There was an air of festive mood, even though the scorching sun was beating down on us.  Before long, we were flagged off but there was a red wall of human bodies in front of me. It took me 5 mins to cross the start-point and was held up in many bottlenecks along the 10K route.

I finished the run in 59mins gun-time.

To and fro the Kuala Lumpur International airport or Low Cost Carrier Terminal to the city center, the journey brought us passed the Sepang F1 circuit, home of motorsport in Malaysia.

About 45mins of railway and cab travelling brought me into the Bukit Bintang neighbourhood where the hotel I’m staying is located.

Bukit Bintang is a very touristy area with lots of hotels and mega malls, so naturally the stuffs there are quite pricey.

Amidst this buzzing metropolis where towering skyscrapers and ultra-modern shopping malls and hotels resided along with historical buildings and street hawker stalls, a peculiar observation that left a deep first impression was that despite having a well connected network of monorail and light rail that ply most of the city, the roads of KL city appears to be jam-packed every hour of the day.

Coming up in the next post will be my visit to Chinatown and Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC). Stay tune!

This is the Nike+ run that I’ll take part in this October, as we enter the last quarter of the year and the countdown to the marathon begin in earnest. This will be the day the world runs.

The start/end points of this year’s race will be at the F1 pit building and participants will run off the F1 pit straight.

By a stroke of luck, I won a pair of complimentary tickets in an online lucky draw to enjoy Friday’s practice session. While I’ve been catching every Grand Prix race via live TV telecast, this would be my first ever outing inside an F1 race circuit. This is all so exciting for me!

The Bay Grandstand offers spectators the full view of downtown Marina (where the Integrated Resort is being constructed) and the Central Business District skyline, the Benjamin Shears Bridge and the Singapore Flyer complete the spectacular skyline.

Deja Vu

Renault’s rookie driver Romain Grosjean lost control at Turn 17 just 40 mins into the first practice session. His car spun and crashed at the same spot where Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately rammed his car into the wall during last year’s race. Talk about deja vu.

Battle By The bay

Last year’s Battle By The Bay was fought out between Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and Filipe Massa of Ferrai, but thanks to the ‘Crashgate’ scandal, which will forever tarnished the dazzling spectacle of the historic night race, Renault’s Fernado Alonso won the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix title.  As a result, Massa did not score any point on that night, and Hamilton went on to eventually clinch the World Championship title.

This year’s Championship battle will be keenly contested between Brawn GP team-mates, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, both of whom were not even sure if they will be driving a couple of weeks before the start of the season. Chasing the Brawn GP dual will be dark horse Sebestian Vettel of Red Bull Racing, who is still with a shout of the world title.

Standing in the way of this trio will be the Singapore title holder, Fernado Alonso, who will be eager to restore his reputation with a performance that he hope will wipe the slate clean once and for all. Lewis Hamilton, although mathematically out of the race for the World title, will have the responsibility to help redeem the image of the sport as the reigning World Champion.

The F1 circus has once again descended onto our shores for the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, still the world’s only night race, and the buzz and vibes has definitely rubbed off on the legions of motorsport fans here in Singapore. Come Friday evening, the roar of the F1 cars will be heard on the famed Marina Bay street circuit.

While I can only afford zero-cost but standing-room-only trackside actions when the inaugural FORMULA 1™ Singtel Singapore Grand Prix hit town last year, this year presents a different proposition for me. I was lucky to have won a pair of Bay Grandstand tickets to watch the race on Friday’s practice session!

For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the Singapore Grand Prix street circuit, the below pictorial shows the 5.067km route which passes several famous landmarks including Saint Andrew’s Cathedral, City Hall, the Supreme Court and the Esplanade Bridge. Running in an anti-clockwise direction, it is the only circuit which crosses two bridges and travels beneath a grandstand, which is the Bay Grandstand my tickets will accessed me to.

If words and picture just don’t cut it for you, here’s a video preview of the Marina Bay street circuit. Nico Rosberg of team Williams is on hand in the video to explain some of the thrills and challenges of racing in this street circuit.

Seen here at the start point, runners eagerly anticipating the flag-off in pretty good weather which will later turned into a scorching hot Sunday morning. It was a challenging 16km run over undulating terrain and the high humidity fired up the difficulty level.

I finished the race in 1hr 23mins (unofficial time), it was a tough race for me and I missed the target time I set myself for a good 8mins. Below is the “photo finish”, got it?

 
View slideshow of Mizuno Wave Run 2009

RunNUS is an annual running event organized by the NUS Students’ Sports Club to promote a healthy lifestyle amongst the NUS population and the public. Already in its third year since its inception, RunNUS has become an important event for both the NUS alumni and its student and staff population to gather with friends and rediscover the NUS heritage.

The Men’s Open 12km competitive run was flagged off in a warm and sunny morning but the skies opened up and it started pouring an hour into the run. Luckily, I have finished the race by the time the first rain drop came hurling down, crossing the line in 55mins (unofficial time). It was a hard run for me, as the route was over hilly terrain.

To the dismay of runners who haven’t start their run, the organizers announced RunNUS 09 cancelled due to the downpour! Only the men’s open category got the run started before the rain came. You can just imagine how disappointed they were and what a wet blanket to be thrown on them on a wet Sunday morning!

There was a lot of disappointed and agitated runners, waiting out the rain.

Even the on-stage live band performance cannot revived the disappointment of the runners who had their run cancelled due to the rain.