Click here for photos by IronmanDreamer

Click here for results

Legs and Paddles were organized for the past number of years which made it one of the longest lasting races in Singapore. It was organized every year without fail by NUS Canoeing Club Students.

Started off in Kallang River, where it shifted to Chinese Garden last year. This year, it shifted again at the heart of the city area, near the Singapore’s favourite landmark, Merlion. It consist of two disciplines, kayaking and running. Only this year, they added a running only race called the Brooks Life Run.

Publicity

The race was not well publicize to the public. It was spread either through words of mouth by NUS students and friends. As for me, I got to know this race through the SGRunners.COM forum by the forum members.

To attract more participants, more publicity should be done. A good source of publicity is either through radio or newspaper.

Website

The initial website was at http://lnp2007.cjb.net/ and they moved to http://www.sportmag.com.sg/legsandpaddles/. Initially, there was no online registration. After they relocate their website, online registration was made available. It was rather late for those who have registered through snail mail, which was what I did.

Registration

I waited for quite awhile to find out whether they have received my registration. Couldn’t wait any longer, I dropped an e-mail to the organizer. They replied 9 days later, and said that they were having exams and couldn’t have time to check their e-mail and they have yet to checked their snail mail box and they couldn’t confirmed my registration. They said that they will get back to me later which I waited for 7 days.

The registration fees was very affordable. It was less than $20. For such a race in town area, it was definitely a plus point!

The registration for the race can be improved even better. Personally, online registration is the best mode of registering for a race. They should consider that before they officially start to promote the event.

Collection of Race Tag

Participants for the Brooks Life Run have to collect the number tag one day before the race. This is to avoid confusion. The timing and location stated in the e-mail was between 4 to 8 pm near Starbucks Cafe at One Fullerton. Arrived at Starbucks around 6.45 pm, couldn’t locate the booth. Walked around and managed to locate it nearby the Merlion. It was way off than what was mentioned in the e-mail.

Told them that I wanted to collect the number tags. They told me that there was some technical problem and and they could only issue the number tag later in about 15 to 30 mins time. They said that they will be there throughout the night, so I could come anytime later. I really pitied those who came early to collect the number tag. So I walked around and reached there around 8 plus to collect the number tag. This kind of hiccups is definitely avoidable. Participants traveled there to collect the number tag and they had to give such excuses.

They didn’t ask for any identification as this may result in anyone who have accessed to the website to check the name list and number tags and claimed that he/she is so and so and wish to collect the number tag and t-shirts. But I don’t think it will happened, but it can happen if not prevented.

Race Day

The race was right at the heart of the city. A good place to attract crowds. Brooks set up a booth to promote their shoes which I thought was a great moves to promote their product. California Fitness set-up a booth to promote their membership. There’s a booth that sells books. It will be great if the organizer could set up a booth on canoeing clubs or lessons to promote the sports.

It was another cloudless day. Remind me of the Duathlon last week end. The sun was merciless again. Lessons learnt from last week, put on sunblock and wear a sunglass. It helps.

They have a wonderful sound system, but they did not used that for race briefing. Instead loud songs were played while the briefing was conducted using the loud hailer. No comment.

There was aerobics performed by California Fitness before the race. The instructor had a wireless mic. Can’t imagine the instructor using a loudhailer while doing those workout.

The aerobics was a good way to warm up the participants. But not good, cos it was delaying the race. And when the race delayed, the sun gets higher. And when the sun gets higher, it gets hotter.

The starting time for various waves stretches throughout the day. The Brooks Life Run supposed to start at 10 am, which was very late for any race to start. The race was delayed even later. Which causes the participants to be soo anxious and some were agitated.

Supposed to have two waves for the Brooks Life Run. First wave was for the guys and second waves was for the ladies. But it end up, both guys and ladies started together. Or else, the ladies will become darker than the guys.

Race Route

Click here for the race route. After looking at the race route, without explaining, will u be able to find your way? I must say the route in the map was very confusing. The map can be improved further. Make it an idiot proof and user friendly map, where you will not get lost or confused just by looking at it once. A normal straight coloured line should be used instead of dots.

The route was almost the same as Duathlon’s. The only different was there were no running on the road. I guessed that was one of the reason why the fees was not as high as other races.

After the briefing, I think most people were more confused about the route. So the only way that they could rely on was the route marshal, which I thought was a bad move. From my experience, I can’t really rely on the route marshal 100%. The best way for you to have a good race is to study the route, it is even better if you can run the route itself.

The route was narrow. It was made worst in certain location, especially below the Esplanade Drive where the route was extremely narrow and we had to bash through the tourist. During my run, I had to shout “excuse me” and clap my hand to alert them. Organizer could do better either by changing the route, putting barricades or put route marshals to help in clearing the way for runners.

Saw a family quarrel with one of the participant. Maybe the runners accidentally bashed through the family during the run. I guess, this is avoidable. If only organizers could brainstorm what could happened before it happened.

There were no proper marking accept for the printed A4 paper on the floor which shows the direction.

Reached at the u-turn point, the route marshals were not ready yet. They were still rushing towards the u-turn point. They had to give the rubber band to the participant and take note their number tags to ensure that the runners passed by that point.

On the way back from the u-turn point, there were suppose to be a water point before entering the Boat Quay. It wasn’t set up yet when I passed by there. So have to sacrifice one water point for me in this extreme hot weather.

The marshals at the u-turn point near the Collyer Quay was day dreaming. They looked confused when they saw me. I asked them whether this is the place to u-turn. They looked blank. They answered after awhile. Not pro-active enough.

At certain points, there were no marshals. Thanks to the race briefing, I had to use my six sense to find my way. Luckily it was the right way. There was one point where the runner which was about 20 meters ahead of me, went the other way, while I went to another way. I am not sure who is right or wrong, but end up, I got it right.

Quite a number of runners lost their way. Some quit the race, as the heat gets unbearable.

Goodie Bags and T-shirt

I must say this goodie bag was great! With such a fees for the race, the goodie bags is incomparable to other big brand races. Those branded organized races need to learn from this students. Kudos to NUS Canoe Club!

The t-shirt is sponsored by Brooks! A very nice dri-fit t-shirt with Legs N Paddles printed at the back! What more can I asked for? Kudos again to them!

Results and Prize Presentation

Results were always a problem to the organizer. I thought it will be great for the organizer to put up the top ten runners result immediately after the tenth runners comes in. But they need to collate the data from various points to ensure that the runners passed by the checkpoints. Therefore, it took sometime to get the results.

And there were some other fast runners who lost their way, who didn’t managed to get top ten. Really pitied them.

There’s supposed to be a prize presentation for the Brooks Life Run. It was delayed for quite sometime until they announced that the prize presentation was canceled. Not sure of the reason. The organizer said that the prize will be delivered by mail!

Conclusion

I give this race three stars out of five stars. The good goodie bags, with an affordable registration fees, and full-time students organizing this race, I must say Kudos to them! What more could I ask from them.

The race can be improved by having a dedicated route marshals as well as proper route directions. Having the race in the town area may not be the best idea. They may consider doing it somewhere else.

It will be good if the race could start earlier. Maybe around 7 am. To avoid participants from getting heat injuries. And its a good idea to put extra water points.

They should not combine Brooks Life Run together with Legs and Paddles. It may confuse people. Good to have it separated, so that they can concentrate on one event at a time. At the same time, Brooks can promote their product.

I must say thank you to the volunteers at the water point at one Fullerton. Thanks for being soo generous in giving away the water. The is an exemplary of a dedicated volunteer.

There weren’t many participants in the race, therefore I managed to get first. Was really happy!