SAFRA Singapore Bay Run and Army Half Marathon is on for Sept 9th
Singapore, Thursday, May 17, 2012 — Despite reports to the contrary, the 20th edition of the SAFRA Singapore Bay Run and Army Half Marathon will be held this year.
The event is scheduled for Sunday, September 9th and registration for the event opens on June 1st.
There are four categories available: 21km, 10km, 5km, 800m (Father and Child Challenge).
The flag off is at Esplanade Bridge and part of the route will include the new downtown at Marina Bay and historical places.
The event, organised by SAFRA and the Army, was first held in 1992 with 15,000 runners. Last year, 70,000 took part.
More event details available at: www.safra.sg/sbr
For a full listing of sports events in Singapore, go to: Singapore Sports Calendar
hfairness
I must put on record that the AHM 2011 is one of the most enjoyable race ever in Singapore for me. .
For next year do improve on distance markers and actual total distance.
But really thank you SAFRA and all organizers,army personal and support staffs for putting up a great race though humanly not possible to be perfect.The belly dancers and Bangra music where SIMPLY the Best and an insipiration.
AHM
Hi, I agree with Infairness that the level of organization is one of the best for all the editions of AHM, except the issue with the wrongly placed distance markers, which actually happened twice or thrice before in the years between 2000 and now. I remembered 2005, 2006 there was a similar issue of wrongly placed distance markers and an abrupt course. There was also the case of wrongly categorized runners in Men’s Open then. These issues are old and not new, and it disappeared from 2007 to 2010, but from time to time, it reappears for reasons understandable: the SAF is not perfect, no managing committee is perfect, people make mistakes from time to time, much less when the managing committee of AHM changes every few year(s), and the blueprint for good AHM organization isn’t perfectly handed over to new organizing army units.
Regarding distance issues, we cannot blame the Army because they aren’t the IAAF or bodies under IAAF such as SAAA and SSC who have IAAF trained personnel to measure distance and correctly place signboards. The Army doesn’t have such people and I don’t think the Army has the cheek to seek the help of SAAA and SSC to learn from them the art of delineating distance because that would only mean our SAF is hopeless and good for nothing. The Army wants to do it themselves, so we have to be ready for error and ready to forgive error.
There is no point feeding the blame-game. There wasn’t like a 5km or even 2km shortage of course, which would be felony for distance runners if it ever happened, so why fret like 700m has changed the lives of all elite runners in Singapore forever. No it hasn’t, no local elite runner complained of clinical psychological trauma at the knowledge of an abrupt course, there was only plain disappointment and let down, understandably, but nothing that warrants frantic behavior that demands penalizing the organization committee in some sort of manner the victims had steadfastly demanded.
700 meters is all there is. Calculate your individual pace and project the 21.1km time from your 20.4km time, it cannot be too different after all. It’s near the end of the race and your energy stores are likely on the verge of depletion. For elite runners an abrupt change of pace to be significantly faster is unlikely to happen at that stage, so projecting your 21.1km time based on overall pace is the best idea. If Mok ran 1:10:27 for 20.4km he is probably going to finish in 1:12:37 thereabouts. If Ruiyong ran 1:12:53 for 20.4km, he is probably going to finish in 1:15:15, and the rest ditto. Simple as ABC.
Of course I understand the value of a concrete official timing, and elite runners are especially vulnerable to the knowledge of that God. To them, it is the alpha and omega, the beginning and end of everything they have trained, worked for. That is reasonable for a start. But when we proceed to think that running is all about how it feels, the moment, the present of all, you would then begin to understand why true runners would rather feel so good but run a slightly slower time, than feel so terrible with a faster time at hand. Precisely because running is an art with no four walls, to each his own sensation and enjoyment that he most makes for pleasure during a run; while time was never art so much as metric. Time is constrain that true runners would choose to do and even live without if given a choice, because to them its preoccupation in their conscious minds becomes a fearful imaginary creature to which they balk. It has become more of an object of stress than rest, in times when running can and should bring rest and carefree and momentary disobedience to every man’s and woman’s minds and souls. Can time disobey? No it cannot, because time obeys certain physical laws that cannot be changed, and its major crime is to employ the pure and genuine sport of running as a glorious slave.
Who now, which elite runner in Singapore wants to be that slave?
Hope that helps to relief the prejudice!
hfairness
I would have loved to have said it was the best well organized race ever in Singapore.So many water points,very helpful and cheerful volunteers plus many plus points. But i would want to agree with this article that as a runner after training for several months the AHM has been a BIG ‘LETDOWN’. to race a different distance from what you were paid for and trained for, has been painful.DISTANCE MARKERS—– i do not mind to volunteer with help of friends to put this up.Distance markers must be accurate to raise the standard of our runners….. (Why us Singaporeans cannot get this right– i do not know )Hope SAFRA learn from the errors mentioned here .
BUT lets not forget that our top runners Mok,Rui Yong and Ashley have done very well with FAST TIMES. I will not be surprised to see a Singaporean winning a medal at Sea Games soon. Perhaps Mok has a chance this year. Sponsors,SAA & SNOC should come forward with more support and assistance.These runners have so much dedication and hard work and talent too. Singapore long distance running is in an up swing and we MUST learn from valuable comments here. All race organizers should improve the running experience of everyone and especially for our local elite.
BTW–Rui Yong had performed exceptionally well..Keep it up bro !
Harold
I mean the gun time in the Runpix profile for each 21k runner. If you check your Runpix now, the gun time would be close to the net time. The times in the lists of winners on the website are still based on the wrong gun times, ie a 99 or 100 second difference between gun and net times.
My observation on the route is that it is just too dark in some places. One guy running next to me fell heavily because he did not see a slight hump on the path. I stumbled too but did not fall.
I would agree that the overall distance is obviously wrong – there is no way I could have done a 3k PB after running for 18k.
All in all, it was still a well-organised event.
Colin Tung
Hi Harold, I went to the Runpix website but couldn’t find their listing for the 2011 AHM though I saw one for the 2010 AHM. If you could provide the link here, that’ll be great! =)
Harold
http://www.runpix.info/wrace3/00/sfa11/ge.php
Harold
I wrote to Runpix yesterday about the mismatch between the gun and the net times (I am sure that others also wrote) and they have now corrected the gun times. As it stands now, SAFRA’s lists of prize winners on the website still show the wrong gun times.
Colin Tung
Hi Harold,
What do you mean by “they have now corrected the gun times?” Where would the corrected gun times be found?