Over 3,000 Puma runners, all with their sights set on fabulous prizes contributed by event sponsor Puma Asia Pacific, took to the streets of Sentosa Island for the inaugural PUMA Night Run Singapore on 1 November 2014. The race, which joins a series of PUMA Night Runs around the region, saw running enthusiasts from all walks of life take on the challenging 10km route.
Taking participants across different parts of the island, the race route covered the familiar stretches of Siloso, Palawan and Tanjong beaches before taking runners off the beaten track. Adding a refreshing twist to race routes on Sentosa Island, the night race brought runners through the fringes of Sentosa Golf Club, the Sentosa Satellite Earth Station as well as a stretch that is normally out-of-bounds to the public.
Among participants were the Puma Night Cats – a group of celebrities and personalities who have trained together over the course of 6 weeks, to inspire people to pick up running as well as to go beyond their limits.
“The race was nothing like I expected. The route was touch with quite a number of 45 degrees uphill climbs so that was definitely challenging for me. But, the atmosphere was great, everyone was encouraging and I feel good about how long I took to finish the race as well,”
said Tabitha Nauser, one of the Puma Night Cats, also ex Singapore Idol.
“At the end of the day, I’m glad to finally say I finished my first ever 10km race!”
Also among the runners were a hearing-impaired participant, Singapore’s One Arm Runner Adam Khamis as well as six visually challenged runners from Runninghour, an inclusive running club that promotes the integration of people with special needs through running.
Top runners took the course at a meteoric pace, returning to the finish line within an hour. Thomas Kiprotich (31min 51sec) took the men’s title followed by Gurung Nimesh (33min 4sec) and Ng Junwei (37min 23sec). Neo Hoon Suan (44min 46sec) was the first women to cross the finish line, followed four minutes later by Rohani Binte Mohamed Ibrahim (47min 54sec) and also Diane Saint-Sauveur (49min; 53sec). First prize winners Thomas Kiprotich and Neo Hoon Suan were given Puma vouchers worth S$2500 plus a one year membership to Celebrity Fitness.
The fun and excitement continued after the finish line with an array of post-race activities organised at the PUMA race village in Wave House Sentosa. Race participants took the opportunity to cool down and surf at the popular FlowBarrel while others celebrated their completion of the race grooving to music performances by homegrown talents 53a and The Sam Willows. DJ Andrew T wrapped up the night with electrifying DJ set where celebrities, personalities, race participants and their supporters partied to pumped up beats and ended the night on a high.
