Small country, big dreams.
That would sum up the marathon. According to the organizers, this year's event garnered a total of 65,000 runners. Definitely a record. But at the end of the day, they should sit and think, is this small country able to accommodate such big crowd?
the never-ending runners of the full marathon category
I ran the half marathon category and the run started at the bridge entering Sentosa Island. It was a smooth run until we reached the 2km point where all the runners headed to a narrow pathway. Can you imagine the chaos? 20,000 runners in this category running through a small pathway meant for joggers.
It was indeed a disaster.
I was caught up in the bottleneck but luckily I was among the front runners so it wasn't that bad. After the turning point, I could see the traffic was at a standstill. Pity them. They just started the run full of excitement and energy, but suddenly they were forced to 'lari setempat' cos of the bottleneck.
Other than the narrow pathway, running through Sentosa was exciting as we had nice view of the beach and all the attractions. Then we entered the interesting part of the route, the Universal Studios Singapore yo!
As usual I stopped to take pictures. :D
After running through the bus carpark, we were out from the island and headed to the East Coast Parkway. Oh I hate this part too. Again, the route was small. From the 3 lanes, they only allocated 1 lane for us. So at some points, I gave up running cos zigzag-ging through the walkers was tiring ok!
Plus, there were a lot of flyovers. Flyovers = hills = sucks!
Finally when we reached the Esplanade I was happy again. The crowds lined up from there all the way to St. Andrew Bridge and the finishing line, giving support and cheered us tired runners.
But as soon as I crossed the finishing line, there in front of me, was another bottleneck to collect the finisher medal. *sigh*
Last year's race attracted 60,000 runners but I didn't remember having these bottlenecks problem. The organizer really need to do something about these problems for next year's edition. Either they limit the participants or find a bigger venue. But how to find a bigger venue in this small country? I know the organizer aimed for the run to be certified as a gold label event, but I am not sure if number of participants is one of the criteria.
But it's hard to organize such big events so I understand their difficulties. Apart from the bottlenecks problem, I actually enjoyed my run.
And definitely enjoyed my trip to the Lion city. The christmas sales has begun so shopping laa apa lagi! hehehe...
Satisfied my cravings too!
Anyway, my condolences to the family of the runner who died after finishing the half marathon.
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I still haven't written my PJ Half race report and my maiden full marathon journey.. and I need to finish writing on my Istanbul trip. Too busy now. -_-
4 comments:
dgr cite byk borong kasut :P
hahahaha.. 70% off ok!!
i boleh imagine what was it like bila sume tersekat nak melepaskan diri mcm tu...maybe organizer patut plan route yg sesuai atau lebarkan lagi area utk accommodate runners yg sebanyak itu. anyway, im glad ure fine & im actually impress bcoz u got the nerve & spirit to run which not many of us can :)
fatt: tu la.. runners ramai tapi route kecik. i saje je join lari2 ni mengisi masa lapang.. hahaha..eh u can lah! belum cuba belum tau! :D
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