From last Wednesday – Saturday, the Health and Fitness Expo took place at the Sands Expo & Convention Center Halls A & B, at Marina Bay, in conjunction with the Race Pack Collection of the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) with more than 20,000 runners descending on the venue during the first couple of days.

Features More Than 136 Brands

Free and open to the public, the 8,000 square-metre expo had featured more than 136 brands from 117 vendor booths.

Because I had to pick up my Race Pack for the SCSM, I headed to the Expo and had a look around.

Getting My Race Pack

The first thing that I did was to pick up my race pack, which was a process that went by very smoothly and fuss-free without much of a queue in my case. 

This was a two-stage process. Firstly we would pick up our bib and our drop-bag at the first counter, where we had to line up according to the distance we were running. This was the Full Marathon in my case. 

Then we headed over to another counter where we picked up our event singlets and goodie bags which contained a myriad of items such as sunglasses, several product samples from the event sponsors, and an assortment of discount vouchers.

Extensive Range of SCSM Merchandise 

One of the things that caught my eye was the extensive range of SCSM merchandise which had included limited edition tee shirts, caps, visors, bags and even laces.

I thought that most of the  clothing were tastefully designed. But I ended up getting a rather cute looking lion stuffed toy as a souvenir of my participation in the event. Since Singapore is known as the Lion City, the choice of mascot was definitely quite apt.

But I thought that it was rather weird, to see “FINISHER” Tee Shirts available for sale. Though these had been generic “FINISHER” tees rather than ones relating to specific categories at SCSM, the thought still did not really sit well with me, as I believe in earning a “FINISHER” Tee Shirt by completing your race first.

This SCSM merchandise section occupies an extensive, 1,360 square metre space at the Expo.

Other booths on-site offered plenty of discounted merchandise, such as 2XU compression wear, race nutrition and energy gels and an assortment of running gear such as shoes, socks, running belts and hydration bags, as well as race slots for other events such as Sundown Marathon and the Gold Coast Marathon.

For runners who may be looking for a great bargain, it is definitely worth bringing your wallet to the Expo and getting what you need.

As well, there was also a booth by P_ease offering printing services for runners who wanted to personalise their race singlets. 

This is not actually new as I have seen their services at a few other race expos, but it is still quite a novel idea, as it allows runners to print personal messages on their running gear to stand out from their peers.

Ben Pulham was also there to promote Coached – a heart rate training programme for both runners and triathletes that he founded a few years ago.

Some Fitness Workouts 

Also, during my time at the Expo, I took a photo with the giant race medal – one of the numerous photo standees that had been on display, and also gave the workouts at the Running Cafe a go.

Apparently the Running Cafe concept is that you spin a wheel and complete various workouts for one minute, such as planks, squats, lunges and skipping, and you would win prizes for your efforts. I did 30 Sit-Ups in one minute. This was not too hard.

Besides the SCSM Running Cafe, there were also other activity booths where you could take part in physical challenges to win prizes. 

One of these had been at the TRI-Factor booth. Here, you have to complete a mini “triathlon” where you had to stretch bands to simulate swimming, bike on the stationary trainer to simulate running, and then do ankle squats to simulate running. The fastest time clocked for each day would win a slot for the TRI-Factor Singapore – Sprint Category.

And another activity had been at the RUN ZONE, whereby you have to hang onto a Pull Up Bar for 100 seconds. I tried and I failed, slipping and falling off the bar with just over 20 seconds left to go.

Lucky Draws

Other booths also offered lucky draws, for example, at the Westin Stamford booth, simply by putting a LIKE to their social media pages, you could take part in a lucky draw to win some small prizes.

Time To Relax

For those who were feeling peckish, there was a coffee cart on-site, as well as bean bags for participants who wanted to simply sit down and chill out.

Feeling a bit tired from all the walking at one stage, I sank down on one of the bean bags for a brief moment and it was definitely quite plush and comfortable.

The FoodTastic Village 

Besides the fitness activities, event organisers have also prepared enhanced offerings at the first-ever FoodTastic Village at the Marina Bayfront, which opened today.

I didn’t manage to have a look at the FoodTastic Village though, because it was not yet open on Friday morning, when I had visited the expo. 

So this means that I will probably be back some other time, to check this out as the FoodTastic Village runs till Sunday, after my Marathon.

For More Information

Visit the event website, www.SingaporeMarathon.com, for more information on the festivities as well as the Race.