Making a significant comeback onto our sunny island, the second edition of the Blacklight Run Singapore took off on 28th October 2017 at Sentosa’s Island Palawan Green! The course took the participants down a kaleidoscopic 5km route of bright lights, laughter, sweat and exhilaration, with a party atmosphere from start to finish.
Getting to Palawan Green
The event was held at Palawan Green @ Sentosa, which is easily accessible by public transport. My friends and I have decided to meet up earlier, as we didn’t manage to collect our race packs beforehand. There were a couple of ways to get into Sentosa island, and we opted to take the Monorail there as it was more convenient. Sadly, there wasn’t any free entry into Sentosa Island for us Blacklight Runners.
All decked out in glow entitlements!
We got to Palawan Green at Sentosa Island at about 6pm, and proceeded to collect our race packs. Upon collection of the race packs, all of us excitedly opened the drawstring bags given and were delighted to find various ‘glow’ entitlements inside. We began to decorate ourselves like Christmas Trees, going overboard on the glow entitlements we had. Then again, we couldn’t help ourselves. It took every inch of effort to not want to put every single item that could glow in the dark on our bodies!
Prerace
There was a pre-race party going on by DJ Lady Momo that had started from 5.30pm, and there was a handful of Blacklight Runners having a good time before the race, soaking in the fun and not to forget, the occasional throw of glow powders, and glow entitlements from the stage!
Blacklight Runners chilling on the grassy patches
Other than those who were raving in the pre-race party, the other runners were sitting around in the grassy areas, sipping on free Ribena Sparkling Can Drinks, or busy snapping away the next Instagram worthy shot.
It Was Time to Glow!
As 7.30pm rolled around, the MC announced for everyone to head to the start pen for the first wave of runners to be flagged off.
As everyone jostled into the start pen, the MC made sure the crowd was kept occupied by getting them to cheer loudly and enticing them with glow entitlements like light sticks and glow rings.
‘And… 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1! Off you go!’ As the countdown for the different waves of runners went off, the runners roared off with excitement and sprung off their feets to a steady pace.
As my friends and I kept a steady pace between running/brisk walking, we also took our time to look around Sentosa Island in the night. It was by coincidence that Sentosa was having a ‘Bright Nights at Sentosa’ event that featured dazzling light displays, and had multiple UV lights along our running route.
Illuminated Bright Nights at Sentosa light display
So of course, the Blacklight Runners naturally formed a queue in front of this special UV light installation, who wanted to snap an IG-worthy shot to make their night even more special. And you guessed it, we too joined in the fun for our fair share of IG-worthy photos.
The Blacklight Run features 3 main glow zones – Pink Punch, Orange Momo, and finishes off with Green Hype. We were surprised to find that as we ran along the route, there were some areas with a couple of volunteers armed with a big bag of glow powder, and sprinkled it on runners that ran along the route. It was definitely a pleasant surprise indeed! Who wouldn’t love to have more glowing powder on them, right?
First glow powder zone – Pink Punch!
The volunteers were enthusiastic in throwing the glow powders on the Blacklight Runners, making sure not one person misses out on the glowing powder action.
We came across the water point when it was the 2.5km mark, and by then we were all hot and thirsty, craving for an ice cold drink. We were all relieved to find that the drinks were cool and thirst quenching and gulped it down with much relief.
As we went along the route, I find that it was a very smooth path to run on and the barricades were a good guide in where we should run. Despite the lack of music along the running route, we still very much enjoyed ourselves.
All powdered in pink!
As we approached the finish line, there were multiple big boxes of glow powder packs to redeem for Blacklight Runners to enjoy themselves at the post-race party.
Just 5 metres away from the finish line, there were a couple of volunteers armed with numerous medals hanging from their arms to give out to the Blacklight Runners upon completion of the run.
All smiles for our first fun run medal!
As we got back to the holding area, we proceeded to collect our bags with ease (yay, no queues!) and rested for awhile before joining in the post-party. It was nice being able to party alongside strangers, and seeing that they were having as much fun as you were.
We decided to call it a day after 20 minutes of jumping and losing ourselves in the music. We then cooled off on the grass patches and began to clean ourselves with the wet wipes that we brought along. It was also a pleasant surprise to find portable toilets near the bag deposit. I personally thought it was a great touch in bringing convenience to the runners, as the nearest toilets at Palawan Green were at least a 5-7 minute walk away.
In summary, my friends and I enjoyed ourselves a great deal at the Skechers Blacklight Run this year. Fun runs are a great way to incorporate laughs into a healthy exercise. Who said running had to be boring and tiring? They can be made fun too!
Event Overview
- Having a medal was a personal touch at the end of the race, makes you feel like it was a worthy achievement for completing the race!
- Endless free Ribena drinks were definitely a plus point!
- Bright Nights at Sentosa made the run more gratifying.
