Photo Story by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports and Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports

The Padang, Sunday, August 16, 2009 – About 70,000 runners hit the streets for the SAFRA Singapore Bay Run and Army Half-Marathon on Sunday. Apart from the 21km race, there was a 10km and 6km category as well. Women runners increased by 35% while 15% more men ran compared to last year.

Approximately 18,000 Singapore Army personnel also took part this year. In addition, eight foreign army teams from Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam flew in specially for this event. India claimed the top two spots while Indonesia finished third in the team category.

Army half marathon 2009

A runner goes past the Singapore Flyer on the Benjamin Sheares Bridge. (Photo 1 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Soldiers from 3 Guards at their stations early in the morning. They would hand out finisher medals later in the day. (Photo 2 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Cecilia Warutumo runs down the finishing stretch to finish third in the 21km Women’s Open category. (Photo 3 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Qi Hui was not far behind as she came in fourth with a timing of 1 hour 26 minutes 1 second. (Photo 4 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Mr Teo Chee Hean flags off the 10km wave. (Photo 5 courtesy SAFRA)

Army half marathon 2009

Some could only walk up the Sheares Bridge. (Photo 6 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

A runner comes down the final stretch. (Photo 7 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Miranda Heck pushes on as she approaches the finishing line. She was in 11th place in the 21km Women’s Open Category with a timing of 1h 38m 35s. (Photo 8 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

A familiar face in the running community, Mika Kume is all smiles as she runs to the finish. She placed fifth in the 21km Women’s Closed Category with a timing of 1h 39m 32s. (Photo 9 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

A final surge in energy sees this young runner push on to the finish line. (Photo 10 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Gabriel Tham is all smiles as he finishes the 21km run. (Photo 11 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

“Put your hands up in the air!” (Photo 12 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Choo Ling Er came in seventh in the 21km Women’s Closed category with a time of 1h 42m 15s. (Photo 13 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

“Looking good!” He certainly does not look like he has just finished a half marathon as he comes in with a smile on his face. (Photo 14 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Yeo Si Heng sprints down the final stretch. He finished in 11th place in the 10km Men’s Open category with a timing of 40m 7s. (Photo 16 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Hand-in-hand… We’ll reach the finish… (Photo 17 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Philip Ramachandran runs down the finishing stretch to finish fourth in his category. (Photo 18 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

“Hello dear… I’ve finished my run already. Can you come pick me up?” Truly a nation of multi-taskers as this runner runs down the finishing stretch sms-ing at the same time. (Photo 19 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

On a Sunday morning where most would still be asleep, these people were out running and having fun. (Photo 20 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Krishna Limbu finishes in fifth place in the 10km Men’s Open category. (Photo 21 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

“Look what I got as a souvenir… Bananas!!” (Photo 22 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Tommy Ng races down the finishing stretch with two others on his heels. (Photo 23 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

“Why??!!” (Photo 24 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

“You’ll never walk alone…” Tan Teck Loon helps Chen Dekun to the finish line, limping step by step. (Photo 25 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Overjoyed at completing the run. (Photo 26 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

“Peace out…” (Photo 27 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Adrian Tjahjadi sprints down to the finish. (Photo 28 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Gerald Soo runs down the finish with some fancy headgear… Probably to block out the sun? (Photo 29 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Michael Bolt comes down the finish, clearly overjoyed. (Photo 30 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

The spirit of National Day definitely had not died down as Sabastian Ganappagasam runs to the finish with Singapore flags flying high. (Photo 31 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

“You can’t see me!” (Photo 32 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Dexter Ng limps to the finish in agony. (Photo 33 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Army half marathon 2009

Of course, what marathon would it be without a proposal? (Photo 34 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

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Mok Ying Ren and Elaine Lim are fastest Singaporeans at Army Half Marathon