218km Run Round Singapore 2010 (Day2) – 28 Mar 10

(RRS2010 Banner & Balloon at NTU Sports & Recreation Centre)

(RRS2010 Banner & End Point Stage)




On day 2 of RRS2010, I prepared myself in the late morning and left home early to NTU sports and recreation centre at around 2+pm to get ready for my pacer role and to witness the winner crossing the finishing line for this great 218km ultra marathon run organized by NTU. This is my 2nd time acting as a pacer for the core runner and I was doing that in RRS2005 about 4+ years ago.

http://kiatsans.blogspot.com/2007/06/8-key-runners-of-run-round-singapore.html

While I was waiting for KT to join me for the pacer role in the last 10km of the run, the MC announced at around 3.50pm that the first core runner, Mr. Yong Yuen Cheng is on his way to the finishing line in approximately10 minutes time.

We waited for a while to finally witness the wonderful moment of Mr Yong to finish the finishing line with a amazing time of 31 hour 28min 51 sec to help Singapore set a record in the Singapore Book of Record. It was a pleasure seeing someone completes such a long distance endurance run without any sleep at all. An great achievement obtained.

(Overall winner, Mr Yong crossing the finishing line of 218km run with a timing of 31hr 28min 51 sec)

(Mr Yong raising his right hand for his victory)

After 15 minutes or so, I received a call from the RRS2010 organizer notifying me that the core runner, Mr Teng Teck Hou that I was scheduled to pace was on his way to the station that I was supposed to start pacing him. From them, KT and I left the NTU sports and recreation centre and took a bus down to boon lay and transferring another bus to reach station #65 at Jurong East Sports Complex.

(Relay Runners gathering at Station #65 (Jurong East Sports Complex), waiting for their relay to start)

We waited there till around 6+pm before we finally saw the core runner, Mr Teng and his other pacers coming to station #65 strong. From there we joined in the pacing role back to NTU sports & recreation centre which covers about the last 10km of the 218km run. During the pacing process, I was quite impressed that Mr Teng was still at his highest spirit and even running at a fast speed even though he had been running non-stop for the past 30+ hours or so.

For the last few stations, the other pacers, KT and I were pacing Mr Teng closely and most of the time, we were running on the road and the cisco police helped us to stop the traffic so that we were able to continue running without stopping. We took turns to supply Mr Teng with water, snickers, showering him with water during the run so as to keep him hydrate and carry on with the run.

At the last stretch near the rear entrance of NTU, we saw the 4th position core runner, Mr Lim Nghee Huat and his pacers. It was at this time, Mr Teng started to ramp up his gear to level 5, sprinting his way to chase Mr Nghee Huat (56, overall runner in RRS2005) in front and to end his race. In the end, Mr Lim still managed to maintain his 4th position while Mr Teng obtained the 5th position with just 1 minute behind Mr Lim. It was really a close challenge and you cannot imagine someone would really go all his way to chase the runner in front after running for so long in a Ultra marathon even though it was not a competitive race. Overall, 5 out of the 9 core runners completed the full 218km run while 4 core runners dropped out at earlier stations but they ran on average 120+ km or so.

(5th position finisher - Mr Teng after his long endurance 218km run)

After the run, KT and I rested for a while before going around the ending point carnivals to buy drinks and witness others queuing up for some fun for some game booths. After that KT left early to other appointment, while I stayed back to witness the stage performance and closing ceremony for RRS2010. During the closing ceremony, acknowledgement was given to all parties who helped out and all 9 core runners were called up the stage to receive their token. The overall winner, Mr Yong was not feeling very well at that time and he was pushed up to the stage in a wheelchair.

(Game Booths outside NTU sports & recreation centre)

(Performances)

(Closing Ceremony)

In this RRS2010, the runners helped to set 3 new records for Singapore in the Singapore Book of Record which includes of:

Longest Ultra-Marathon completed in Singapore (218km, 68 relay stations, 9030 participants)

Fastest 218-km Ultra-Marathon Runner (Male) – Mr Yong Yuen Cheng / 31hr 28min 51sec

Longest Ultra-Marathon Runner (Female) – Ms Yong Yean Pin Adeline (129.3km)

(Receiving the 3 Singapore Books of Record set for RRS2010)

The other finishing timing for the 5 core runners who completed the full 218km are as follows:

1. Yong Yuen Chen – 31hr 28min 51sec

2. Chua Kok Chiow – 32hr 32min 05sec

3. Melvin Lee - 33hr 10min 35sec

4. Lim Nghee Huat – 34hr 35min 39sec

5. Teng Teck Hou – 34hr 36min 32 sec

(Final tracking position & result of all nine 218km core runners)

Anyway, it was great pacing a core runner who has very high spirit going all out just to achieve what he wants. It gave a message to all not to give up easily in whatever thing you do and if you preserve, you can overcome any ultimate challenge yourself. Let's hope there will be another such running event organized by NTU again in 5 years time to celebrate their 60th anniversary.

More information of RRS2010 can be obtained in the link below


http://runroundsingapore.ntu.edu.sg/




Below are 2 newspaper articles on RRS2010 extracted from The Straits Times, 29 Mar 2010