SAFRA Bay Run and Army Half Marathon to hit 20th edition in September

By SAFRA

ahm 2011

Runners will take in the Gardens by the Bay for the first time. (Photo 1 courtesy of SAFRA)

Singapore, Wednesday, June 29, 2011 — Runners can look forward to a unique experience at this year’s SAFRA Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon as it celebrates its 20th Anniversary on Sunday, 4 September. In line with the event’s theme, “Celebrating 20 Years of Fitness, Bonding & Fun”, organisers SAFRA and The Army have planned several new initiatives to excite and engage participants.

Colonel (COL) Perry Lim, Chairman of the Organising Committee for SSBR & AHM 2011 and Vice President, SAFRA explained: “The theme reflects the long standing aim of the event to promote fitness and bonding among full-time National Servicemen, NSmen as well as the public. It also underscores the event?s emphasis on offering fun and unique experiences to runners each year.”

In line with the theme, the carnival held at the Padang will feature three distinct zones: fitness, bonding and fun-related games. There will also be stalls selling knick-knacks and a variety of merchandise. The carnival is specially set up for participants, their families and all members of the public to come and join in the colourful celebration; everyone is invited to share in the festivities.

20 Iconic Landmarks

This year, the running routes will take participants past 20 iconic landmarks, including Bay East at Gardens by the Bay – for the first time. The refreshed routes are in line with the organisers’ long-standing plans to increase the scenic appeal of the run every year, beginning from its inception in 1992.

Participants of the 21km AHM will begin at the Esplanade Bridge and run along the Marina Barrage, Stadium Boulevard and Fort Canning Road, while participants of the SAFRA 10km Race and SAFRA 5km Fun Run will enjoy the scenic view around the Marina Bay as they run past Marina Bay Sands along Bayfront Avenue and the Floating Platform (also known as The Float @ Marina Bay) before finishing at the Padang.

COL Lim commented: “The event has grown immensely over the last 19 years; the number of participants has swelled from 15,000 to 70,000, the number of iconic landmarks included along the running routes has also increased and evolved in tandem with the development of the Marina Bay area. As such, to celebrate the event?s 20th anniversary, we have planned the route this year to be a run down memory lane even as we continue to include the latest developments along the Marina Bay area.”

Participants can thus look forward to running past iconic landmarks ranging from those featured in earlier years such as Fort Canning to the most recent developments such as the Marina Bay Sands and the Helix Bridge.