This morning, the third edition of the monthly Car Free Sunday took place – and it meant that a 5km stretch of roads around the CBD had been shut off to traffic.

So both runners and cyclists had been given the chance to “own” the roads and to have free reign of them.

Our group of runners at the CBD.
[Photo by Gei Gei Runners]

Run started and ended at Nicoll Highway MRT Station

I joined a Car Free Sunday run organised by the Gei Gei Running Club. This was a fun and lively run which had started and ended at the Nicoll Highway MRT station and runners ran past the Kallang Basin and the Singapore Flyer towards the Singapore CBD.

Committee members pose with “cars” that they made themselves.

Right from the very beginning, I noticed some runners wearing fancy dress costumes. The runner who had stood out the most was probably the SpiderMan and his “SpiderCar.” I thought he was really creative and so it was not surprising, that Spiderman was the winner of a Best Dressed Costume contest in this run.

Stopped for a group photo at Padang

The run started pretty well and roughly about 3km into the run, we stopped at the Padang for a group photo.

SpiderMan and the SpiderCar.

And at this point, I took the chance to soak up all of the sights and sounds of today’s Car Free Sunday. There were plenty of activities taking place this morning, and these had included Table Tennis and Zumba.

On reaching the CBD, we stopped in front of the National Museum to catch our breath and take a group picture. I spotted Nila – Singapore’s mascot from both the South East Asian Games and the ASEAN Para Games last year, and could not resist the opportunity to snap a quick photo with him. He is really cute after all.

Nila is so cute!

Tents had also been set up near the National Museum for the public to quench their thirst with 100PLUS isotonic drinks or mineral water. I took a bottle of water, as it had been quite humid and I was a little dehydrated.

Yes it’s Car Free Sunday today.

A scenic Car Free Route

For the Car Free route itself, this had taken us past the Merlion Park, One Raffles Quay and the Maxwell Food Centre. It was a scenic route and I must admit that it had felt quite strange to be able to actually run on the roads at the beginning, because I would usually not get this sort of experience unless I am taking part in an actual race.

Totally owning the roads.

I thoroughly enjoyed soaking up the sights and sound of the CBD, watching the cyclists whiz past me. Volunteers were also on hand to segregate the cyclists and the runners so they would not bump into each other. Though this may have been marginally messy at times, I feel that a pretty decent job had been done.

Of course I also had to stop several more times to take plenty of nice photos along the way, which I would usually not do during a race. But today had certainly been the perfect chance to mark this run on my camera.

Rare to be able to go straight through an ERP without incurring any charges!

Food and drinks waiting at Nicoll Highway MRT Station

Upon completing one loop of the CBD, I slowly made my way back to Nicoll Highway MRT Station, where plenty of food and drinks were waiting.

No I don’t have to worry about cars for a change!

These had included 100PLUS isotonic drinks, as well as packaged snacks and juicy fruits such as watermelons and pineapples.

These were all thanks to the kind sponsors and organisers of the Gei Gei Running Club and all the hungry and thirsty runners, including me, were truly appreciative of these.

The delicious food is something that we can always look forward to after every Gei Gei Run.

It had been definitely a good and enjoyable morning run and a great way to begin my Sunday.

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