It's my first year joining North East Compresssport Run. One of my top reasons for joining this race will definitely be I'm a North-East-ian now :) It's also their first time organizing the race at Punggol Waterway, previously it was held at Pasir Ris Park.
I'm taking this chance to cover the really scenic Punggol Waterway because during my normal running days, I don't have the motivation to run that much by myself. I do prefer joining neighborhood small scale races these days because I find it more enjoyable and way less crowded than all the big race out there.
The racepack collection was held at Sengkang Community Centre which is of a walking distance/2 bus stops away from my place. I offered to help my 3 colis to collect their racepack too.
The race pack collection @ Sengkang Community Club
It was likewise a very smooth and fast racepack collection. The goodies in the racepack do not lose out to race pack from big races.
What made this race interesting will be the "half-medal" which was given out in the race pack.
We will be given another 'piece' of the medal after our race. :)
The flag off for the 10km race was at 7:30am. Derp and I took MRT to Punggol before changing the LRT to Nibong Station. It's our first time taking the Punggol LRT.
If I were to compare it with Sengkang LRT, it's more deserted especially the west loop of Punggol LRT. Many stations were not operating yet. The LRT we took stop and go at 4 stations before reaching Nibong.
Once we get down from the train, we have no problem spotting the race site as it's just a few minutes walk across the grass to the race site and totally visible from the LRT station.
The race site.
Since it's not crowded and it was still early, we decide to sit around first while waiting for time to pass. Not forgetting to take photos!
Us chilling around before the race start.
Our flag off was slightly delayed to welcome the first half marathon runner. The first is none other than the famous Samson Tenai :) He can run really really fast and completing a half marathon seems so effortless for him!
While waiting for the flag off, I took more photos again bearing in mind it's not everyday we go there.
Punggol waterway
You can see the half marathon runners who are already making their way to the 2nd loop which is another 10.5 km to go.
The amount of people painting Punggol Waterway orange that day..
One last shot before we went to queue at the starting line..
It was a slient flag off so as not to disturb the people staying near there. There's a few HDB blocks which is directly facing the race site.
I don't feel unfamilar with this park since I ran a part of Punggol Waterway before. So I'm quite familiar with how wide the route was, and the condition of the running route and etc. The weather was really good that morning and it was not sunny. Hydration points were more than enough and everything was very well organized. Nothing much I can complain about and we totally enjoy the scenic view throughout the run.
We put the goal of beating our personal best behind our head and simply enjoy the scenery as well as discovering Punggol Waterway.
The scenery at Sunrise Bridge which is also the u-turn point. It's scenic isn't it? :)
The ever so familiar Jewel Bridge which is so near to our house :)
I've always run till I reached here from my house before making a u-turn back then. Hence, I never had the chance to explore the rest of Punggol Waterway. But North East Compresssport Run has made it happen! So glad that we join this race because on normal running days, I have yet to find the motivation to cover that much of Punggol Waterway.
A group shot with all the colis who joined this race too. It's always a joy to see familiar faces at races :)
With Derp.
Our finisher medals!
You can now see how the 2nd piece of medal fits into it and become a 'completed' medal.
Picture credits to Running Shots
Thank you once again for taking such a nice photo of us :)
That's all for now. Till the next race then!
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