left behind by fellow runners/cyclists giving runners/cyclists a bad name
9. Runners whom you do not know tailgate/draft you so close you can feel his breathe on your back
10. Runners who think they are God's gift to the running community and keep dishing out unwanted advises and "encouragement" when all you want is to be left alone to do your own run

Nobody Deserve to Die

It was with much sadness that I found out about the death of a young cyclist on Sunday morning. A friend smsed me about it and I subsequently saw the facebook postings. I do not know this young man but yet I felt a sadness at the loss of a young life so cruelly cut short by a rash act. My sadness turned to anger when I came upon the harsh words posted by motorists in FB and other forums.The fingers pointing came swift and sharp - with most of the motorists criticising the way cyclists ride.  One sick fella even said the cyclist deserved it!

What the fuck!  True, there have been many occasion when I am peeved at the cyclists forcing me off the road when I am running or hogging the road when I am driving but nobody deserve to die, not least a young man in the prime of his life. And since we do not know the full circumstances of the accident, we cannot and should not assume that the cyclist is at fault but and that is a big BUT, even if he was, there is no justification for a lorry to know him down which was what those bladdy fuck hiding behind the keyboard are insinuating.

Whatever it is, as user of the road, be it a cyclist, motorist, runner or pedestrians, each one of us got to share the road. It does not mean that whoever pays road tax has the right to use the road and those who do not, cannot use the road. By that logic, if I am paying $5000 a year in road tax, does that mean I get to use more of the road space compared to say somebody paying only $500 a year? 

That said, there have been many incidence of cyclists riding recklessly - failing to stop at traffic light, riding in the extreme right lane of the road (yes I seen it a few time at Xilin Ave), riding 3 - 5 abreast. At Upper Peirce, I have been forced off the road by big group of cyclists racing round the bends and I can go on and on about their faults. So it would be nice if the cyclists practice some road safety and show some consideration for other road users.

Motorists should also be patient with cyclists. It is okay to be behind a group of cyclists for a short while. That few seconds is not going to cost any great loss of time.

I know nobody is going to heed this but if you are reading this, whether you are a cyclist, motorist, rider or runner or pedestrians, be patient, give way to each other and show consideration to other users. Nobody need to die because of a moment of carelessness or impatience.

Some Whinings

This is one of those whining post so don't read on if you can't tahan this.

It has been 7 weeks since the injury and I was all hopeful when I visited the doc for a review. After all, there has been no pain in the foot for almost the whole month and I was walking normally without the Hellboy's shoe. Got the x-ray done. A callus was forming over the fracture but the crack could still be seen very clearly. So the doc said no running, not until the next review in early October. What a bummer! That means I will have to dns 2 more races including the TNF 100. Sighed. And I have signed up for so few races this year and now got to sit out 4 races. But that wasn't so bad. There will always be another race another time so it's no big deal.

But what is bad is that without any form of cardio, I am going to get fat, not just fat but fat fat! My 6 - 7 meals a day is still ongoing. Habit dies hard although I am trying to cut down on the portion but it's a nightmare at home during the holidays and weekends. There is always food on the table and every hour, somebody will utter "eat" and the eating can go on and on. The only real form of exercise I can do now is some strength exercise. No cycling, no swimming, nothing that can weight load the foot or stress it too much.  Luckily, following yesterday review, I am now given the go ahead to swim but swimming has never been my forte and I don't see myself swimming more than once a week even though the swimming pool is now just a 5  minutes walk away.

The other thing that pissed me off no end is people telling me not to run forever. I appreciate the well meaning concerns but would I be better off being a couch potato? After all, at my age, there isn't really much safe activities that I can do. Cycling? I think here in Sg more people get injured and die from cycling accidents than runners dropping dead. Swimming? How often can I swim anyway? 3 times a week? Is that going to be enough to compensate for all the calories that I consume? Racket sports? With my bad knee and now foot, any jumping up and now is definitely a no-no. Balls sports? I believe I know more people with ACL injuries from playing soccer than from running. So maybe table tennis or croquet? Or what about chess? So to my friends and relatives if you are reading this, if I choose to kill myself by running, so be it. I appreciate your concerns but please keep your advice to yourself unless you are a trained professional.

The Missing Route

It used to be that when a race is launched, everything is up on the event’s website. But nowadays, almost all events except those in the East Coast Park do not broadcast the race route until the registration is closed Take for example the following races: 

• U Run 27 February 2011 – Registration dateline is 31 January 2011 and yet the website states for Race Route: More details coming soon…….
• 2XU 10 April 2011 – Route: to be updated…
• Run 350 17 April 2011 – Route: coming soon
• Salomon Tiong Bahru Urban Trail Run 17 April 2011 – Route: The race route will be announced and published at least 2 weeks before the event date
• Energizer Singapore Night Trail 30 April 2011 – Route: To be updated….
• Sundown Marathon – Race Maps: Coming soon…

If I remember correctly, last year it was only the Sundown Marathon that adopted this practice. Subsequently, the SCMS followed. This year, it looks like a lot more has decided to follow the trend.

I not too sure why this is so? No approval from the authorities? Or kiasu mentality. Let the runners sign up first otherwise they go for other races?

Will runners who sign up earlier cry father cry mother later when they discovered the route is not to their expectation? Can they get a refund on the race fee if they discover that they do not like the route? On the other hand, can runners afford to wait until the route is out before they sign up and miss out on the early bird fee or worse risk missing the race altogether if the race closes early?

Race organizer should be fair to the participants and finalise all details before launching their event.  After all, the most important part of racing for us recreational racers is the race experience and the race route undoubtedly makes up the biggest portion of the experience.