Singapore Sprint 2016

The event was the Singapore  Super and Sprint, with the Super starting from 7am, and the Sprint from 11am. Took part in the Sprint with my girlfriend, as part of my route towards the Trifecta. This is my second race in 2016 and my first race with the girlfriend. We took a grand total of 2 hours and 22 minutes to complete the course, almost the same time as my timing at the Kuala Lumpur Super.

As promised by the organisers, the second Spartan race in Singapore is off-road, taking place at Tampines Ave 10. We were lucky to enjoy dry weather for the whole day, as the track was mostly clay and would have turned quite slippery when wet. But since it was really hot sun all day, we ended up with dust storms at various location throughout the race course. The race course cut through the forest, which provided lots of welcomed relief from the blazing sun, as opposed to the Kuala Lumpur Super, which took place on a almost treeless grassland/construction site, leaving participants (and volunteers) to bake in the sun.

Compared to the first Spartan race in Singapore, this one was a much more balanced affair. The first race featured running distance of 2km before obstacle clusters of 5-6 obstacles at each point. The obstacles in this race was much better spread throughout the race, with shorter distances between each obstacles. It was however another dry race, with no mud pits or water filled moots (something I enjoyed a lot in the KL Super).

Did only 30 burpees this time, once again having failed the spear throw (time to start throwing a broomstick at the field? Lol!). The rest of the obstacles were standard fare with wall climbs, barbwire, hercules hoist and the bucket brigade. I believe that most of the larger structured obstacles were kept for the Super. I found the atlas ball for the atlas carry obstacle to be smaller than that of the KL Super, but I would need other people to verify that for me. The sandbag carry took place up a steep clay slope, and all my time spent carrying jerry cans up and down the stairs paid off. Obstacles were well marked, and volunteers were on hand to ensure proper execution and safety. Signages with instruction on handling the obstacles were located at each obstacle as well.

The medal strap for the KL Super featured the Malaysia flag printed into it, as well as onto the finisher tee. No such luck with the Singapore medals, there's only the Singapore wording on both the medal and tee. In this aspect, I felt that the Malaysia organisers did a better job. What the Singapore organisers did a better job of however is ensuring proper stock of tshirts and distribution of finisher tee. They ran out of sizes at the KL Super and I was handed a bigger shirt than I wanted (what is the point of preregistering tshirt size then?).

As you can see in the photo, it was a much drier and cleaner affair. Relatively I would have to say that the race in Singapore was easier (drier race and plenty of shades and waterpoints). But each race is a unique experience in a different location with new challenges. I'm pretty sure however that my girlfriend will never be taking part in a Spartan race again.