This year, NTUC Income Run 350, Organised by Young NTUC, has introduced a brand new category, Fun on Wheels. The aim of this new category is to showcase and highlight the alternative “green” means of transport in Singapore.

Fun on Wheels is a new category by NTUC Income Run 350.
[Photo by Run 350]

Bringing out the green message of Run 350

The Fun on Wheels category requires participants to use a variety of transport modes, such as bicycles, kick-scooters or in-line skating, to get through the 4km non-competitive race route.

Said Chong XianMing, 34, Assistant Director, Youth Development Unit at Young NTUC, “We constantly strive to make the green message of every edition of Run 350 stronger than the previous year’s. The new Fun on Wheels category is one way that we are doing that, this year. We want to showcase the ease and availability of alternative transport options to encourage Singaporeans to reduce their carbon footprint whilst having fun at the same time.”

The #GreenRelay initiative

To help to promote this new Fun on Wheels category, Young NTUC has come up with an initiative called #GreenRelay.

According to #GreenRelay, using alternative means of transport, such as a kick-scooter to get around, can be easy and simple, for example, when you are travelling to lunch appointments, or even to commute to the nearby bus stop or the train station.

Trying out Run 350’s kick-scooter to get around

As part of #GreenRelay, the Run 350 organising team had recently loaned me a kick-scooter to try out – and I have been taking this for short rides around my neighbourhood, for example, to buy food from the nearby hawker centre.

Run 350 loaned me a Mobot scooter.

The model of the kick-scooter had been the RX 205 by Mobot.

As I am not really familiar with using a kick-scooter, I must admit that I had needed some time to get used to the feeling of how it works at the beginning.

And it took me a while – before I could ride the scooter around smoothly and without the feeling that I was going to fall off it.

The scooter is an easy way to get around, but it can be tiring

But once I got the hang of it, I found the the scooter was a pretty easy way to get around for short distances. However at the same time, I quickly found that riding the scooter can get a little exhausting – so I would prefer to commute with the scooter for shorter distances of perhaps about a kilometre or less when I am too lazy to walk, perhaps when the sun is hot and walking gets exhausting.

This is because my body had not been accustomed to the constant motion of kicking with one leg and standing on the scooter with the other. I found that if you alternate legs each time you kick to propel the scooter forward – it helps the body not get too tired from having to use the same leg all of the time.

The scooter was quite easy to use once I had gotten the hang of it.

That said though, I find that a kick-scooter for transportation is more convenient than say, taking a bicycle to nearby places – if you are too lazy to walk. This is generally because if you are cycling to a nearby destination, you need to find somewhere to park the bike – which can be quite annoying if you discover that the place is not very bicycle-friendly.

But on the other hand though, a kick-scooter can easily be folded up and carried into say, a shopping mall or a supermarket, for grocery shopping or perhaps to grab a quick meal at the food court.

The scooter can easily be folded up and taken into the food centre for a quick meal.
[Photo from www.sharekool.com]

Try out the kick-scooter for yourself at Run 350

If you want your chance to try out the kick-scooter for yourself, why not sign up for Run 350’s 4km Fun on Wheels category?

Besides the 4km Fun on Wheels category, there are also the 10km and 21.1km competitive distances, as well as an 800m Kids Dash for the young ones.

You can register for the race at http://run350.com. But do hurry though. Registration is only open till March 7.

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