TNF 100 Singapore Eco Ambassadors

The Singapore TNF 100 came back this year on 11 October and we are back too! This time with more members, more litter pickers and more trash bags. Last year there were 8 of us. This year we increased our headcount to 14 although we believed that after last year clean up, there should only be trash from last year till now and so lesser for us to pick. Unfortunately that did not appear to be the case.

Not in photo - Terence, Osbert and Esther

This year we decided on a new tactic. We split up into 4 groups and each group  started from a different area. The idea is to walk shorter distance for everybody and yet still be as comprehensive. Unfortunately we miscalculated the distance and the efforts it took to walk and pick trash and reached back to MacRitchie Reservoir after 7 pm by which time almost everybody else had gone off. Nevertheless, we had a great time together although we do wish that our job would really be redundant and there will be no trash to pick. Sadly though, this was not the case.

Photo by Jancy

All in, we picked up 20 bags of trash each filled with drink bottles, food packaging, soles, shoes, clothing, paper, plastic bags and toys even!

Photo by Mel

Among these items were about close to 350 + gel packets. It is quite sad to see that despite the hype about how trail runners love nature, there is still a large number of them who think nothing of dumping their empty gel sachets on the ground. 

Photo by AC

Other surprising items include 2 underwears along the Green Corridors.

We can figured out probably the reason why these people took off their underwear and disposed of them here but the next item found along the Beluakar Trail have us scratching our head.

Photo by Jancy

Err what did the runner ran in after throwing this away?

We also found numerous shoes' sole. Most of them appears to be road shoes which mean most runners are not wearing trail shoes and has to suffer the consequences of it. 

Photo by Jancy

I don't know whether we will be invited back next year though I really hope our job is made redundant if everybody do not litter in the forest and trails but I know it is a dream. More likely, as the number of people taking to the trails increases, we will see more trash and not less and then maybe we will no longer be able to do it once a year but has to increase the frequency. 

Anybody who is keen to join in future clean up, can drop me a message via my FB or email me at ckohst2@yahoo.com.sg.

Here come the Garbage Men @ TNF 100 Singapore

It all started with an idea by a friend who got his inspiration from a  race in Hongkong. One thing led to another and yesterday we found ourselves, a group of 6 runners at the start line of this year edition of the TNF Singapore 100. Another 2 started at the Mandai Road checkpoint. Not to race but to do something very different and I hope inspiring enough for the real participants to do their part.

With Marc Pereira from North Face Singapore

Our mission - to literally sweep - not the last runner but to sweep up all the trash  left behind by the runners. When we embarked on this, we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. We have ran the trails in the MacRitchie area and Central Catchment area many times and we have seen many of the rubbish left behind by runners and other park users. But I didn't thought it was that bad.

We started off at about 7 a.m. about half an hour after the 25km runners were flagged off. Our objectives was to stay behind the runners and pick up whatever they left behind. Originally we thought of all of us covering the full 50 km route but as we went along, we realised that it would be faster and easier to split ourselves up and cover different sectors. So 2 of the faster runners in the group, Terence and Voon ran ahead towards the Ghim Moh area where they will start the trash picking from there while the rest of us started picking up the trash from the Durian Trail head. Another 2, AC and Osbert had earlier parked themselves at the Mandai end and will start at around 12 noon after the runners had u-turned.

To help us in our task, the organiser had at our request, kindly provided us with litter pickers. Thank goodness for them  otherwise I don't know how we were going to do our jobs. With these mean litter pickers, we need not bend down to pick up the trash, need not dirty our hands too much and most of all, they enabled us to reach the trash that were strewed among the bushes and in the drains. 

Jancy with one of her "catch"using the litter picker. Photo by Nicholas

Cold Storage Kids Run 2013

There are races for everybody, races for women and obstacles races and there is the Cold Storage Kids Run. The Cold Storage Kids Run is the first race specially for kids and to date it is still the biggest and only dedicated race for children up to 12 years old.

I have been involved in this event since its inception and over the years have seen it innovate to keep ahead of all the other races which have a children component. It added a stroller category a few years ago and this year it added a 3 generation category. 

But in my opinion, the most unique part about the Cold Storage Kids Run is that it is also open to handicapped children. Each year, children from the  Spastic Children Association of Singapore suffering from Cerebral Palsy participates as guest of Singapura Finance. This year, the invitation was extended to children from Katong School and Rainbow Centre as well. The grit and determination on the faces of these children as they struggled to complete the 800m I believe truly touches the heart of everybody there especially those who are parents.

Here are some pictures from the events:

A child completing in the 1600 category

The Singapura Finance Mascot, Phoebe

DJ Jamie Yeo with her daughter

A participant in the Stroller category

Children completing in the Special Needs Category

The volunteer cheering on the last participant of the day

 The Cold Storage Kids Run also raised S$11,000.00 to buy shoes for children in Cambodia.

Certainly, the Cold Storage Kids Run has proven that when it comes to children, this is the best event in the whole of Singapore!

Be Frank and help beat Cancer

A friend from Malaysia is running the Comrades Marathon for the 2nd time. Like his last attempt last year, Frank is using the run to raise funds for Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation (Carif) and create awareness of cancer.

More information about the Be Frank campaign can be found here.

Frank himself is a cancer survivor who was diagnosed of Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that affects muscle and connective tissues at the tender age of 12. Today, he has accomplished what was seemingly impossible, he has trained as long distance runner and is now an ultra-marathon runner.

To help in this meaningful initiatives, make a direct donation at Carif or buy a t-shirt at RM60.00 each.

The 2nd Skin t-shirt (super comfy microfiber material) can be bought from - CARIF Main Laboratory, 2nd Floor Outpatient Centre, Sime Darby Medical Centre, Subang Jaya. Tel: +603-56391874 or Running Lab, Tropicana City Mall. Malaysia Tel: +603-7727 8555. Singapore runners who want to buy the t-shirt can contact Frank directly via the Be Frank's facebook page and I am sure he will be able to work out some arrangement for some Singapore runners going up to bring the t-shirts to Singapore.

Craze Ultra 100 Miles 2012

The crazy people at Running Guild decided to organise an ultra marathon. Not just any ultra marathon but a 100 milers. I can't imagine running 100 miles in hot humid Singapore. But apparently, a lot of people can and a few hundred people duly signed up for the various categories including 67 for the 100 miles, and the rest spilt between the 50 miles and the marathon distance.

The race was flagged off from MacRitchie Reservoir. Despite the darkness and the lack of transport facilities  the participants started turning up from 5 am to run in this aptly named Craze Ulta.

These folks flew in from Philipines just to do this. As if there isn't any ultra there.

The Malaysian contingent was nearly 30 strong if I am not wrong. There were also many other nationalities including another big group from the Indonesia.

Waterway Passion Run 2012

My first official volunteer event for the year. Originally didn't want to do this but got cajoled into doing it by the sincerity and persistency of Mike Kang, the chief and founder of Punggol Runners. So it was a very big group of volunteers that turned up bright and early on a Sunday morning to get the free t-shirt and other freebies err to help out.

We were divided into 3 groups of 3 - 1 group for each main categories and within each 3 subgroups. Our roles were to run or walk in my case within our alloted time frame the entire route and to look out for runners in trouble, give encouragement etc. Sound easy enough. I was put into the sweeper group for the Open category and has to start 15 minutes later than everybody to ensure that we can "sweep" all the late comers like this couple here

So that basically means that I get to walk the entire 10km although I was surprised that there were less walkers than I had expected. But I must admit that after walking for almost 2 and a half hour, it is actually easier to run 10km and I now have a lot of new found respect for those people who dare to walk a half marathon or even a full marathon!

Back at the event site, there ministers of Pasir Ris GRC were out in full force and they machiam like those sexy car models at those motorshow. Actually I mean they pose like the models and let people take photo with them but they certainly ain't sexy! And every Tom, Dick and Harry, Lucy, Mary and whatever were queueing them to take photos with the Ministers and also the "ultra" cool Yam Ah Mee.

For our efforts, we got the nice green event tee, a nice breakfast or lunch? set and plenty of fun.

More photo here or in my FB.

Trail Maintenance

After 2 previous failed attempts to participate in the TNF trail maintenance programme with Nparks, finally managed to get my act together and went for my first ever trail maintenance. Of course, I dragged both the sidekick and the Princess along.

We met up at the Bukit Timah Visitor Centre, hopped up onto a truck and were driven to the all too familiar Dairy Farm Carpark where we alighted and walked into the Belukar Trail. We were then split into 2 groups. Our mission: to create drainage at 2 waterlogged area for the water to drain away. 

For many of us, it was the first time toiling with a changkul. Everybody gamely went about their work, digging small drains, clearing away branches and roots. I don't know whether we succeeded in our task but we certainly managed to clear away a lot of top soil from the side. Hopefully, that will be enough for the water to drain off when it rains. 

After 2 hours of labour, we called it a day but not before we unearthed some forest creatures. More of it here. I hope we didn't kill any others in the process though.

The trail maintenance programme is part of the agreement that the TNF has with Nparks in return for using the trail for the TNF 100 Challenge. There are a total of 3 sessions, the first one was on 3 September (read Kelly's report here); today was the 2nd and the next one will be on 1st October at MacRitchie Reservoir. Those who are interested in participating, can obtain more information here. Participants will get a token memento from TNF and a lot of appreciation from trail users.

Changi Simei Road Run 2011

Got a last minute call up to help in the Changi Simei Road Run at Bedok Reservoir. Roped in the sidekick and the Princess and off we went. Weather was great after the earlier rain.

This has got to be the cheapest race in the history of Singapore. $3.00 and participants get to run, timing, goodie bag, baggage and isotonic and plain water and bananas. Where else can one get so much for so little? Despite that, and more likely due to the low key publicity, there were only about 300 signup but maybe because of the rain, only about half turned up, which was a pity.

The race was flagged off by Miss Jessica Tan, MP for Changi Simei. It was a short and sharp affair being just 1 round of the reservoir and the runners soon came back with the winners earning a small cash prize.

Sundown Ultra Marathon 2011

For the 4th continuous year that this race has been organised, I did not take part. Ha ha, I am not up to that calibre to do an ultra. But a number of my friends are. And to these people, I salute them for their perseverance, tenacity and endurance to take up to 18 hours to do a run. Me. Probably will kill myself if I have to run anything more than 5 hours.

Anyway, even though I wasn't running, there was no stopping me from soaking in the actions by dragging my sleepy body down to support my friends. Of course, over the years, the support stuff has been getting more and more pathetic. First year, we had a big group, all sort of food including a barbecue, it was down to drinks and some bread in the 2nd year, last year it was just some drinks and this year, we only had coke and coffee. This was mitigated by the fact that the full marathon had been spin off earlier and so it was just 900 ultra runners. 

After leaving the house, we cruise around the race route looking for familiar faces and stopped to give them a sip of hot coffee or coke before we eventually settled at the East Coast Park with fellow Ocean 9 pal, John to wait for everybody else to turn up. And bit by bit, one painful step by another, they staggered passed us enroute to the 100km finish line.

Cold Storage Kids Run 2011

4th year being involved in the biggest kid run event in Sg. This year edition is back at the Padang after switching over to the F1 last year. The event keeps getting bigger and bigger with more children, more categories but at the same price. Very rare indeed for a race nowadays not to increase its year on year registration fee. Even the activities by the various sponsors have improved with simple booth games to traditional children game like hopscotch to the usual balloon castle to obstacle course! The kids never had it so good!

Flag off was at St Andrew's Road. There were so many categories including pram rice, parents and children, fun run, 800 metres and 1600 metres races for kids of various age groups.

The kids are fast. Super fast. The first 4 kids in the 1.6km race came in sub 6 minutes and for the kids in the 800 metres, the average time for the top finishers was around 3 minutes +!

 Children from the Spastic Children Association of Singapore also took part 

Twilight Ultra Challenge

Another weekend another race. But this one is another race with a twist. This is an ultra event only for the fit and the best which was why instead of running, I am back in the volunteer role. The race is organised by good friends from sgrunners who have formed their own company to organise niche races. There were only about 200  participants but since this was a niche race and for the fit and elite, the number was acceptable.

Participants have 16 hours from 5pm on 26 March to 9am on 27 March to complete as many of the 10km loops as possible. Kaypoh me and the Mrs plus the Princess who decided to tag along were deployed with some other student volunteers to the water point at the 7.5km route to while away the long long night. And of course we had fun and Uncle here still managed to get some shut eye while the runners went up and down.

Here are a few of the pictures:

The volunteers from HCI and Nanyang Poly

This is the Champion!

Run and Raisin 2011

Another race where we took part and yet did not run. This time round a bigger group of friends got together to volunteer our time to pitch in for the Run and Raisin Charity Run organised by the Touch Community.

We were split into 3 groups - some at the baggage, some as marshals but majority of us were put together at one of the water point and I think most of us have a splashing time serving water to the runners.

Once in a while, it's good to experience racing from the other side and understand the problems that event organiser face and the frustration that volunteers face from the participants. Maybe if more runners help out more often in events, that will reduce the number of complaints from these people?

Run & Raisin' 2011

Run & Raisin' is an inaugural charity run by TOUCH Young Arrows (TYA). TYA is a service of TOUCH Community Services, a not-for-profit charitable organisation officially registered in 1992 and a member of the National Council of Social Service. Besides running for charity, participants can also take part in an exciting carnival which would be held concurrently. 

Through Run & Raisin', TYA aims to raise $100,000 to meet the needs of the 300 disadvantaged children and their families under our care, increase public awareness of TYA's work in the community, promote family bonding and a healthy lifestyle. 

TYA is committed to care for children aged six to 12 years old from single-parent and low-income families. Children who lack family support and who are also struggling academically are given tuition at the 12 TYA clubs island-wide. TYA aims to build positive character traits and leadership qualities in the children who may otherwise be vulnerable to negative influences around them. Through games, competitive sports and recreational activities, TYA also helps these children learn to build rapport and interact with their families and friends to help them strengthen parent-child and social relationships. For more information on TOUCH Young Arrows' services, please visitwww..touch.org.sg/touch_young_arrows

For more information on Run & Raisin’ click here.

Terry Fox Run 2011

My first Running non-running event of the year. Running because it was a non-competitive charity run and non-running because I was participating not as a runner but as a helper.


The Terry Fox Run used to be held regularly in Singapore until a few years back before it changed its name to Run for Cancer. This year the Canadian Association finally decided to reclaim their event. However, with the limited financial resources, it was a small affair with about a 1500 participants. However, the atmosphere was great and I am sure everybody enjoyed the event. There were free coffee (from Starbucks!), free cookies (from Fairmont Hotel), oranges, bananas, water and best of all, it was all free. There was no registration fee. Just a t-shirt purchase price and each dri-fit tee cost only $20.00 for adult and $15.00 for youth. Yes they were that thoughtful to have 2 different sizes.

M and me got assigned to the t-shirt selling desk. It was gratifying to see many people just signing up without taking the t-shirt and also those who put some more money into the donation box. A total of $40,000.00 was raised and donated to the Singapore Cancer Society. Not really a big sum of money but certainly a lot considering that there were only 1500 participants.

There was no start and finish gantry.  Just a simple go and the participants went off. There were also no medal, finishing tees or isotonic drinks but I didn't think anymore complained and everybody had fun and most important of all, it was for a good cause.

More pictures here

POSB Run for Kids 2010

2nd year running I'm doing this event as a run marshal instead of as a participant. This time round, got upgraded to the 4.5km. The run started  a bit late and as usual it was hot in Sengkang. But still the participants don't seem to be affected too much by the heat.

Just about 1 km after the start, saw a guy went down clutching his chest. OMG, a real life crisis. Wiped out my phone to call the chief marshall but fortunately for the chap, there was a medic nearby and when he came I chased after the pack of kids. Those darn kids can run damn fast.

Had an enjoyable time though. I ran, walked, ran again, walked. It was interesting to see especially the young kids most of them still in primary school completing the 4.5km in fine form while the adults were struggling.

Some of the highlights:

The run and bike marshals pre-run 

Participants waiting for the start of the 4.5km race

Runners on the verge of completing the race

The Run and Bike marshal's post run

More photos on facebook

Singtel Race Against Cancer 2010

Another beautiful cool day - perfect for sleeping in but was up at 5am for a race that I was not running.

For the 3rd time this year, I have elected to participate in a race not as a participant but as a volunteer. This time the event was the Singtel Race Against Cancer at Pasir Ris Park. Unfortunately, was deployed to the Pasir Ris Bus Interchange to point participants in the right direction. I guess they figured us volunteers were cheaper than printing and putting up a whole lot of directional sign. Being at the Interchange means I had to miss most of the actions on site but nevermind, it was for a good cause.

But sometime wish can and do come true but it may not turned out exactly how we like. Was recalled back to the finish line at 8.30 am and found that I had to trudge through 100 metres of mud and then stand there guiding the finishers into the right chute. It was fun time though and I caught a glimpse of a witch, a 'Áh Lian' and a 'air stewardess'!















But the best part was watching the participants hopelessly trying to pick their through the mud without getting their shoes muddy!





And the absolute best part of the whole deal was we get to bring home the many freebies that could not be finished includes loads of fruits, Yakult and Magnolia ice-cream!

Me think I should sign up for more of this.