Tour De Trail 2011

Haven't meant to take photos for this race but was at MR waiting for M to finish her run and decided to kill time by taking some photos. Small race in the format of the end of year MR UltraMarathon. Each runner have to run loops of 12km. Minimum to complete and earn a finisher tee is 4 loops.

There seem to be slightly less than 100 runners. Except for brief instances when my attention was diverted by yakking with friends, I think I managed to shoot 80% of the runners. Some of them are simply outstanding and can put all of us to shame.

This man must be at least 70 years old?

The ever inspirational Mohan. He did another full marathon the next day in Malaysia!

The female Champion

The Men's Champion

 Here are the rest of photos.

Chia Seeds Basil Seeds

Been hearing a lot about Chia Seeds. No I have not read Christopher McDougall's Born to Run yet but have heard enough talk about Chia Seeds. A quick search on the web and was bowed over by its so called health benefits. After several futile search, finally managed to find it. 

Haven't yet open it cause I have found an alternative. And it is this little pack of Basil Seeds, a native plant of Asia. Most of us older folks will remember that it is commonly used in Bandung drink, a local rose syrub and condensed milk drink. The Muslim in the region also add it liberally to their drinks during the fasting month.

Yellow Ribbon Prison Run 2011

I have been very selective in my choice of races this year. This should have been my 5th race for the year but as it turns out, this has become the 3rd DNS with hopefully only one more to come before I resume running. 

But even though I can't run, I have to drag my butt down to the race site. Unlike the previous 2 editions, there was no rain this time round and it was a bright sunny morning. After dropping the sidekick and friend off at the race site, I plod myself outside the main Changi Prison Gate to wait for the runners.

There, I have the privilege of meeting the famous Malaysian 'photorunner' Tey. He had came down from Malaysia just to take photographs for his Singapore's friends [clap clap]. Took the opportunity to get some tips from him on taking photos.

Mr Photorunner Tey all the way from Malaysia

 The first lot of runners to reach this approximately 8km at about 20 minutes and soon it was snapping time as I snapping away. Eventually, the mass reached and when it was no longer possible to take individual shots, I made my way into the Prison compound for more picture takings. To view the pictures, click here

M did reasonably well finishing below 1 hour; considering that she has automatically reduced her running without me to run alongside her. Lazy lazy!! 

From what I observed, the race was well organised. There was no complaints of longer/shorter distance, missing distance markers or lack of drinks etc. In fact, they are so super efficient that even though I didn't run, I managed to register a finishing time of 1hr 19mins! Now how did that happened?

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.