hedgehog & friends

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2011 Race Review

2011-12-06T01:53:00.001-08:00

in my 9 years of running, this is the toughest half marathon (with the slowest timing), partly due to the hilly terrain

First of all, this race is an unfortunate one. We lost a young man, Malcom Sng, 22 years old collasped upon crossing the finishing line during the half marathon. He passed away in the hospital an hour later.

He is a respected runner, from the news, this is his second half marathon. He had signed up for the army half marathon in Sept. When he crossed the finishing time, the clock was 1 hr 53 mins. For a new runner it is not easy to run at this speed.

Race Review

The race starts at 6:30am on Sentosa island. I moved towards the front with my running mate Roland, about 100m from the start line. Before the start, i'm not as excited as it used to be (mainly because i had achieved my target of running a half marathon under 2 hrs, back in Sept this year). Having recovered from a cough this week, plus an ongoing knee problem together with the lack of training, i don't intend to push too hard during the run. The longest training run was just 2.8km x 4, around 11.2km (i had to walk in the last 2km because of slight pain in the right knee)

Before the run, was informed of the 8 uphills in Sentosa island itself, and i'm ready for it, after 3-4km into the race i'm starting to feel slight strain. This course is challenging indeed. The worst part was towards the 8-9km mark, we were running into an underground bus interchange, it was hard to breath inside, lack of oxygen, that stretch was around 1.5km. With the bus engines running.. it was hard, there was a driver standing beside the road, smoking! When i ran pass him, i had to inhale his 2nd hand smoke...! I just wanted to get out of this tunnel.

For the 10km within Sentosa, i took around 1 hr. Then my speed started to drop. For the remaining 11km to the finish, i had to stop, stretch & walk (due to my knee). Finally crossing the finish line in 2hrs 25 mins. The slowest time for a half marathon, 12% for the overall finishers (which i was quite amazed), i was really slow in this run.

In the reports, it mentioned there are 19,700 runners in the half marathon. The official results are out, 13,862 finished the half. That's only 70%.

We do not have 5km and kids dash numbers.

From official site: marathonsingapore.com

Finishers

Full Marathon	15,343
Half Marathon	13,862
10km	12,047
10km Wheelchair	6
Ekiden	722

20,000 signed up for full, and 19,700 for half.

the 3 half marathon medals, Sundown Marathon (May), SAFRA Army Half (Sept) and the Standard Chartered Half (Dec)

Paula Radcliffe How to Run Book review

2011-10-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

How to Run by Paula Radcliffe

2 weeks ago i borrowed the new book from the library, Paula Radcliffe How to Run. This book was published earlier this year. A highly recommended book, with interesting tips, recommendation and advice from Paula. It's like having Paula as a running coach.

i would recommend runners to check out this book. She is a highly competitive runner with world record marathon time under her belt, she shared some very good knowledge in the book. For us, we are just reading for more understanding and see how it can be applied to our own races.

gaining an edge

The importance of your state of mind in determing the outcome of a race can't be overestimated

in the zone

mind games

The importance of your mind in determing the outcome of a race is critical. Learn to lift yourself to the next level by increasing your mental strength

Safra Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon 2011 Review

2011-09-05T00:31:00.000-07:00

Joined the men's open, the field as compared to Sundown half marathon runners are much faster & stronger. Sundown half marathon runners are more recreational i guess.

A great day, I had finally acheived the goal of running a half marathon in under 2 hrs. Well 1hr 59 mins! Since 2004 when i did a half marathon, it had been 7 years! A happy day indeed.

the 20th year, 70k runners signed up for the race

The race flag off at 5:15am. My goal was to run within 2 hrs 10mins. I didn't really put in much effort before the race, the most i did in a training run was around 10km, we are supposed to do 2 sets of 5.6km (11.2km total) but it was cancelled on both occasion because of rain. Knowing there was an uphill at Fort Canning Road, the race course is much more challenging than Sundown Marathon. I didn't have much expectation, RELAX, just here to enjoy the run, once the race started i stick with my running mate Hong (he was having slight flu), a better runner than me, my goal was to keep in pace with him. His endurance and stamina drop slightly as he didn't really prepared for this race.

At 6km mark the time was 34mins, within the 6mins pace (what we usually did in training). At 7km it was 40mins. I checked my watch again at 9km, it was 51 mins. At 10km mark the time was 57 mins. After which i didn't check my watch that often, at around 13-14km, i stopped and stretch my right leg for around 20-30 sec. There was slight strain in my right knee again (the usual problem). The weather helps, it was still early in the morning and there was no heat. Looking in front of me, there are really a lot of superb runners in Singapore, only experience runners with certain mileage in training can run under a 6 mins pace, i was trying to keep up with this group of runners.

We carried on running, at 18 km mark it was 1 hr 40 mins. At 19km, i took a cool water sponge and wet my neck & shoulders, it kind of lower down my body temperature. I knew i can make it within 2hrs, today is the day! 20 mins to cover 3km, that's not too difficult. Slight pain in my right knee again, but i just pick up pace and forget about the pain (when you don't think about it, hopefully it will go away). In the last 3.1km, i was running at 4 min 28 sec per km.

Finally 1hr 59 mins! I joined the under 2 hrs group after 8 years and on the 7 attempt!
2004 SCSM at 2 hrs 9 mins, 2006 SCSM at 2 hrs 13 mins, 2008 SCSM at 2 hrs 13 mins,
2009 Safra at 2 hrs 18 mins, 2010 Sundown at 2:06 mins, 2011 recent Sundown at 2:06 mins

Running towards the line at the gun time of 2 hrs, i'm at the most right behind (half covered), this is the only picture. These guys running within 2hrs are all good runners.
Photo by runevent shots

results from runpix, comparing with sundown runpix, the experience & serious runners are mostly here :)

increased my pace in the last 3 km, overtook almost 150 runners (learning from the earlier sundown experience, i need to run faster in the last few kilometers in order to get under 2 hrs)

Overall it was very well orgainized (the army guys always did a good job). Each water point was having sufficent guys (mend by each combat unit). The cheering, local bands, belly dancers gave the much needed motiviation and inspiration. The only thing to note on the aid stations was that they should use deep heat instead of having the spraying stuff (like those used in soccer match, not much use for me).

The last time i ran in the army half was back in 2009, comparing it with the Sunday run, they had made a huge improvement in overall logistic, race route (less uphill) and support, and the best is i got a PB :)

Sundown Ultramarathon 100km Finisher Medal

2011-07-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

Sundown Ultramarathon Finisher medal, 1ookm
Ultramaraton Runner

OFFICIAL RESULTS ON RUNPIX

Of the 488 who finished, 12% were Women and 88% were Men.

As mentioned in the earlier post, i met up with my running friend James for dinner on Sunday. He brought along his finisher medal. Right now, i guess this is the only picture avaliable on the net, didn't manage to find one. Sealed in a self-made plastic cover for protection, there was reflection when the picture was taken, precious medal! Nevertheless we can still view it :) When each runner crossed the finish line, the organizer volunteer will putting the medal over your head.

He ran till 70km, didn't rest or take a break apart from the water point. From 70km to 100km, it was run & walk to finish.

Result
13 hrs 50 mins 57 sec. Men's open 67th place with 235 finishers behind.

If you are walking like a penguin, then you have to stop, there's no point walking towards the finish line in a limp, the distance is just too great (there is a cut off time for the race). By pushing through the pain barrier, there might be more harm to your body. This is the advise given by James after the race, and the organizer had mentioned this before the race. He saw a lot of runners who had to give up at around 50km, there was a bus to fetch these guys.

I'm glad to play my part in helping him to draw out the training plan, yesterday he thanked me for it. Although i have not attempt an ultramarathon before but more or less i did read on how people train for such races. As each runner is different, the most important factor was to know the person well, based on his running experience, looking at the physical and mental aspect, how he can adapt to the training program over the months. Important things to look out for over this training period, more critical in the last month or so. Understanding how the body react during the training, and finally the 1 week rest needed before the race day (tapering).

In return, the challenge he thrown me was to participate in the race next year, now that he had completed the one and only ultra. 100km??? I knew my limit, and the distance i can cover, 100km is simply too much.

Before i ended this post, here is something i would like to share with all (there will be a separate post on more of the specially selected quotation from the book).Finished reading a book on Extreme Running by Kym McConnell & Dave Horsley over the weekend.

The only true wisdom lives far from mankind, out in the great loneliness, and can be reached only through suffering.
- Igjugarjuk, Caribou Eskimo Shaman

Marathon Update

2011-06-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

Received a call from James last night.

After finishing Sundown 100km, he went to get an extended MC (medical certificate), from the doctor, he will probably need to rest for a week. On the phone he mentioned that he ran from the first km to around 70km! He told me his thoughts during the race, and after. We had a good conversation, will be meeting up for dinner this Sunday.

I told him to bring along his medal & wear his finisher T-shirt. ( i will post a picture of the 100km finisher medal on the blog), how often do we get to see such a medal & T-shirt! Around 500 runners completed the race in Singapore, around 200 did not finish and another 200 did not start.

The Official Sundown 100km Results

Men

Ahmad Lamchannak, 08:12:03.03
Sefli Ahar, 08:24:58.05
Ewin Teo, 09:12:53.06

Women

Sumiko Tan, 10:24:31.42
Tori Leckie, 12:39:35.11
Claire Robley, 12:41:27.77

I signed up for the standard chartered half marathon 2 days ago, do sign up Latest by Tonight for the early bird discount, else the fees is to increase 20%. The full marathon fees for those who ran last year will be at S$60. It is Jun now, one should plan for their marathon goal, i guess many of the runners will have the "sign up first & see later" mentality, it is the organizers who are making money, many runners don't turn out on race day.

We are going to see another record runners this year.

Sundown Ultramarathon 100km - A New Record in Singapore

2011-06-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

It was a great day, my friend James Loo had completed the 100 km ultramaraton in 13 hrs 54 mins. Importantly he had gave his best and survived the course. And he had put his name in the Sundown Marathon Singapore Record book forever!!

Some 900 runners took off the gruelling 100km Sundown Marathon at 6pm yesterday(26 Jun) at the Marina Barrage.

Last year around 30% completed the 84km distance. It's much tougher in 100km. Will update the results shortly.

I will be meeting him next Sunday, and there will be a special interview, which i will post here for everyone.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2011

2011-06-22T00:38:00.001-07:00

The Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore is here again. It will be open for registration tomorrow 23 Jun. For those who intended to sign up, please do so and take advantage of the early bird. The early bird offer is valid from 23 Jun to 20 July 2011, last year, all the slots were taken during the early bird period.

Categories

Full Marathon early bird offer $75 (15% less for cardholders at $63.75)
Half Marathon $58 ($49.30)
10km Men/Women/Wheelchair $50 (42.50)
5km Fun Run $20 (N.A)
Kids Dash 750m $18 (15.30)
Ekiden -42.195km $300 ($255)

I'm surprised when i saw the fees for this year full marathon $75 (for early bird offer)! With standard chartered credit card (15% off), it will be $63.75.

Last year i paid $38.25 for the full marathon (using standard chartered credit card). An increase of 40%!! WOW. For me & my friends we will just sign up for the half. Kind of disappointed to see the increasing fees, a few years from now, i'm not surprise to see $100 for full marathon.

After last year run, I have decided not to run a full in SC. The 10km & half marathon runners merged at Sheares Bridge and basically you have to walk with them. It is frustrating if you have a time goal, having come so far to reach 37km ... and ended up walking with the rest. It was only in the last 2km, you get to run to the finish. Precious time were wasted :(

Last year 60k signed up (from the previous 50k) and this year they intended to get 70k participants.

Race Review for 2010 Full Marathon
SCMS Race Review 2010

This will be the 9th year since my first 10km in SCSM. My recommendation for those who are running full marathon:

1. Prepare yourself. Train in the heat. (last year the race starts at 5am and at around 10am the temperature was at 35C) . Can you run in the heat for the last stretch? It can be quite painful & stressful.

2. Are you aiming for a PB? If you intend to do a personal best, SCMS might not be suitable. You will probably be slowed down by others near the finishing. Last year, I have to walk for about 2km at around 37km mark. I finished in less under 5 hrs, it could be better.

Sundown Marathon 2011 Final Results

2011-06-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

Last week, I checked on the Sundown results and was surprise to see a FINAL updated one. The earlier posted here was the provisional results. I'm happy to see the improvement in overall standings. Not bad, i think i can still improve.

The next event will be the SAFRA Army Half Marathon coming up in Sept, the last time i ran in this race was 2 years ago.

Sundown Marathon 2011 Half Marathon Review

2011-05-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

I had finished the race, there isn't any personal best. Just how close it was? This year I finished in 2: 06: 16. Last year it was 2: 06 : 15. So the difference was 1 sec to my personal best.

I gave my best, if i didn't stop at the last 2 water points, I am sure it can be around 30 sec faster. But anyway, I'm more determined to run a personal best again this year.

Race Review
This year Sundown orgainizer Hivelocity did a great job, after taking feedbacks & making adjustment to the overall race experience, there isn't any major issues. They received lots of complaints after last year race, as expected more people turn out for the race this year.

My friend Roland pick us up at around 5:30pm, reaching at around 6:15pm. Four of us running, last year it was 5. The race starts at 8pm, we were early and there are plenty of parking lots. Unlike last year, I didn't move to the very front of the start line.

Start of the race

When the gun went off, I just have to overtake the slower runners, kind of waste a bit of energy, need to get into good position, i overtook hundreds of people. At around 5km, I looked at my watch - 28mins. Good pace, however at around 8km, as usual the same old problem on my right knee, I slow down a bit, at around 10km, it was less than an hour on my watch. Just have to maintain this pace, i tell myself. The weather was humid, was totally wet from head to toes. At around 13km, i kind of feeling the strain, i'm running out much faster than i did in training, the only thing i knew was that i had done this before, all i have to do was to repeat it again.

From 13 km onwards, I stopped and took a slip at every water point, just to have light refreshment, it was a tough run. After 15km, the road was kind of empty in front of me, just half a dozen people, i was too tried by now to overtake any of them, just running at the intended pace.

At 19km mark, I looked at my watch, it was 1 hr 53 mins. I knew it will be quite close this time, so i just pick up speed towards the finish without looking at my watch again (when u look at your watch, you tend to slow down), the right knee problem was gone (or i just block it away), the final push to the finish line. As usual, i was familiar with the route, in the final stretch of around 2km it was total darkness, i was running towards the light at the finish line (the music gets louder as it was closer). When i crossed the finish line, i knew i had the same timing as last year 2hrs 6 mins.In the last 2.1km, i took 13 mins.

race results from runpix

I have a total of 7 pictures taken, i selected 2 of my favourite and post here :)

My friend Roland 59 years old, came in 2nd in his age group, Chin 54 years old, 3rd in his age group and Hong in 40-44 age group, he finished at 16 position. They are all superb runners and i can't keep up with them in training, i'm usually a step behind them.

Sundown Marathon 2011 Race pack collection (Fri)

2011-05-21T09:22:00.001-07:00

Collection of race pack at Expo on Friday, an easy and fast collection.

Checking out the new NB running shoes, looks like a unisex running shoes.

lastest bike on display

Hivelocity started orgainizing Sundown Marathon in 2008 (first), in a few years it expanded to more than a dozen other races. Very good profit indeed, with race fees increasing every year.

2008 Sundown Marathon records, in the 4th year now

The event will on the coming Saturday, check the blog for more updates shortly.

Running Motivation

2011-05-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

About 10 days to the Sundown Marathon, everything is progressing smoothly, did a few session with my training mates. A week ago i came across this clip of Heather Dorniden from the University of Minnesota races the 600m at the Big 10 Indoor Track Championships. I noticed there was blood on her face, from the fall, but she just gave her all in the race.

It reminded us as runners, our training over the years, the dedication needed just for that special day.

a special clip, you just need that something extra in every race :)

Workers' Party Rally Serangoon Stadium 29 April

2011-04-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Hedgehog is never a political blog, but a snap shot of what is happening around me in Singapore. From the earlier post on YOG, the first hand pictures on the opening of the casino, the pride as a Singaporean when i attended the national day parade 2 years ago and when the local YOG soccer team brought us happiness and together as Singaporeans. This strong response was felt at the Serangoon Stadium rally last night. Here are the pictures i took last night.

I can felt the heartbeat of our people, when all of us came together after a hard day work, it doesn't matter who you are or what is your position in the society, it even doesn't matter if you are late, we gather at the stadium.

people continue to stream into the stadium even when i left after 1.5 hour, it's just too pack inside

how big is the crowd last night?

went up to the 11th floor of a HDB flat to snap this picture

workers, singaporeans on to their way to the stadium... 2 hrs after 7 pm

Nobody can belittle us, each and everyone of us is talented, by believing in yourself and removing the fear factor, we can achieve what we set out for. It doesn't mean we complain & keep complaining, but we find solutions to solve the problems, taking it as a challenge. What matters is the struggle we encounter in life, and by overcoming them, we made our lifes meaningful. The people can tell what is true & what is false, it's never emotional. When we vote, not only do we vote for ourselves, but we do so for our family and children, we will vote for a better Singapore.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010 Race Certificate

2011-03-31T21:43:00.001-07:00

Received the race certificate yesterday, i'm most glad that there was no damage to the certificate itself, Perfect! For the last few years, the certificate usually arrives in the letterbox either bend or fold. Last year i had to return the certificate to get it printed again, but when it arrived, the corner was bend again (an A4 laminated paper posted out in an envelope).

This is probably my last full marathon in Singapore (the 5th), I have no intention of running a full marathon in Singapore, due to a few reasons. If i would to train for a full, i intended to go overseas like Thailand or Taiwan.

Will see how it goes, the next race coming up will be at the end of May, Sundown Marathon 2011 (half). I have given myself the goal of running under 2 hrs this time, finished 2 hrs 6 mins on the same race course last year.

the beginnning of another running season :)

Running on Faith - Jason Lester

2011-03-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading the book, Running on Faith by Jason Lester. The principles, passion and pursuit of a winning life. At age 12 Jason was knocked down by a car and his right arm was paralyzed.

Jason Lester is an ultraman triathlon, an ESPY winner. The distance of an ultraman triathlon?

Swim 6.2 miles
Bikes 261.4 miles
Run 52.4 miles

An inspiring book on courage, commitment, passion, spirit and life itself. A must read if you guys need more than just motivation, unimaginable!

Singapore Zoo Run 2011 Race Review

2011-02-14T00:46:00.000-08:00

looking forward for a good run, which didn't happen...
Bad Weather. Race Cancelled.

Along Mandai road, runners parked their cars along double yellow lines

Last Saturday was the zoo run, signed up for the competitive men 8km, upon arrival at Mandai Road, that was this jam. The traffic police stopped us at 1.5km before the zoo entrance, so i have to walked in (again walking out after the run).

A massive crowd when i arrived, it was hard to find a place to warm up too, at around 4 pm it started to run, thunderstorm, i just find a corner below the information counter and sat down, no point standing up waiting when you don't know how soon the rain will stop. Closed my eyes seated cross-legged, kind of in a meditation position. At around a 5 pm i decided to stand up and walk around, unknowingly i joined the queue in collection the medal. Super long queue, saw our Singapore Marathon Champion Mok Ying Ren, waited for around 20-25 mins before i got the items (medal & a hand-held water bottle). I walked towards the start line and saw a crowd of runners waiting, the rain had stopped at around 5:10 pm. So i just joined the 6km fun run (people were eating ice-cream, drinking 100 plus as the race starts, this is surely a fun run/walk). It was dangerous as kids around the height of my hip, were running in front of me, i had to stop suddenly a couple of times, as usual couples holding hand walking, it was expected as it was a fun run anyway. A small boy about 6 years old dashed in front of me and fell, i pat him on his shoulder as he was standing up, the wet ground made running dangerous.

Collecting the medal before the run.
Holding on the medal & hand-held water bottle, completed the 6 km fun run, this medal is just a sovenir. This is the second time i didn't run in a race i signed up. In one year, i didn't turn up for the Mizuno Wave run, because of a thunderstorm.

The organizer should make announcement on the PA system and update us on their plan. Most competitive runners (8km men & women) left when they learnt the race was cancelled. Not knowing they were supposed to collect the medal & a free hand-held water bottle. (they can collect the items at 2XU store at Marina Square from 22 Feb to 25 Feb), check facebook page for more updates.

Last year, i had joined the Newton 30km run organized by Pink Apple, there was slight rain before the race, and it started anyway. They can probably delay the race for 15-30 mins and before deciding what to do, the rain stopped at around 5:10pm. When the race was supposed to start at 4:45pm, they can combine both men & women together. However for safely reasons, it is definitely better to cancel as the route was wet & slippery, but they still proceed with the fun run. Given an ice-cream after the run, but no water, i didn't see the 100 plus, only drink when i reached home at around 8pm.

The organizer (Pink Apple Pte Ltd) should have free shuttle buses to the zoo, pick up point at MRT station, so it will not create this jam along Mandai (most runners taking cabs and parked their vehicles along the whole stretch of road)

This is the first time signing up for the race ($50), it will be my last too. Felt sick after the run, with slight fever, having a rest day today.

This evening, the organizer had send an apologise letter to all competitive runner, and I accepted it. As usual, just move on, there will always be another run.

Singapore Zoo Run 2011 (Feb)

2011-01-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

After last Dec marathon, just went for 2 runs a 5km+ last year and a 3km this year. Kind of lazy to run now, i will start training today.

Today signed up for the Singapore Zoo Run 2011, Run for Ah Meng after I received an email usually received lots of email on all kinds of runs in Singapore. Ah Meng (the late orangutan) is the zoo icon . Not cheap for a 8km, early bird at S$48 (for passion card member), price exclude GST (tax).

Anyway, I like the towel (top picture) and the medal (looks nice), with a 2XU black T-shirt and an adult zoo ticket which will be given after the race, on top of that there was a unknown event gift from the zoo too. Nowadays, organizers need to show runners the medal and free gifts before we can decide whether to join.

Shall see if I will bring along my digital camera on that day for some photo taking. The race will be held on 12 Feb at 3:30pm.

* pictures taken from Singapore Zoo Run 2011 Facebook page.

End of the year

2010-12-28T20:12:00.000-08:00

Last night, received a message from my running mate Roland who just came back from Chiang Mai, Thailand. He had just completed the Chiang Mai Marathon 2010 with a personal best of 4 hr 5 mins. That is amazing for a 58 years old, the other guy Chin (53 years old) finished with a PB too at 3 hrs 43 mins.

Having trained so hard and frequent for this race, the flat terrain and good weather (15C) at 4am played a part, they achieved the goal they set for themselves.

Next year, just plan to sign up for half marathon in Singapore.

Happy New Year, have a great year ahead.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010

2010-12-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

5am at the start line.

Copyright by Anthony Quek

Beautiful Christmas lightings, switched on just for the full marathoners.

Cute little toddler in the Kids Dash, a future runner :)

Copyright from MCYSingapore

The Penguins of Madagascar cheering for half marathon runners at Sentosa

Came across a few pictures of the Sunday event from flickr, there are hundreds more, I had choosen these 4 nice pictures for the blog. They are copyrights to their respect owners.

The Christmas lighting along Orchard was what we experience on that day, wonderful & stunning. A great welcome before we started our 42km run.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010 Race Review

2010-12-05T20:49:00.000-08:00

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore Medal 2010

Medal showing CK Tang building at Orchard Road, Sentosa starting point for the half marathon runners and the Singapore flyer.

Completed my 5th full marathon on Sunday, finished with a personal best. I'm glad that I managed to cut around 30 mins off my 2009 timing and achieved a PB, with the goal of finally finishing a marathon under 5 hrs.

The race starts at 5am, wake up at 2:30 am had my breakfast at 3am. Left home at 3:30am, took a cab down to Orchard with 2 other friends. We are about 45mins before the start just went to the toilets in Orchard.

Standing under the Christmas lights at Orchard was wonderful, in the last 5 mins to the start time, the music Final Countdown was being played. Looking at the lights I recalled the training and the build up to this marathon, wishes my friend good luck, we start to walk towards the start line.

Sticking to my marathon pace everything was good, after running 4km into Chinatown area, saw the 5:15 official pacers in front, overtook them shortly. At around 8 km mark I saw the 5 hrs marathon pacers in front about 500m, overtook them.

A Caucasian runner dressed as superman shouted to the pacers "Is this the 4:45 pacers?"

One of the pacer replied " No, 5 hrs pacers, if you want to catch them you got to fly in front."

In order to run under 5 hrs, it is important not to let the 5:15 & 5 hrs pacers overtook me.

After running 12-13km, we moved into East Coast Park, I told myself to maintain my pace and survive this East Coast route (mentally I'm prepared as we had run in Newton 30km), 13km into the Park, come out at 28km (a big loop). At 14km, the medic provided deep heat, I applied on my right knees, it did help to ease some pain.

Along the way at 20 -22km, I met my friend Hong, catching up from behind, he told me he started 30mins late as his bib number was in the 6hrs pen, "good work, very good pace, keep going" we encouraged one other and he overtook me. Shortly I met my friend Adam at the East Coast Lagoon 23km, the one-armed runner (1armrunner.blogspot.com), he was struggling, we encouraged each other and I just moved ahead.

Seeing the 28km mark I survived the East Coast road, people around me are feeling the strain & stress. My pace slowed, however I continued running. 29km, 30km, 31km, looking forward to see the distance marker and knowing I'm closer to the finish....

At 30km upslope at the Marine Bay Golf course, my friend James run from behind and called me, he was in very good pace, we jog together for a while complaining of the weather, it was about 35 degrees now.. it is hard to run in this weather. But we pushed on and I tell him to go ahead.

31km, 32km, 33km, the distance marker was a welcoming sign now, was running for almost 4 hrs and I knew I can improve on my 2009 timing. There are still some strength in me, my knees are alright, the biggest discomfort was the hot weather. Finally reached 35km, finishing soon, been running for about 35km, the ambulance siren was all around me, that is the only sound I heard.

At 37 km we had to run uphill on the Sheares Brigde, this is it, just walked for the next 2km. The 10km & half-marathon runners blocked the whole lane, there is no way to carry on running now, I'm just too tired too. The 10km runners had just ran 5km, half marathon runners about 3-4km to finish when all of us reached the bridge creating a huge bottleneck, I had run for more than 35km, damn and now we are in this big jam. I saw suffering and pain around me, the super hot weather at around 10am was hard to bear, everyone had their heads down.

Finally upon seeing the 40km sign, I started to run again, but just 5 mins into the run my left thigh cramped. It was bad... walk for 5 mins or so and I carry on running. The finishing was near, today I will achieved a personal best.

Everyone was blocking my way. Both 10km & half marathon runners, I pushed my way, elbowed to the finish line.. 2km more.. and last 1km. Waka Waka was played near the finished line, you can hear the cheering (reminded me of Newton run), the final push and it was all over.

Crossed the finish line. VICTORY! DAMN 42.195km.

This will be my last full marathon in Standard Chartered, the race course is no longer good to run in my opinion. The orgainser was more interested to make a profit with increase participants rather than for us runners, an increase of 10k to 60k this year.

today's ST

"There's a lot of potential to grow this race. I think maybe 60,000 is not the limit" Teo Ser Luck, MCYS Senior Parliamentray Secratary, he ran in 10km.

"But so far so good. It was great weather, a great crowd and the mood was good, so it's been a wonderful morning." Comminity Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan who ran 10km.

The organiser will like to take into consideration of the followings for some improvements:

60k runners was definitely too large.

At 37km we had to run uphill at ECP and faced a bottleneck. For runners (full marathon) with bag deposit, they had to walk 2km to collect their bags at F1 pit. Full marathon runners walked 2km after finishing, while the others had their bags at the Padang (at the finish).This was poor planning.

Athens Classic Marathon 2010 Commemorative Medal

2010-11-28T00:44:00.000-08:00

The golden ribbon with the distance printed from 1km to 42.195km, medal showing Phidippides running with a shield. With a shield?

On Friday, I received this commemorative medal via mail. In celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the legend of marathon. I had thought of going to Greece, Athens to run a marathon, a long trip there will include a few days of sight-seeing, a trip there was estimated to cost more than S$5,000.

This year 2010 will be a significant year to run a marathon no matter where we are. A celebration of the spirit of Phidippides.

A little booket with 8 pages on the history of marathon. Medal on a display stand. Actual color of the medal.

A picture of the The Athens Classic Marathon Medal 2010 (gold & silver)
Athens Classic Marathon Medal 2010

Race Plan in less than 10 days

2010-11-25T03:35:00.000-08:00

With the given route map from the event book, runners can work out their own race plan. You will know what to expect along the route and don't get any surprise if things don't turn out your way, example no more water (this did happened in the Newton Run), no more power gel which happened last year.

This year the number of full marathon runners reach an all year high of 19,000! So it is important to take care of yourself and be prepared.

At the start of the race, the first few water points are usually welcoming sight to runners, everyone will rush towards it, if you have a time goal, it is better to skip them, from my personal experience. Time spend on each water point is about 20-30 secs per.

Water point
Between 2-3km (skip)
between 4-5km (skip)
7km (optional)
9km (take)
Between 11-12km (optional)
13km (opt)
14km Banana (skip) The bananas are provided too early
15km
Near to 18km
Near to 19km
Before 20km (water & gel) take the gel!
Prepare to eat the gel at around 22km with water pt coming.
Between 23-24km
After 26km (take)
Bet 28km - 29km (take)
At 32km (take) Muscle Rub
Don't miss the last few water points, it is near the finish and runners will be very tired by then, some refreshment can do wonders now!
Near 33km (take)
At 35km (take)
39km (last water point)

IMPT: Dont skip the water point at 33, 35 & 39km.

Counting down, less than 10 days before the big challenge.

Race Pack Collection 22 Nov

2010-11-22T19:22:00.000-08:00

Collected the race pack at Expo on Monday afternoon, no waiting needed on the last day for collection, simple and fast. Here are some pictures taken.

Sundown Marathon 2011

2010-11-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Notice the adidas logo has been removed for the 2011 promotion poster, I wonder if there will be a new sponser after 3 years, this is the normal practice to a change in sponsorship every 3 years.

Received an email today, on the registration for Sundown Marathon at the 2010 Sports and Fitness Expo to be held from 19 - 22 November. It is the same date for the collection of the race pack for Standard Chartered Marathon. Received 2 messages from my runner friends today on whether to sign up, with the coming marathon to plan for in the next 2 weeks, I will probably not worry about this.

Having took part in 3 consecutive Sundown races, was rather disappointed when I see there is another price increment on the race fees. Well, all the race fees are increasing every year, 10% at least, as a matter of fact a runner will not complain on the price if he is running, else just skip it. But I can sense that for the last few years, organizing a race is a big business, with probably good profit. Example is this year Standard Chartered race increase to 60k, up from 50k in 2009. And the plan is to increase to 100k participants in the next few years.

In the recent Great Eastern 2010, there are a record of 10k runners, but only around 4,200 finished the race, the rest are DNF and DNS. Just purely marketing & promotion strategy for the brand to show how successful the race was. It is not recommened to sign up for a race without proper training.

Great Eastern Women 10k
www.women10k.com

DNF - Did not finish
DNS - Did not start

Borneo International Marathon 2011

2010-11-04T00:57:00.000-07:00

The Borneo International Marathon 2011 is now open for registration. A week ago, I came to know about this race from my running mates and they were talking about sigining up. Currently was deciding if I will go for the 1st international race in May next year.

It will be exactly 4 weeks before the full marathon, will see how it goes with training now at the final stage.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010

2010-10-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

SCMS released the official route map today. The youtube clip was uploaded a few hours ago.

Taking note of the water power, gel station and medical tent, we can just work out our own running plan.

Will probably sign up the half-marathon next year as the route looks interesting, running about 9 km inside Universal Studio park.

Clip has been removed by user 18 Nov Update

Marathon Training

2010-10-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

The Runner's Rule Book by Mark Remy
& the editors of Runner's World

After the 30km run, I have reduced my training, just did 1 run on Monday this week. With the Indonesia jungle burning season here again (Enraged), we had PSI of more than 100 (unhealthy Level) on Thursday and Friday, I'm just finding excuses not to go out for a workout, even our professional soccer match was cancelled to protect the players' health. At the moment, I was reading the above book borrowed from library, the author Mark has run 5 Bostons, an interesting book poking at runners and at the same time with lots of insights.

At 6:20am this morning (Saturday) my running mates & I went for a 20km run, from our area to Mandai Zoo. Along the route, came across a squirrel, a large adult wild boar dashing across the road and a family of monkeys. Due to my long rest days, I was feeling strain on my right knee in the last 4-5km. It was a tough workout, and my knee pain is back again, will see how it goes, with 1 month more to the full marathon in December.

New Asics 1150 Gel purchased on Friday

On Friday, I purchase a new pair of running shoes and switched to Asics. My existing New Balance has covered more than 550km almost 600km it is time to replace it with another pair. For the first time I will be using asics, started off with New Balance and later Mizuno. Well I am sure this is a good shoe, good review, within budget and recommeded by my training mate.

Till the next post, hope my knee will be alright after resting for a few days.

Newton Run 2010 Race Survey

2010-10-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

Today received an email from Newton running to complete a survey on the recent 30km run. This morning, my running mate message me to check the time on the official site.

www.newtonrun.com

1,280 Men took part in 30km, was placed in 370. The time is about 1 min different from my stopwatch, on the men's list I came across woman's name in the list.

Overall the total runners in the four events are less than 2,000 participants, not as the announced 3.5k+.

Ratings for the following:
Newton website, Registration Process, Race Expo & Bib pick up, Cost of Event, Race Route, Direction Signage, Distance Markers, Goodie Bag Collection, Carnival Activities, Baggage Deposit Service, Course Support e.g Water Stations, Race Singlet Quality and Finishing Medal.

Have not decide on whether to join this race next year, it is kind of taxing to run such long distance, there are too many events now, it will be interesting to check out other races.

Here is a paragraph from a book which I read a few months ago, can't remember the book title.

Success means different things to different people. Someone else might see success as having the energy, fitness and body of an athlete, another person might see success as creating something unique, having a millionaire lifestyle or a loving relationship. Another person might see their success as helping others and making a difference to people's lives. However you define your success, you then need to make a plan and put an order to it.

Newton Run 2010 Race Review

2010-10-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

The finisher medal, both 18km and 30km runners received the same medal (similiar design as Malaysia Newton Run on 26 Sept 12km/25km), I thought they should at least differentiate the 2 race distance. Well the ribbon colour remains me of the flag of Thailand.

Running 3 rounds of 10km each, along the beach there was strong headwind in the early morning and it made us push harder, that was tough.

On Sunday morning, together with 5 of my running friends we completed the 30km run at East Coast Park. The cut off time for the race initially was 3:30 hrs for 30km, however the organizer decided to change it to 5:30 hrs just in Sept. The emcee announced that there were 3,500 runners for both race distance, however it looked less than that. Before the start of the race, my friend gave me a packet of power gel, which I intended to take at around 13-14km.

The race starts at 7am, it was drizzling (cool perfect weather) and I reminded myself to be careful of the wet ground. The participants in this race are mostly seasoned runners(signed up to meet the cut off time), once flag off, all these runners just push forward.

Started the race at a comfortable pace, slightly faster than what I did in training. At the 2nd water point around at around 4-5km (at the lagoon) I picked up 2 packets of gel at the water station. Finished the first 10km (round 1), I checked my time it was slightly more than 1hr, was running at a good pace. In the second round, I met up with my running mate Roland, and we ran together for most of the 2nd round, at 20km mark upon crossing the line at the check point, I checked my time it was 2 hrs 1 min, I told my friend Roland we are going out a bit fast, but he just maintained his pace while I started to slow down, pretty soon I lost sight of him.

The final round of 10km (after running 20km) was the most challenging, my longest training run had been around 19km. At around 23km, was starting to feel the strain, my legs are alright (just a bit tired by now), no problem with my knees, so I looked at my watch again and knew that I can probably finish the race within 3hrs or so.. to get another PB. Popped the 3rd packet of gel before the lagoon, guess it was more of a psychological effect, thinking you are energised by the gel...I kind of slow down more in the final round, trying to maintain the pace I wanted.

In the last 3-4km towards the end, started to pick up some speed, I knew I was the last to finished in our group, at the last 2km, I maintained a good pace. Finally crossed the line in relief, finished the 30km run ... a true test of strength, stamina, endurance and speed. Crossed the line in 3 hrs 7 mins. Was happy with my time, gave my best, at least I didn't walk apart from drinking at the water stations.

Well, at the finish I took 2 cans of 100-plus, given an ice-cream and a wet towel (kind of refreshing).. with some ice, I used the towel to cool down..

The fastest time acheived by my friend was 2 hrs 25 mins, followed by 2hrs 45 mins, 2hrs 47 mins and Roland was 3 hrs 6 mins (he was 58 years old). Another friend finished in 3 hrs 20 mins. A good race with everyone getting a Personal Best.

This is a small scale race, the participants are manageable, however I can tell that there are a shortage of volunteers at the water stations. There wasn't any cheering group along the route, apart from the 30-40 people cheering at the finish line. Anyway a good race.

Till the next race. The next largest event will be the full marathon in December, and it was less than 2 months away.

Events for this Sunday

2010-10-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

October is a hectic month for fitness fanatics in Singapore, with 10 events crammed into five weekends. A friend had signed up for 3 races this month, Newton 30km, followed by New Balance 16km in the coming week and the Nike Human Race 10km.

With the Newton 30km coming up, for the last few days was eating more frequent, drinking enough water and getting more rest.

There will be 4 events this weekend, the North Face 100 (100km/50km), Mizuno Wave Run (10Km), Newton 30km Challenge, and Safra Quadthlon. Both Newton and the Safra race will be at East Coast Park, guess it will be quite pack, and I will be running with them on the same route.

What will you be doing on 10 Oct 10. At 10:10 am?

Newton Run 2010 Race Pack

2010-09-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

Next event. Newton Run 30km Men Competitive. It is a nice surprise and I like this T-shirt design. Picture below shows the back of the T-shirt.

Items from the goodie bag, well it is alright, with the fuel belt and a tiny tube of deep heat.

The newton run will be on the 10 Oct, collected the race pack this afternoon.

Was good to receive a fuel belt in the goodie bag, a pleasant surprise. It can hold up to 8 packets of power gels. But anyway, I doubt I will use it. The route this year is kind of boring, running 3 rounds of 10km each at east coast park, well I guess there is some shade there, the morning heat will be challenging.

Will update more pictures after the race.

Evening at Esplanade Theatre

2010-09-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

Art work on display inside the Esplanade

Taking a quick walk before the show

Inside the theatre

Performance include the Miao minority (miao zu) from China, singing in a unique voice, they are dressed in their traditional costume. This is one of the challenging picture, as the two audiences it from of me kept moving their heads..

The Symphony Orchestra

Quick snap taken from my seat, this is the advantage of a digital camera, not too much attention

The end of concert and a round of applause that lasted more than 15 minutes

Last evening, I attended a concert at the Esplanade, it was the first time I visited the place since it's opening. My mom was part of the singing group performing.

During a marathon we will always run pass the Esplanade, since it's opening back in 2002, it was part of the end route towards the finish line at the Padang. Can't believe this is the first time I'm stepping inside in 8 years.

No photography was allowed inside, anyway I used my digital camera without flash to snap a few shots. The place is nice, good music and a great evening. Readers might like to visit the theatre during a trip to Singapore.

The official site of Esplanade: www.esplanade.com.sg

Running

2010-09-03T05:25:00.000-07:00

At the midpoint of my marathon training program, 2 weeks ago I read a book by Amby Burfoot, The Runner's Guide to the meaning of Life. Winner of 1968 Boston Marathon. This book is supposed to be one of the five best books on running.

A passage from the book, I would like to share with everyone...

We are meant to run, and we do so naturally when left to our own devices. Watch a group of children on the playground, in your backyard, or wherever they come together. When they play games like tag, they run for a while, with squeals of obvious delight, and then rest until they are recovered again. Run and rest, run and rest. It is the perfect exercise program because it is coded in our genes. It is what our forefathers did millions of years ago.

First we try to run faster. Then we try to run harder. Then we learn to accept ourselves and our limitations, and at last, we can appreciate the time joy and meaning of running.
- From the Runner's Guide to the meaning of life.

Special moments in the games

2010-08-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Lyo & Merly in Auckland

The end of games. Here are some of the special moments:

Singapore Primary School boy Low Wei Jie's feat of running 15km in the rain along the YOG torch route got Singaporeans talking about the games.

A girl from South Korea and another from North Korea explored the Games village together, a reminder of sport's ability to transcend boundaries.

Haiti's gusty footballers negotitated their way to a silver after losing their first game 0-9, bringing cheer to a country recovering from January's devastating earthquake.

New Zealand's Sam Shaw, the cross-country cycling athlete was 11th and heading into the last lap when one of his pedals jammed. So he picked up his bike and ran most of the 3.1km of the last lap.

Wide-eyed, shorts-wearing Liberian swimmers who had only swum in rivers - dived into a pool for the first time.

Volunteers for Youth Olympic Games. Twenty-one members of the YOG organising committee workforce were hit by food poisoning over the weekend. But they continued with their duties despite the discomfort.

my mouse pad.. reminds me of the wonderful games. Other than sport, the Youth Olympic Games had a culture and education component, where athletes participate and learn more from one another.

The YOG has deepened our sports culture. I believe more youths will take up sports in the future.

Goodbye Singapore, and see you at Nanjing 2014.

The boxer from Nauru

2010-08-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

DJ Maaki, most definitely the under-dog in the boxing competition at the “Youth Olympics” which are being held in Singapore, has shown the world that through courage and determination results can still be achieved as he makes it through to the finals.

I marvel at the efforts of a boy named Dj Maaki from the nation of Nauru, a tiny island of Nauru in the South Pacific Ocean, with a population of 14,000. That's less than the number of volunteers at the Youth Olympic closing ceremony.

This young boxer won a silver medal to do his country proud. Per capita, Nauru is the best performer at the Games.

Singapore did well too (2 slivers and 5 bronze) given our small size in population.

YOG football: Singapore beat Montenegro 4 - 1 and wins the bronze

2010-08-25T04:33:00.000-07:00

The candid photo taking after scoring the 4th goal.
Photo: SPH-SYOGOC/Seyu Tzyy Wei

The Singapore boys had won the match and clinched the well deserved bronze medal in the YOG football match. The match was telecast live at 6 pm local time. This will go down as one of the most amazing match for Singapore football.

Singapore scored the 1st goal in the 6 minutes, however the joy was shortlived, 2 minutes later, Singapore captain suffered a bad cut on his face from the elbow of a Montenegro player, he had to be replaced. And within 2 minutes Montenegro equalised to make it 1-1.

Singapore's captain, Jeffrey Lightfoot bleeds profusely, after colliding with Montenegro's Lazar Lalosevic (right in white).
The match was won in blood, sweat and tears.
Photo: SPH-SYOGOC/Seyu Tzyy Wei

The match ended 1-1 at half time.

In the second half Singapore scored 3 goals to win the match. Hanafi scored the 2nd goal from a cross, a penalty taken by Midfielder Ammirul Mazlan made it 3-1. Hanafi's scored again in the 65th-minute freekick into the Montenegro net to make it 4-1.

The team line up before the match against Zimbabwe. Such colourful boots.

A great day indeed. This young football team has great potential in the future, I guess we will be following the team closely. Today we are so proud of them.

Bolivia won the gold medal after thrashing Haiti 5-0 in the final match. The Bolivians played with 10 men after Rodrigo Mejido was given a red card in the first half for throwing an elbow.

Isabelle Li - The Hope of Singapore

2010-08-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

August 23, 2010 — Isabelle Li (16 years old on Saturday) won Singapore’s second silver medal of the Youth Olympic Games when she was beaten in straight sets by China’s Gu Yuting in the final of the women’s table tennis singles competition.

Isabelle lost 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9. Singapore now have two silvers and three bronze medals in the Games.

The result was not as one-sided as it looked. Isabelle, one of Singapore's most promising and talented young athletes, made the top-seeded Chinese sweat for her victory, especially in the decisive fourth set.

Isabelle is Singapore born and bred, having picked up the sport when she was in Primary 3.

She was spotted early by national team and has received generous funding from the Singapore Sports council and other associations to take part in international tournaments all over the world to boost her exposure and experience.

Many will remember the harsh criticism surrounding the Team Singapore's silver medal-winning women's table tennis team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as all of them were born in China but later took up Singapore citizenship. There were doubts in some corners whether a Singapore born athlete could dominate in table tennis on an international level, but Isabelle's rise to prominence has surely silenced those detractors.

Isabelle Li is the hope of Singapore table tennis.

Update: Li is in action today (4:50pm) Mixed Double vs Egypt Meshref.

Ended at 5:15pm, she takes the game 11-4, 11-8, 11-3. The Egypt paddler is not her match.

YOG Soccer Singapore 0 Haiti 2

2010-08-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

The matched ended with Haiti winning the game. Haiti now faces Bolivia in the finals.

A Singapore player was send off for a tackle in the last minute and Haiti scored from the penatly spot. 3 minutes before half time, Haiti scored to lead 1-0, a school mistake from goalkeeper Fashah Rosedin. Anyway, all the players are 15 years old, this will be part of a learning curve for their future football career.

The Singapore boys played well, however it was just not their day. I think Singapore was the better team. The boys will now play for a bronze medal. Hopefully, they can pick themselves up and give their best shot in the final game, afterall there is a medal to play for.

Congratulation to Haiti, my earlier prediction was wrong. This win will bring happiness to their country.

Singapore Youth Olympic Singapore Vs Haiti Football

2010-08-21T05:54:00.000-07:00

The tickets are snapped up pretty fast, and it will be a full house tomorrow. Lucky there will be a live telecast for the semi-final match Singapore vs Haiti, at 8:40pm Singapore time.

Bolivia thrashed Haiti 9-0 in the Youth Olympic Games boys' football tournament at Jalan Besar Stadium on 16 Aug. The local fans cheered for the Haiti boys when they came back to beat Vanuatu 2-1 in their last group match.

Hit by a 7-magnitude earthquake in January this year, which killed an estimated 300,000 people, made 1.6 million people homeless and left their country's capital Port au Prince, in ruins, Haiti were a late replacement for Cuba the YOG football competition. Singapore welcomes the brave Haiti athletes, they hope to rebuild their country by giving a good performance and bring smiles to their countrymen. Results doesn't matter, by travelling all the way here (hard to get funding) and taking part is already an amazing achievement.

My prediction is a win for Singapore.

Singapore beat Montenegro 3-2

2010-08-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Photo: SPH-SYOGOC/Seyu Tzyy Wei

YOG football: Singapore beat Montenegro 3-2
Thu, Aug 19, 2010

Was watching the live telecast earlier, again Singapore boys scored an early goal, played an aggressive match with great spirit & passion. The European players are much bigger than them, but it terms of skill, passing and speed we are certainly better.

Singapore young soccer players put up a superb performance in front of a sold-out crowd to beat Montenegro, 3-2.

The Singapore cubs struck first with an early goal, in 3 mins. This was followed by an equaliser from Montenegro. Shortly, Montenegro went up 2-1 from a penalty kick.

Singapore then equalised before the half time.

Playing in front of a home crowd, the cubs put up a spirited performance, frustrating the Montenegro players many a times.

In the second half, one of the Montenegro players punched a member of the Singaporean team following a tumble. The referee saw that and immediately awarded the player a red card, ejecting him from the field and leaving Montenegro with just 10 players.

Using their advantage, Singapore went on to score a third goad. With Brandon Koh taking Singapore into the lead 3-2. The YOG soccer match is played 80 mins, rather than 90 mins.

This is the hope of Singapore soccer. Look forward for the next match. We are now in the semi finals!

Great day at the pool

2010-08-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

Mika-Jah Teah (third from top) and Sima Weah (bottom) in the boys' 50m freestyle heats. -- PHOTO: SPH-SYOGOC/MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN

Following the earlier post on the YOG Lesotho swimmer, here is another interesting article, it is amazing for these 2 Liberians.

LIBERIANS Sima Weah and Mika-Jah Teah, who usually train in a river, experienced a swimming pool for the first time yesterday when they competed at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

The pair took part in the boys' 50m freestyle heats and finished 24 seconds behind the fastest qualifiers.

Just being here is an achievement, with the duo having boarded their first airplane for a 12,000km trip that took them from Liberia to Ghana, then through Kenya and Dubai to Singapore.

'We swim in the open river,' said Mika-Jah. 'This is my first time in a pool.'

Liberia, wracked for years by civil war that ruined infrastructure and left the economy in tatters, has competed in 10 Summer Olympics but only in athletics and boxing.

Sima and Mika-Jah are the first athletes to represent their country internationally in swimming.

The 17-year-olds train in the Rockspring Valley River near Liberia's capital Monrovia, where they often have to deal with aquatic life such as crabs and fish - which they catch as they swim.

Sima was impressed but not overawed when he first saw the facilities at the Singapore Sports School.

'I felt encouraged,' he said. 'I was not scared. There was no fear.

'I was hoping to win, but I am just happy that I came here with my friends.'

Their coach Steven Weah, Sima's uncle, is a Fina-certified coach who first introduced his nephew to the sport.

'We don't even have a pool in Liberia,' he said. 'I am proud of them because this is their first appearance in international competition.'

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

18 Aug

Rainer Ng has created Singapore sporting history by winning the Republic's first swimming medal at the Youth Olympic Games.

The 18-year-old finished second in the Boys' 50m backstroke final at the Singapore Sports School this evening in 26.45sec, just 0.09sec slower than winner Christian Homer of Trinidad and Tobago (26.36sec).

Singapore has now won three medals at the YOG. Prior to Rainer's win, the Republic won already garnered bronzes in taekwondo from Nurual Shafinas Abdul Rahman and Daryl Tan.

Youth Olympic Games Stamps FDC 14 Aug

2010-08-17T00:04:00.000-07:00

1st local Merly & Lyo sitting on the globe, 65c Merly & Lyo enjoying on an island, $1.10 Merly swimming and $2 Lyo Basketball.

Lyo & Merly on stamps

Collected the YOG FDC issued on 14 Aug (Sat) at the post office yesterday, in celebration of the opening ceremony of the YOG. I didn't managed to get the presentation pack, everything was sold out on the first day of issue.

Hedgehog-and-friends reached 100 blog posts yesterday. Thank you for your support.

Singapore's 1st medal

2010-08-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Singapore had won the first YOG medal today, a bronze.

Taekwondo exponent Daryl Tan created Singapore sporting history this afternoon by becoming the Republic's first medal-winner at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). The 17-year-old Raffles Institution (Junior College) student, clinched the bronze medal in the Boys 55kg competition after winning his quarter-final bout.

Here is a clip on the birth of the YOG medal. Setsuko FUKUZAWA from Japan is the grand prize winner of the Medal Design Competition. Her project has been chosen by the IOC jury as the winning medal design for the first ever Youth Olympic Games

Olympic Spirit from Lesotho Swimmer

2010-08-15T22:37:00.000-07:00

LESOTHO'S Nts'Eke Setho, 17, got one of the biggest cheers at the Singapore Sports School yesterday. Not because he finished first in his 100m breaststroke heat. It was because he finished. He came in 18 sec after his nearest rival.

'I tried my best,' he said, with every reason for pride. He has no coach. Nor a place to train in the last three months. It is winter at home, and the 25 m pool at his swim club is unheated. Still, he is undaunted.

Thursday's 50m breast is his pet event. 'I want to show what I can do'.

This is the spirit of an athlete, a real champion will always give his best.

picture taken by ST Chan U-Gene

Singapore Youth Soccer Team

2010-08-14T22:39:00.001-07:00

Singapore made a winning start in the Youth Olympic Games football tournament when they defeated Zimbabwe 3-1 in their opening Group D match at the Jalan Besar Stadium on Friday. Watch this stunning strike from Singapore's Ammirul Mazlan, who fires a powerful strike from 20 metres to score after 12 seconds from kick-off.

The official match can be viewed on youtube in HD (Singapore 2010 Football - Men's preliminaries - Singapore Vs Zimbabwe)

Singapore will next play Montenegro on August 19.

15 Aug
Japanese triathlete Yuka Sato created Olympic history this morning when she became the first athlete to win a gold medal at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010

2010-08-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

The journey began in ancient Olympia, Greece, where the Olympic Flame was lit, before travelling to the cities of Berlin, Dakar, Mexico City, Auckland, Seoul and finally to all the community districts in Singapore. Today, the Youth Olympic Games will officially begin, past midnight here in Singapore. The opening ceremony will be shown on TV at local time 7:45pm.

For those who are interested to know how their young athletes fair in the games, you can check the medals tally on the link provided. Games will be from Saturday and run through to Aug. 26, will feature about 3,600 competitors aged 14 to 18 from 204 countries competing in the same 26 sports on the current Summer Olympics program.

Medal Tally here:
Your country's Medals

This is not the official medal tally table, there will probably be one on singapore2010.sg.

For the latest news, the official site is
www.singapore2010.sg.

Google Singapore!

2010-08-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

Google designed a picture logo today

YOG opening ceremony at the floating platform, facing the Marina Bay Sands.. the stage is now ready

How the stage looks, this year national day parade will be held at the Padang

9 Aug is our national day, the 45th birthday.. as usual will be catching the live telecast on TV in the evening.

At the moment, the Olympic flame relay is going around Singapore... as reported on TV, we see groups of people running all over the place. An exciting week indeed, all the attention will be on us in the next few weeks, this is our moment. The YOG opening cermony will be held on 14 Aug. A total of 7,000 performers will be featured in the 110-minute show.

We do have our sense of humour... someone reminded us of another important festival: "The Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival starts Tuesday! Looking forward to Getai*!"

Hungry Ghost Festival is a traditional Chinese festival which falls in the seventh lunar month, where burning of hell notes*, open field singing and performance will be all over our island everynight for the whole month.

Excitement is all over the place and we can feel it in the air :)

*Getai - Are performances held to appease roaming spirits. But the glitzy al fresco events also entertain spectators and are a hallmark of the festival.

* Burning of hell notes - These paper offerings when burnt, are believed to appease the spirits who "receive" them.

pictures from Singapore2010.sg

Singapore Youth Olympic Games... are we the first?

2010-08-03T03:47:00.000-07:00

Having made a couple of posts here on the coming Youth Olympic Games which will be held this month, came to know about this today. The first game was actually held in Moscow, the name has since changed, but are we first? I don't think so.. everyone was given the idea of: "We are hosting the first ever Youth Olympic Games"...wow!

The 1998 World Youth Games was the first international multi-sport event of its kind. More than 7,500 young athletes representing 140 countries of the world participated in this event. Because the World Youth Games was under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it is also known as the first Youth Olympic Games. It took place in Moscow, Russia from July 11 to 19, 1998.

Check Here:
1998 Moscow The World Youth Games

Posts Last Month:

Girl's Hope (27 July)
The Olympic Flame (24 July)
The Official YOG Music Video (15 July)
Updated Games Cost (7 July)

Marathon Medals in 8 yrs

2010-07-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

26.2 miles (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009) This is my favourite as this picture span across 5 years, an approximate of 169km covered on race day, plus a few thousand kilometers in training run.

The toughest was 2008 Sundown Marathon, completed the race under a Cat 1 thunderstorm in the early morning. Runners were told to take shelter in nearby bus stops, but most of us just ran towards the finish line in the last few kilometers. Stopping and taking a break is not an option, not even in a storm.

Singapore Sundown Marathon 2008, 2009, 2010

The end of Singapore Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon from 2002-2009.
Medals shown here are from 2003-2009

This is the 8th year of distance running, had ran thousand of kilometers in training over the years. Shown here are Sundown Marathon and Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon medals.

Early this week, a good friend Steven captured these pictures to be used as stock photos. Every medal tells a story, facing the unknown, the struggle, the setbacks, the pain, the fear, the satisfaction... hopefully all runners can enjoy their run, it is not necessary to be the fastest, importantly, upon crossing the finish line, you knew you had gave your best.

Mile
1. Hello Start Line - Goodbye Doubt
2. Goodbye Fear
3. Hello Spectators - Goodbye Nerves
4. Hello Little Water Cups - Goodbye Anxiety
5. Goodbye Uncertainty
6. Hello Headwind - Goodbye Good Enough
7. Hello Cold - Goodbye Cynicism
8. Hello Warm Numbness - Goodbye Pain
9. Hello Don't Stop Now - Goodbye Arrogance
10. Hello Pounding Heart - Goodbye Overconfidence
11. Goodbye Giving Up
12. Goodbye the Easy Way Out
13. Hello Halfway Point - Goodbye Obstacles
14. Goodbye Pessimism
15. Goodbye Comfort Zone
16. Goodbye Apathy
17. Goodbye Cramping
18. Goodbye Coasting
19. Hello Wall. Goodbye Ego
20. Goodbye Struggle
21. Goodbye Demons
22. Goodbye Weakness
23. Hello Adoring Fans. Goodbye Previous Best
24. Goodbye Limitations
25. Hello Almost There- Goodbye Disbelief
26. Hello Finish Line - Goodbye Old Me

from the ad of ING New York City Marathon

Steven is an assigned official photographer for the coming Youth Olympic. For the latest photos updates in the coming month: AsianPhotosArts

More interesting & latest YOG updates! Till next post.

A Girl's Hope

2010-07-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

A commercial currently shown on Singapore TV on the coming YOG. A meaningful clip.

Never deprive anyone of hope.
If may be all they have.

Singapore 2010 Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame

2010-07-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

ANCIENT OLYMPIA - THE first-ever Youth Olympic Flame was lit here on Friday, where the Olympic Games first began.

An actress playing the part of a High Priestess focused the sun's rays on a torch to light it, and then handed it over to a Greek athlete.

The flame was then passed on to Singapore Youth Olympic Games athletes Amanda Lim and Silas Abdul Razak, and eventually to YOG organising committee chairman Ng Ser Miang.

He raised it proudly before a gathered audience of about 200, which included Singapore Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan.

Calling it a 'new beginning for the Olympic movement', International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the YOG will serve as a gateway for youth to improve their performance on the field, and in life.

'By combining sport, education and culture in global forum, the YOG will give the world's best young athletes a chance to compete, learn and share experiences with other young people.'

Ng said: 'This place is so magical, it's where the Ancient Olympics began, where the modern Olympics were revived, and now the beginning of the YOG.'

The flame will travel to Berlin, Dakar, Mexico City, Auckland and Seoul over the next week and arrive in Singapore on August 5.

This will be followed by islandwide torch relay before the opening ceremony on August 14 at the Marina Bay Floating Platform.

About 3,600 athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees will take part, and the Games will end on August 26.

It was conceived by Rogge in 2007 as a way to bring youth spending too much time on television and the Internet back to sport.

Hellenic Olympic Committee president Spyros Capralos said: 'Getting accustomed to the values and ideals of Olympism, the young people will be able to adopt new values, especially in an era when the fundamental principles are in crisis. (Source ST: Leonard)

After journeying to the five cities, the Youth Olympic Flame will arrive in Singapore for a 6-day traditional torch relay run. The journey of the flame in Singapore will be from 7-13 August.

Stay tune for more YOG updates :)

关于跑步 - About Running

2010-07-20T01:36:00.000-07:00

Recently, finished reading a book in Chinese, 关于跑步, a runner friend lend me this book. In English translation - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. The author wrote this book between summer 2005 to autumn 2006.

The book was written by an award winning Japanese author by the name 村上春树. Haruki Murakami, winner of the Yomiuri Prize for Literature. The original book was published in Japan by Bungei Shunju Ltd, Japan. The Chinese translation is in complex/traditional character only. No problem with that, although we are using simplified character in Singapore.

In the book, the author talks about running his first marathon in Athens following the route of Phidippides, qualifiying for the prestigious Boston Marathon, ran in the Japan ultramarathon of 100 km without walking within a cutoff time of 11 hrs plus, and marathons both in US & Japan. After a long running career, he took part in the Ironman. He mentioned about his training program, from running 6 days a week (1o km per session) to running 7 days a week. Progressive monthly increament, covering a total distance of 260 km, 310 km, 350 km per month. Also thoughts on distance running and the mental & phyiscal aspects of running long distances.

In the last sentence, the author talked about the pride of running a marathon without walking a single step, he achieved that in all the marathons he finished, not walking a single step no matter how painful it was, even in the 100 km race.

This is what he wish to have on his tombstone.

至少到最後都沒有用走的

At least, till the end I didn't walk.

For experienced runners, this can be a goal to achieve in the 26.2 miles race. No walking (maybe just during drinking) and running the full distance. I'm certain to use this as a motivation in the coming race in a few months time.

the book has this quote (not from the author):
Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

Earlier post:
Marathon Medals

After World Cup...the next major event

2010-07-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

Almost a week after World Cup, after the heady excitement, normal life now beckons.

The next BIG sporting event to look forward to will be the Youth Olympic Games to be held in less than a month on 14 Aug. The YOG will feature 26 sports, forming a total of 31 disciplines. Here's the official YOG music video "Everyone".

The opening ceremony will be telecast live in most countries.

Ewoks Cartoon Cel Production Collection (Part 3)

2010-07-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

Malani Cel

This is the final post of my ewoks cartoon cels collection (there ain't any good ones in the market now, by "good ones" I meant worth paying), this batch arrived on Tueday, after spending some time adding 8 more cels.

Little ewoks together with Logray (group cel)

With the characters, Wicket, Princess Kneesa, Teebo and Latara

Teebo, Latara and Wicket with the background. They were used in the production of the Animation Series 'Ewoks".

A determined Wicket with his cataput together with Princess Kneesa

A cel of Malani & Shodu. Looks like a mother & child cels. (3 other cels of similiar posture was purchased by a US collector a few weeks ago, I am happy to get the last one)

Princess Kneesa cels, with her mouth (2 piece). By drawing the movement of her mouth, the illustrator save some time drawing the whole character.

This is how it looks, by putting the 2 sheet together.

Kneesa with Wicket

Princess Kneesa folder

Really enjoyed my collection and glad to have them. By sharing it here, hope readers will find them interesting and be amazed by the nice art work by the professionals from the 80s. Afterall these cels has been 25 years old.

Have a good week ahead.

You can check the 2 earlier posts here:

Ewoks Cartoon Cel Production Part 2

Ewoks Cartoon Cel Production Part 1

Coming Singapore Youth Olympic Games CO$T

2010-07-07T02:54:00.000-07:00

mascots with our dear ministers...

Cost of Youth games goes up three-fold

An extra $265 million needed to meet the cost will be borne by MCYS and Ministry of Finance. (taxpayers' money)

I read this news on our local papers today, 38 days before the game starts, the cost went up 3 times! I am flabbergasted with the news report of how there seems to be a total lack of financial discipline and control of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sport. $387million to chase this vain glory called YOG is absurd and stupid. Big sporting nation don't even intend to send their bright junior to the event. For readers who had been following my blog, I made a few posts on the upcoming YOG with excitement, but now....

Lyo & Merly post

Lyo & Merly at Orchard Road

The budget breakdown (selected areas) source from TODAY

Revised specification, scale and scope:

* $97 million: Technology, including $16 million for providing "live" broadcasts in 18 of the 26 sports.

* $76 million: Sports and venues, mainly for upgrading works like floodlights and warm-up halls.

* $44 million: Logistics and transport, such as warehousing, supply chain, catering and cleaning costs which increased after organisers upped the volunteers from 7,000 to 20,000.
(volunteers are not paid, they are given event T-shirt, meals and transport)

* $18 million: Security, including for screening, equipment. (COOL)

* $12 million: To engage Singaporeans. (WOW)

* $7 million: Cost to organise the Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame. (Flying the flame lighting in Olympia, Greece on July 23 before arriving via Berlin, Dakar, Mexico City, Auckland and Seoul, with a celebration involving President SR Nathan, followed by a 6 days torch relay islandwide involving 2,400 torchbearers, torchbearers not paid)

the famous JJ LIN... YOU ARE THE ONE SINGAPORE

Oh Yeah Oh Yeah Oh Yeah Hey! Oh Yeah Oh Yeah Hooooh... You Are The One Singaporeans.. Please Be Prepare To Pay Hoh!

Singapore helping to repair Jamaica’s stadium in exchange for marketing for YOG. This is a stunning report in April which was not reported in Singapore.

Jamaica Observer on 25 April 10
Jamaica Observer

Recently received a couple of emails and feedbacks from readers on my blog, they enjoyed the posts and find it interesting. The character Hedgehog was used as a study Mascot in one of the elementary school in South Korea in May this year, when I agreed to let a teacher use my character to motivate her students in their coming exams (for non-commercial purposes). Cheers!

National Library Vertical Marathon 3 July

2010-07-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

Not exactly a tough vertical marathon..just a promotion event.

2 competitive guys in front of me, was a fun event anyway.. :) The Everest women team gave a few tips on climbing (staircases) before starting.

5th to finish, getting my camera ready for some quick snaps... my legs felt weak for a moment.

Block of flats...

The participants started coming up.... by the way this place was not open to public.

The view of Suntec City (Conventional Halls), Marine Bay Sands (check my earlier post on the visit to MBS) and the Singapore flyer, on a cloudy afternoon.

Esther, Joanne, Peh Gee.. they conquered Mt Everest!

Had fun in the vertical marathon, it was a fun event, climbing the 90 metres building, 16 floor x 2 (as the height of each floor is supposed to be taller), at around 13 floor, my thighs ache and was a bit out of breath, but nothing serious, not used to climbing stairs :)

Well, 3 of the Everest Women Team attended the event.. I could see there is a very strong bonding between the 3 women, they had been training together for the last few years and team mates in conquering the 8850m Mt Everest, very close bonding & amazing friendship!

To read more on, readers can visit: www.womanoneverest.com
their achievement on 20 and 22 May 2009

Meeting the first women team from Singapore to conquer Mount Everest

2010-06-30T09:16:00.001-07:00

picture source: Natas Women's Everest

On Tuesday I received a confirmation email to be one of the 150 participants to take part in the 1st Vertical Marathon organized by the National Library, the event will be held this coming Saturday afternoon. An event to promote sports for people of all abilities (including disability sports). Don't be surprise by the word "marathon", it is actually climbing up a 93 metres building. I am not too concern of the climb as it will not be difficult. At the end of the challenge, we will be given a medal.

The real excitement is the chance to meet up with the very first women team from Signapore to conquer Mount Everest afterwards. Our women team consist of 6 ladies, wow when was the time where we get the opportunities to meet someone who had conquered Mount Everest? Not 1 person but 6 ladies (5 made it to the top on May 2009) .

Will bring along my digital camera and capture some pictures on top of the building, plus the ladies climbers if I have the chance. So stay tune, there will be a blog post probably on Sunday :)

Ewoks Cartoon Cel Production Collection Part 2

2010-06-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

Wicket & Latara (2 piece)

Wicket & Raich

One of my favourite, showing a determined Wicket running with his catapult.

The cels below belongs to a US collector, some idea of putting it into a wooden frame.

An interesting cel!

Guess he purchased his cels from the same seller as mine much earlier. A very nice one in my opinion.

From a US collector, frame it up! Picture source from rebelscum.

This is the second part of the Ewoks cartoon cels, collectors of ewoks cels are interested in having the full body of the character Wicket, with scene showing different ewoks, or having ewoks in a group.

At the moment, I have not yet decided to frame them, but will probably do so at a later date or when I have a place to put it up. Currently a second batch of cels (8 designs are on the way), am using these cels to learn more on cartoon drawings and also enjoy the nice artworks.

Ewok Cartoon Production Cel Collection (Part 1)

2010-06-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Now back to cartoons!!

As a vintage Star Wars collector, I recently added something interesting to my collection, cartoon production cels. Cels collector market is mainly concentrated in US, but I guess I might be one to own them here in Singapore.

Readers knew one of my passion is cartoon drawing, so I guess why not combine both Star Wars and my favourite cartoon together. As a fan of Ewoks, my collection involved all the 1980s Return of the Jedi Ewoks figures and mint on card figures.

The 1985 Star Wars Ewoks cartoon series. Readers can read more about it here:

Cartoon Ewoks

There are a few series avaliable on youtube, just search ewok cartoons :)

This is the tiny scene picture found on the folder cover. With the scene description.

Production sheet, there are Chinese Character on it. Chinese animators had been working for Lucas back in 1985, the folder has a name of a girl named Lim Sew Fong written in Chinese character.

This scene is wicket explaining to his tribe, on the sightings of a comet.

Malani (a baby ewok)

Malani Production Cels

This year is the 25th Anniversary of the Ewoks cartoon, I guess it will be great to own a piece of history.. and it is very unique as each production cels are one of a kind. This is a 2 part series, I will upload more pictures in the second part.

Running 84Km? How do you train yourself?

2010-06-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, a friend called and told me he had an announcement to make. Announcement? He had set the goal of running the Sundown 84km Ultramarathon next year, end May. He had completed 2 Sundown full marathon over 3 years, a 3 times marathon finisher.

Looking at this year stats - There are 592 registered for the Sundown ultramarathon. 61 were non-starters, 381 finishers and 150 DNFs. So 64% will get to cross the finish line, as compared to the usual marathon between 70-80% finisher.

How do you carry on running/walking when you had just completed a full marathon?

I guess the most important factor will be the mental side, which will help one to pull through this distance. There are runners who gave up at the 70km mark this year, it is just too painful to carry on, and they came to realize that the pride of finishing is no longer important when they put their whole health at risk. A guy who quit at the 55km mark mentioned that he took 5 months to build up to the race, did a multiple runs of 40km and above. However on actual day, he experienced pain and was forced to give up.

To cover 84km is double the commitment of finishing a marathon in my opinion. Careful planning, diet, training and race day conditions are all factors needed to finish this distance.

On the race itself, runners usually has their team of helpers (friends), who will assist them in gels, drinks and snacks. They will usually change into a new pair of running shoes, fresh running attire after finishing the first round, 42km. Something like a refueling station.

This year a 60 years old Taiwanese man (with 20 years running experience) finished the 84km running backwards in less than 13 hrs. The winner was a Korean, Jae Duk Sim, 42 yrs old finishing in a record time of 6 hrs 18 mins. Average runner will probably take 11 hrs or more.

It take years to build up and maintain a certain fitness, as one became more experience in running. A distance runner usually reaches his peak after 30 years old.

Wish my friend the best of luck, may he achieve his dream & accomplish his goal.

DNF- Did not finish.

Post Sundown

2010-06-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

Have not jog for the last few days after Saturday half marathon. So far this year, completed 2 races and getting 2 PB, the 16km & the recent half. Total distance covered in races at the moment is 38km. With the confirmed SCMS in Dec, the total confirm distance is 80km on the roads. There are probably 2-3 smaller races which I will register in the coming months, so I will be running/walking for more than 100km in road races this year (excluding training distance).

Today I came across a motivating clip from a Singapore runner, she had this on her blog. I have found my reason to run.

This clip is not clear.

Sundown Marathon 2010 (29 May)

2010-05-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

Running tag and D-tag for timing.

The medal is thinner as compared to previous years.
Men's Open 21.1km ranking - 254/3301 (9 Jun 2010)

Last Saturday took part in the half-marathon night race at the adidas Sundown Marathon 2010. Finally, I achieved a personal best timing of 2:06:14, the 5th attempt in 7 years.

Before running this race, my best timing was in Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2004, a time of 2:09:09. In SCSM 2006 half, ran 2:13:44. In 2008 SCSM half, a time of 2:13:14. In 2009 SAFRA Army Half Marathon (a tougher race running up the expressway) finished in 2:18:29. After 4 attempts, I was destined to run 2hrs 14 mins for a half marathon... So I tried to take advantage of this race, with a starting time at 9pm (though the air was hot & humid), but at least there isn't any heat from the sun.

With 3 of my running friends, Martin, 40 yrs old (best time this year in 1 hr 36 mins, was placed 19), Chin, 53 yrs old (finished in 1:58). Roland, 58 yrs old (finished in 2:02), he encouraged me when we met at 16km mark, where I was leading him.. shortly he overtook me, this made me determined to give a final push, maintaining my pace towards the finish (at average 6 mins pace). My inspiration came from my friends, despite being older in age, they are superb runners always running with deep passion.

A great race for everyone, we had our photos taken by an appointed photographer after the race, followed by a deserved night snack of "Indian prata", it was almost 2am. Hopefully in the next half-marathon, I have the chance to improve my timing again, it is not going to be easy but not totally impossible.

Race Review:

This is my 3rd Sundown marathon, in 2008 I ran the full marathon, at that time the total participants was probably less than 5k, a niche race in my opinion, the full marathon sign up was just around 4.5k. From my records, 3,599 men and 861 women completed the full. For 84km race, just a few hundred runners. The race was manageable back then, but recently it seems the organizer are getting their hands tied.

Has making more Money the main factor? More than 19k runners this year, an increase of 8k plus as compared to 2009. How was the logistic, transportation and manpower being planned? In the area of bag deposit, entertainment and wider running route, it was good planning. As usual credits to all the volunteers, they are the biggest plus point in this race. With limited resources and manpower, the volunteers did a wonderful job.

As I travelled to the location by car, it was very smooth along the way. But considering the majority of runners depended on the race day feeder buses (learnt that there was about 10 buses catered for the event), it was a huge disappointment, together with complaints from lack of drinks at each water point. From all the posts on Facebook Sundown Marathon, it sounds like a nightmare for most people.

The organizer will have to look into the complaints and improve... else runners won't bother to sign up next year, the race fees are not cheap (increasing every year) in the first place. I had experienced bad races in Mizuno Wave Runs (first 2 years) and understand the frustration even after the race, hopefully runners can forget about this and look forward to their next race. Good luck & enjoy your runs :)

Earlier post in Feb:
Medal Collections till 2009

Meet London Olympics mascots Wenlock, Mandeville

2010-05-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

Olympic mascot Wenlock (orange) and Paralympics mascot Mandeville (blue) are unveiled/ Getty Source: Getty Images

Are they a pair of gay, one-eyed spacemen? As panned by international media outlet.
Or "two futuristic, magical beings" according to their creator.

Two metallic, one-eyed creatures whizzed into the London 2012 Games on Wednesday, when organizers unveiled them as their new Olympic and Paralympic mascots.

They look like two little steel aliens with one eye each and a yellow light on top of their heads as a homage to London Taxis.

Wenlock's name comes from the village of Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England - which hosted a precursor to the modern Olympic Games in the 19th Century.

Mandeville is named after the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire also in England.

A children's author, Michael Morpurgo, was commissioned to write a story about the mascots, imagining them being created from the last drops of steel left over when the final girder for the Olympic Stadium was cast.

Reminds me of Simpson's aliens Kang & Kodos

London 2012 Olympic Mascots. Designed by Subcircle Creative, Source: flickr.
Cute squirrel, hedgehog and others, was probably rejected.

In my opinion, the two aliens look alright, we have something different here, rather than the usual cuddly animals as mascots.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010

2010-05-20T02:13:00.000-07:00

No hedgehog didn't sponser the event :) Looking forward for the asics singlet & finisher T-shirt. At the moment, I don't have any asics products. Had been getting New Balance and adidas for the last 7 years...

A change in event name from Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (for the last 8 years), to a new name - Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore, this year the race is opened to 60k runners for all categories...an increased from 50k last year.

New site: marathonsingapore.com

Signed up for the full marathon today, the 5th marathon in 6 years and my 3rd year as a charity runner, raising funds for the special children in Singapore, hopefully more runners can help to support the charity.

With Standard Chartered Bank credit card, runners get a further 15% off registration, remember to sign up as an early bird, as usual the price will increase as it gets closer to the running date.

CATEGORIES

Full Marathon – 42.195km – $45.00
Half Marathon – 21.1km – $36.00
10km – Men / Women / Wheelchair – $31.00
Kids Dash- 750m – $10.00
Ekiden – 42.195km (6 participants per team) – $300.00

RUN FOR GOOD

The Run for good (RFG) is a charity programme that is initiated by the Standard Chartered Bank. This year, it aims to raise funds for Club Rainbow (Singapore) to help children who suffer from major chronic and potentially life-threatening illnesses. Extend a helping hand and make a difference to the lives of our beneficiary as you sign up to be a RFG participant. In appreciation of your philanthropic gesture, the top 500 RFG participants who raise more than S$300 as an individual or a minimum of S$5,000 as an organization will receive a refund of their registration fees as well as a limited edition RFG souvenir.

1st Youth Olympic is getting closer..

2010-05-11T03:19:00.000-07:00

Lyo & Merly fighting..with Merly having an upper hand.. this is my favourite!

Along Orchard road, looked like containers to me, probably storing all the merchandise items.

Merly Gymnastics

Lyo Football

The 1st Youth Olympic Games will start in less than 99 days..

Was at Orchard Road last Sunday evening, currently along the street is a row of advertisement promoting the games, this is where the Games Mega Store is currently located. Purchased a games mouse pad and was given the games program brochure showing the 26 sports represented by Lyo & Merly.

Lyo & Merly post

Mao's Last Dancer

2010-05-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

An honest and refreshing account.

Signature of Li Cunxin, he was in Singapore a few years ago for a talk. For invited guests and was not open for the general public.

2 weeks ago, my brother passed me his book of Li Cunxin.

Normally, I would not catch such movie, was always into action-packed, or hollywood blockbuster. Mao's Last Dancer? Was it a classical movie? While reading the book, I discovered it is worth to watch it in the cinema. Touching at the end of the movie, I bet most people will shed a tear. Definitely worth the ticket.

There is a page I would like to share with readers, check the beautiful drawings.

Mao's Last Dancer

Marine Bay Sands Hotel

2010-04-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

Entrance of Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Hotel shop

This is the second part of the Marine Bay Sands post, here are the pictures of the interior of Marine Bay Sands hotel.

On my way back, I talked to an employee of MBS, he worked as a logistic supervisor. Currently MBS employed about 7,000 plus staff, the location of Marine Bay is located out of town area, apart from the dozen of restuarants, there are no food courts nearby for meals. Thus, MBS provide both lunch and dinner for their staff. He mentioned it was very busy, imagine providing food for over 7,000. He is required to work from 7 am to 10pm on most days, with his weary look, he mentioned he is going back early today. It is not easy to work there. Saying good bye I wish him all the best.

Marine Bay Sands Opening 27 April

2010-04-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

Photos from Marina Bay Sands

The US$5.5 billion (S$7.5 billion) Marine Bay Sands opened for business after a simple ribbon cutting ceremony at the hotel lobby by top executives from its parent company Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and the traditional lion dance for good luck.

At the Feng Shui approved time of 3:18pm on 27 April.

Marina Bay Sands officially opened its doors to the public. The Integrated Resort (IR) is set to open progressively over the year, with Tuesday’s first phase including 963 hotel rooms, parts of the shopping mall and convention centre, some restaurants and bars, the Event Plaza along Marina Bay, and the casino.

Finally Completed..

Sands Expo and Conventional Centre.

Beautiful carpets, very thick & soft...

The holding area and the payment of levy for visitors to the casino. To prevent over-crowding inside the casino, locals/PR are required to wait for their turn to go into the casino after paying the levy. A few hundred chairs are neatly arranged in the holding area, by the side there is also a row of small kiosks selling food & drinks. Very thoughtful and well planned by Sands.

Separating the locals (Singaporean/PR) and foreigner. Talk about being a local, we don't have any advantage at home. The levy is $100 for locals.

Going into the Casino. Mainly Chinese tourists & local retirees.

The Shoppes at Marine Sands, most of the shops are not ready for business, still under renovation. People taking the escalator to the casino entrance.

The escalator at the Shoppes caught my attention, have no idea where it led to, it is still closed to public.

Visited Marine Bay Sands yesterday afternoon to catch a glimpse of the building and surroundings. Readers might have read the earlier posts on MBS during it's construction phrase.

A 2 parts series on the MBS, in the second post, I will upload the pictures on the interior of the Marine Bay Sands hotel for readers, so stay tune. And an exclusive interview with a Sands employee (logistic), actually he talked to me while i'm leaving the place, with the opportunity to ask him questions and learn how it is like working there, you guys will be amazed!

Two earlier posts:

MBS on 4 March

MBS on 28 Feb

Check the blog for the second part: Inside Marine Bay Sands Hotel coming up shortly..

Free Rice

2010-04-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting site, i came to learn about it yesterday on one of the blogger's site. Everyone can now donate rice to the needy. Check the site.

FREE RICE

You can click on the Options tab, and let it remember your total rice donation.

This blog will have a small logo linked to this site shortly.

Vote For My Blog!

2010-04-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

A week ago, I answered some questions about my blog at Blog Interviewer. Asking a favor from readers, just need a minute, click on the button at the top that says "VOTE NOW."

Although this blog joins the April competition late, on the 13 April, there is still a chance to win some prizes.. just need around 50-60 more votes to be in the top 18 winning blogs.

Thanks for your support, really appreciate your vote.

The Blog Interviewer logo can be found above my flag counter. Or simply click on the "Blog Interviewer" in bold which will be linked to the page.

Happy Earth Day 2010

2010-04-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Today is Earth Day.. and everyone is celebrating it. The event was founded by US Senator Gaylord Nelson in year 1970. So, today marks its 40th anniversary.

So what will you be doing? We can read more on nature, our beautiful earth, having healthy food, spend more time with nature or with animals and learn how each of us can do our part for our planet.

Robb puts it: "Let’s put into our minds that we don’t need to wait for every 22nd of April to celebrate the event. We should be doing it everyday. We should take care of our mother earth as she has provided all of us a nice place to live in."

For me, I'm switching off my laptop & lights for an early night..

+ picture taken in a forest at Temoh, Malaysia, where i spend 7 days during a meditation retreat back in Jul 2009. Readers can read about the trip on the blog - knowsamadhi.wordpress. The link is found on this blog.

Singapore YOG 2010 Mascots

2010-04-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

SOLD OUT...4 months before the game.

The Mascots Pin...

The first Youth Olympic Games will be coming to Singapore this August. This week I managed to get the pin from the post office. On the trip down, I was supposed to get a refund from my order, upon seeing the pin on display in the showcase, I asked the staff to sell the display items to me (got a pair).

Was told that this particular pin was sold out and they are not producing anymore! I would not have bought them, if I had waited longer...

Introducing Lyo (firey lion) & Merly (female, idea came from the Singapore Merlion) the games Mascots. In my opinion the games mascots are very well-designed.

Lyo & Merly in their signature pose.

SAA's 10km run in July 2010

2010-04-11T00:21:00.000-07:00

Report by Leonard Lim

Another running event is set to be added to the local calendar, as the Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) looks to muscle in on the popularity of the 10km event.

Starting and ending at the Kallang National Stadium car park, the race - yet to be named - will take place on July 6 or 18. The route, an SAA proposal has been submitted to the Land Transport Authority for approval, it is understood to include the Nicolle Highway area.

A total of 15,000 participants - both men and women across all age groups are being targetted.

Observers see the new race as a way for the SAA to earn income through registration fees, in an industry that has grown tremendously.

The fees have yet to be confirmed, but the market rate for such an event would be about $30.

The SAA has not received a cent in government funding since April 1 last year, after missing deadlines to submit budget and training plans to the Singapore Sports Council (SCC). The association's flagship event, the Singapore Marathon, adds close to $1 million to its coffers every year.

But the co-organisers SAA and SSC split after last year's edition, and the two set to host rival marathons in December.

There are already several popular 10km runs, including the Shape Run and the Great Eastern Women 10k.

Last year's Shape Run (8,000 runners) took two days to fill, while the Nike Human Race (10,000 runners) took five. More than 14,000 women took part in the Great Eastern event last year, up from 10,000 in 2008 and 7,700 in 2007.

Last year there were at least 45 running races in Singapore and nearly all boasted a capacity field. At last count, there were already 29 listed for this year, with more set to come.

Toy Fair in Jakarta 2010. Lego Castle Display

2010-04-07T22:45:00.000-07:00

King's Knight. Prepare for Battle.

Troll army

Skeleton Army

The Lion Army. Classic.

Here are some of the photos taken by an Indonesian Lego collector, at the Jakarta Toys and Comics Fair on 13 Mar 2010. (pictures from Eurobricks forum)

It is every lego collector's dream to build an army.. :)

Resort World Casino Singapore - Feng Shui

2010-04-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

Received an interesting email from a friend last week, sharing here with everyone. You might like to read more on Resort World in my earlier posts last month, have not been to Resort World Casino, but will probably visit at a later date. The written English is quite funny and I just left the main content close to the original. Apologise if you find it difficult to read.

If you are thinking of having a 'crack' at the RWS Casino, beware of what you are up against.... believe it or not !!!

A fengshui master. He said RWS's casino is full of 'fengshui' arrangement that it's very strong to trap anyone's money when going into the casino. From the moment you enter (if you asked the cab to drop you at casino entrance), you will see the lobby has one strange sculpture.... the elephant.

1. The elephant refers to you, or to someone that's rich, all mighty and with a lot of cash. The legs of the elephant are long....and high up, meaning high rollers will visit. But the top body of the elephant has a pyramid metal structure that can be found replicated at 6 spots on top of the fountains of wealth atop the casino entrance. The pyramid represents RWS.....sitting on top of you, the elephant. No way you will not follow the 'qi' of RWS presented to you....

2. Going down the LED lighted arcs escalator...the LED panel's resemblance of knives. Not just a normal knife but a shining sharp one.. there are a total of 4 panels. The picture on the LED is fishes swimming then followed by fireballs. The fireball represents RWS. Fishes are customers. All swimming to the casino. You are distracted by the light and sound. No one will think of those knives, which will have cut you into pieces even before you start gambling.

3. Down at the path to the casino...a lot of criss-cross arcs with water like lightning.... like a net....trapping your money.

4. In front of the casino, there is a double 'ba qua' opening looking up with light shining in...that is a strong fengshui..on top of the ba qua opening is the fountain of wealth with giant lotus plants and leafs curling out from the water, meaning growing well. Balls and multiples pyramids are located at fengshui location. The water of the fountain all fall down into the casino direction, meaning money keeps flowing in. The casino is build underground at the deepest location of the resort, directly under and behind the big Merlion.... deep down into hell!

Your 'qi' must be strong to gamble there....the fengshui arrangement is more 'shiong' than Genting Highlands. MBS is also....casino deep down in Marina Bay, the Lotus shape museum aka praying bowl with a center hole collecting rain water...water flowing from the lotus flooding the museum (the moat design) and the three towers represent something I need not say if you are a Chinese.....

ba qua - A Ba Gua is one of the tools used by a feng shui master, along with a luo pan (feng shui compass) to help determine preferred locations, in the home or office, for certain functions; such as wealth, health, fame, love and more.

RWS - Resort World Singapore

MBS - Marine Bay Sands, the three towers look like tombstone to some people. (see the pictures on my March 4 blog post)

qi - In traditional Chinese culture, it is frequently translated as "energy flow".

shiong - a Hokkien dialect commonly used in Singapore, meaning "damaging".

Happy Easter!

2010-04-02T02:33:00.000-07:00

dear friends, wishes everyone a happy easter :)

Ironman China Champion 2010

2010-04-01T02:37:00.000-07:00

Luke winning the Ironman in China 2010

Luke McKenzie finished first in the Ironman China 2010, Haikou on 14 March (Sunday) from a total of 259 participants. A new Ironman China course record.

Congratulations to Luke... A picture taken with the champ, after a training run in Singapore.

An earlier post on the run here:
Training run with Luke
posted on March 2, 2010

Luke's blog:
www.lukemckenzie.com/news.php

New Ultra Marathon Record in Singapore

2010-03-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

Mr Yong Yuen Cheng, a 38 years old teacher became the fastest 218km ultra-marathon runner in the Singapore Book Of Records. He completed the gruelling run in 31hr 28min 51sec. The distance is equivalent to 5 marathons combined, on top of that, they set a cut-off time of 36 hrs to consider themselves to be a finisher.

Adeline Yong did not finish but still clocked 129.3km, the record for the longest ultra-marathon runner (female).

The 3 records set were the longest ultra-marathon 218km, the fastest 218km ultra marathon runner(male) and the longest ultra-marathon runner (female).

So tough was the run that four of the nine "core runners", including six-time Ironman finisher Adrian Mok and the lone woman, Adeline Yong, did not last the distance.

Origanised by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to celebrate its 55th anniversary, the run saw Mr Yong jog, walk and limp through 68 stations around Singapore before he crossed the finished line in 31hr 28min 51sec at the school's Sports and Recreation Centre. Mr Yong was one of nine runners who started off from NTU last Saturday morning.

Results of the core runners:

Yong Yuen Cheng: 31hr 28min 51sec

Chua Kok Chiow: 32:32:05

Melvin Lee: 33:10:35

Lim Nghee Huat: 34:35:39

Teng Teck Hou: 34:36:32

Chin Kok Kai: Did not finish

Adeline Yong: Did not finish

Adrain Mok: Did not finish

Ng Junwei: Did not finish

The event raised over $218,000 for the school's bursary fund.

The sense of satisfaction from surviving a challenge that he deemed more difficult than the 217km Death Valley Challenge he completed in 54hr 39mins in 2007 left him overwhelmed with emotion at the end point at the NTU's Sports and Recreation Centre.

Mr Yong said about his feat:"No matter how ordinary you are, you can achieve something extraordinary...if you work hard enough, you will succeed even if you are not talented like others."

Neither Chua nor Yuen Cheng will attempt such a feat again.

"I don't know if I can still continue to run," said Yuen Cheng.

"I have a lot of injuries now and today I really pushed myself to the limit."

While doing my weekend run last Saturday evening in my area, I met the group, just 2 runners across the road, with a traffic police on bike behind them. I clapped and waved to them as a form of encouragement, they noticed it, but were probably too tired to response :) Personally, I think there is a limit to what the human body can take and endure, know your own limit, there are risks involved and it is not recommended. Everything should be progressive.

Blog Review for March (Check the POLL)

2010-03-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Kindly help me with the poll on the right ---> Like to know more from the readers!

It has been exactly 3 months since the flag counter had been on the blog. The counter enabled me to know more about the visitors. My goal is simply providing short and interesting content, hopefully the visitors enjoy reading and find the posts useful.

As of today (90 days), 71 countries have visited the blog, including Peru, Unknown European Union and the followings. An average of 6 US visitors visited the blog everyday (not a lot but I'm sure it will increase together with other visitors)

Ireland 71th country in 3 months.

The 70th country - Slovenia.

The 69th country visit Morocco. (it is not easy to have visitors from Africa for any blog, hopefully more countries from this continent) (17 Mar)

11 March RevolverMaps...

Venezuela the 68th country to visit. (15 Mar)

From Africa -- Cote D'lovire (4 Mar)

The next blog review will be in 3 months time in June. At the meantime, the posts coming next will be on Singapore F1 2010 Night Race and the Youth Olympic.

Lego Prince of Persia.... Coming April 2010

2010-03-22T00:43:00.000-07:00

Lego Prince of Persia 7569 - Desert Attack

Lego Prince of Persia 7570 - The Ostrich Race

Lego Prince of Persia 7571 - The Fight for the Dagger

Lego Prince of Persia 7572 - Quest Against Time

Lego Prince of Persia 7573 - Battle of Alamut

LEGO PRINCE OF PERSIA REVIEW

Here is a sneak preview of the coming new Lego to be released next month.. new characters and animals, including camel and ostrich.

Prince of Persia is an action-adventure game created by Jordan Mechner back in 1989, it spawn a new disney film Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time to be released on 28 May 2010.

Lego Black Falcon Fortress Review

2010-03-21T01:35:00.000-07:00

Lego Black Falcon Fortress 10039
(pictures taken a year ago)

The classic Legend Lego Black Falcon Fortress 10039. Ended on ebay on 21 March.

This is the second review on Lego Castle, the black falcon fortress is a collector's set. It consists of 6 knights and 2 horses, with a total of 424 pieces.

In 2004, my sister helped me to purchased 2 boxes in a Lego warehouse sales, at SGD 20 per box. She bought a few boxes, she mentioned that most people snapped up more than 1 box on that day. I sold 1 box to US shortly, it was my first listed item on US ebay, people were skeptical on my listing, in the end it was sold for less than USD30. I knew this box was suppose to cost more than SGD100.. but too bad.

2 days ago, I came across this set on ebay and was interested to know it's final value... it was a reproduction of the original released back in the 80s, a much sought after set. Finally sold for USD 153.59. That is SGD 215 without postage! A tenfold increase.

My current box is stored away in the cupboard, with no intention of opening it. Come to think of it, should not have sold my extra set back then... at least I can have a box opened.

Lego Medieval Market Village Review

2010-03-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday fixed this lego set, it was actually purchased back in June/July last year on Singapore ebay. The history went back to more than 20 years ago when I was given the lego sets Legoland 6010 -Supply Wagon and Legoland 6022 -Horse Cart. Both sets were released in 1984, set 6010 was the peasant with his horse-cart selling weapons and set 6022 was 2 guards on a horse-cart. So at that time I was wondering how much fun it would be with a lego medieval village/town.

And finally in 2009, lego released this set 10193 Medieval Market Village, with a total 1601 pieces.

Let the fun begins....1600 pieces. Took around 3-4 hrs to complete.

The complete village...
The two town houses.
The Inn.
Back of the Inn.
The bar counter.
Bedroom with dressing table.

The lady's house interior.

The classic Blacksmith set created by Daniel. Currently there is a set on ebay at a whopping USD440.

Blacksmith's house front, with the frog at the water wheel.

Back of the Blacksmith's house is the stable.

Blacksmith at work..

Chimney with fire.

Blacksmith's house interior.

This is the complete set, actually it looks empty, work can be done on the river bank, plants or trees, building a pavement path, more ducks and horses... just when I'm free to get the lego pieces, if there are available in the shop.

Purchased some of the additional pieces, using 1 dog for display.

The market place with extras...

Jester is from the Lego Drawbridge Defense set.

The market can be expanded further using the set Indiana Jones 7195 (with a stall and cart), haven't opened up that set.

The cow-cart. (Using 18 pieces for this customized cart)..

Come to an end of this post, welcome any feedbacks by posting below, if you guys has any comments for future lego review, let me know ... Have a Nice Day!

Lego Battlefield

2010-03-16T07:03:00.000-07:00

I am a fan for the lego castle series.. there will be a new post coming in the next few days, a review on one of the collector's set fixed last Saturday afternoon.

It will be pictures intensive, just getting them ready... :)

North East Run 16 km (14 Mar 2010)

2010-03-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

First race of the year... liked the cute cartoons.
RESULTS OUT TODAY (16 Mar)
Ranked in 434/1585 runners.

Back of the medal..
Race tag and medal, comes with red & white ribbon.

North East run 16km from google map. (14 Mar)

This morning NE run 16km location was at Pasir Ris, my first race of the year, it starts at 6:45am. Before the run, I knew that there will be a couple of overhead bridges. So, during training runs, I incorporated overhead bridges, the longest run was just 8 km with 2 overhead bridges.

The gun starts off at 6:45am, watching my pace by not going too fast at the beginning, pretty soon along the route, there was the 1st overhead bridge, it was up slope, it was not too tedious for me. Followed shortly was the second overhead bridge, climbed up the stairs feeling strong. After crossing 2 overhead bridges, was the 5 km markings, I looked at my watch, 30 mins.

At 10 km mark, after closing the 3rd overhead bridges (with staircases), my stop watch was 1hr 1 mins. We ran inside the campus of Temasek Polytechinc, took my time to enjoyed the nice buildings, and popped a power gel.

At around 13-14 km, the sun was out and started to feel the heat. It was like running towards the sun, and my face felt like burning for a while. I decided to pick up my pace, after crossing a total of 6 overhead bridges, it was near the end of the race ... in the last 1.5km keeping my pace constant, met a fellow Malay runner without his right arm in front of me, was motivated and admired his courage and grit, I decided to keep up with him, maintained eye contact as we run side-by-side, gave him a smile as a form of encourgement. I surged pass him shortly and crossed the finished line. My watch shows 1hr 32 mins, am satisfied with today's run.

Collected the goodie bag, the medal.. and was given a free ice-cream of berry favor! Wow... so having an ice-cream while doing my warming down... do not know if this was advisable, anyway I think I deserved it as a small reward after a tough run.

Walked towards the train station and came across a stable ... here are some pictures taken with my camera phone..

2 ponies and a few horses. Picture taken using 2MP handphone.

The stable in the area.

Thanks for reading, the next post coming up shortly this week will be my 1st LEGO review. Have a good week..

Marathon Showdown in Singapore

2010-03-12T01:09:00.000-08:00

News reported in today's Straits Times, I guess those who had ran in the previous races will be interested to read. Personally, I prefered the race to be organized by SAA, as SSC together with Standard Chartered Bank are getting too commercialized, their main concern are just getting more participants and making more money in the process, imagine how difficult it will be to accommodate 60k runners (most are in for a walk) on the actual day!

Having took part every year since 2003, I knew exactly how the running experience had been compromised in the last few years.. there are just too many participants, last year a total of 14,255 finished the full marathon! With 50k participants in all categories, fast runners complained of 10km & 21.1km runners blocking their way in the last few kilometres, and insufficent power gels.

A summarised report by Terrence Voon.

Marathon Showdown

Feuding SSC (Singapore Sports Council) and SAA (Singapore Athletic Association) apply to stage their marathons on Dec 5

A battle of the marathons is shaping up in Singapore at the end of the year.

This, after the Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) confirmed that it is planning to stage a race on Dec 5 - the same date which had been earmarked for the inaugural Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore. (previously known as SCSM, Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon)

Both the SAA and the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) - who are behind the new Marathon Singapore have met separately with the Land Transport Authority and the Traffic Police to obtain persmission for the events.

It is understood that only one race will get the green light from the authorities, owing to the excessive road closures caused by having two marathons on the same day.

The clash of dates is the latest chapter in the ongoing feud between the SSC and SAA, who have been at odds since the athletics body had its public funding frozen since last April.

The two parties had jointy organised the Singapore Marathon since 2002, but that partnership was dissolved after last year's 42km race.

The SSC 's event touted as the People's Marathon, was announced in a hail of publicity last month.

However, SAA CEO, stressed that the door was not closed for the two parties to work together on a joint event.

The new race is set to feature 60,000 runners and registration has been slated to open in June. It is believed that the proposed route will take participants through iconic areas such as Orchard Road and Chinatown.

As for the SAA it is likely that the layout for its race will mirror that of previous editions, featuring the Central Business Park District and East Coast Park.

Both marathons are expected to end at the Padang.

As a senior local sports official said:" Having two marathons on the same day is a non-starter. The authorities won't allow it, too many roads will be closed and the running community will be divided. It's now the case of who blinks first. Whoever gets permission from the authorities will obviously have the upper hand."

Another sticking point is that the SSC needs the SAA - a national body recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations - to endorses its race.

The association's endorsement is required to allow foreign elite runners to complete here. The SAA has since received a sanction request from the SCC, but has remained non-committal on whether it will back the rival event.

Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010

2010-03-11T03:42:00.000-08:00

2 years ago on 21 Feb, I was at the scene waiting for the announcement. I still remember clearly how excited everyone was when we were awarded to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games. Here is a clip, on that amazing day at the Padang.

Looking forward for the games this year! Singapore will be hosting the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) from 14 to 26 August 2010.

The Official Games Page!
www.singapore2010.sg

Universal Studios Singapore Opening Next Week :)

2010-03-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

Universal Studio Singapore 2010 - Sneak Peek..

Universal Studio Singapore was opened for sneak preview during the Chinese New Year Celebrations, from 5pm to 9pm every night between 14 to 21 Feb 2010. The whole park was opened, but none of the rides were operational. Visitors had to pay SGD10 to get into the park. Park tickets for the week were sold out in 2 days. On 05 March 2010, it was announced that the park will start opening on 8:28am. 18 March, 2010, for a soft-opening phrase. From 13 March, 2010 the team members of Resorts World Sentosa and their families can start visiting the park before the public has a chance to do so.

The park is 20 hectares (49 acres) in size, occupying the eastern part of the 49 hectares (120 acres) Resorts World Sentosa. There are a total of 24 attractions, of which 18 are the original or specially adapted for the park. It consists of seven uniquely themed zones which it encircles a lagoon. Each zone is based on blockbuster movies or television shows and each feature their own unique attractions, character appearances, dining and shopping areas. The park will feature the world's tallest Dueling roller coaster based on the hit television show Battlestar Galactica, a castle from the world of Shrek and Monster Rock, a live musical show by the infamous Universal Monsters as well as celebrity Look-alikes. The park also includes about 30 restaurants and food carts together with 20 unique retail stores and carts located around the park.

The park is home to the world’s biggest single collection of DreamWorks Animation theme park attractions, occupying 2 of the 7 themed zones, namely based on "Far Far Away" from Shrek and the island of "Madagascar" from the computer-animated movie Madagascar.

A total of 19 attractions opened on the Opening Day of the park, along with multiple shopping and dining outlets.Universal Parks & Resorts is marketing the park as a "one-of-its-kind theme park in Asia" as they promised that the park will be the only of its kind in Southeast Asia for the next 30 years.

I would probably be visiting the park shortly during a weekday, adult ticket is priced at S$66.00 per day. Weekend ticket will cost S$72.00.

MORE PICTURES COMING UP ... STAY TUNE :)