Organised by MetaSport, the Green Dot Challenge is a virtual race taking place from 19th – 28th November. This event offers both scenery and greenery, and four fixed 10km running routes to choose from. 

Four different running routes

With different running routes at MacRitchie Reservoir, Gardens by the Bay, Punggol Waterway and Jurong Lake, participants can either opt to play to their strengths in their choice of route, or else pick a route closest to where they stay. 

Regardless of which route you go for though, you will be ranked in a common leaderboard thanks to the Green Dot Challenge equaliser. 

Taking part in the event 

Last Sunday morning, I ran the Gardens by the Bay route, which took place from the OCBC square at the Singapore Sports Hub.

My flag off time was 7am and my running buddy and I reached the venue right on time. 

A staff present

There was someone present to guide race participants and help them to ensure that they are at the right location. I thought this was a good move on the part of the race organisers as it helps runners who may otherwise be slightly lost. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be there, so this was a pleasant surprise.

MyRaceGate app issues at the start

However, when I logged in and fired up the race app, MyRaceGate, it took a while before I could start.

This was because my GPS was having issues, and kept insisting that I was 10 to 20 metres away from the race start, so I could not begin. 

I had to walk around for several minutes before the app even allowed me to begin the race. This was quite annoying. Apparently the GPS has to be extremely precise.

As well, even though I had earlier logged in, I had to log into the race app again, as well as to nominate a finish time so that my app could let me know whether I was on pace. 

I ended up putting in a finish time of 59 minutes 59 seconds. This would keep me on my toes but at the same time, wasn’t too strenuous for me to cope with. I was initially aiming to input 1 hour but I simply could not get the hour button to scroll down to 1.

There were some issues with nominating my finish time though because the buttons were a bit stuck and it took several tries for the scroll down function to work to get it down to where I had wanted.

I was finally able to start

Once I was finally able to push the start button, there was a bit of commentary and a countdown from 10 seconds, then I was off. I started running, with the app guiding me on the route. 

We ran out of the Sports hub towards the “Lovers Bridge” and along the Tanjong Rhu promenade in the direction of East Coast Park. 

Feedback from the app

Along the way, the app was providing feedback on how I was doing, giving me moral support as well as sharing commentary about the locations. 

It did warn me about my pace at the first kilometre, probably thinking I was going a bit too fast. Well it was slightly faster than the original target pace, so I guess I don’t blame the app.

And it was quite interesting to learn more about the background and history of the Marina Bay area as I ran.

App guided us quite well

The guidance from the app was pretty good, in terms of taking turns and going straight. It was basically similar to a car GPS but guiding you on foot rather than on wheels.

The navigational directions throughout my 10km journey were also prompt and most importantly, the app told me where to turn before I actually reached each intersection.

There was only one time when it told me to turn right a couple hundred meters too early, which left me a little confused because if I turned right at that very point, I would be running right smack into a wall of concrete. Other than that, the GPS performed well.

Visiting the Keppel Marina East desalination plant

When we reached the Gardens by the Bay East intersection under the Sheares Bridge, the app instructed us to take a turn towards the Keppel Marina East desalination plant, this is apparently the Republic’s first large-scale plant that’s able to treat both fresh water and seawater. 

I have run past here many times without really knowing much about the attraction, so it was interesting to hear more about it via the commentary as I ran on.

Marina Barrage and back to Sports Hub 

The remainder of the route took us to the Marina barrage, before returning to the Singapore Sports hub.

The app was telling me to dig deep and don’t give up, in the latter half of the race, which was pretty motivating I guess. It was also getting pretty hot and unbearable by this stage and the sun was quite strong. 

And along the way, we were treated to interesting messages and ways of recycling and conservation, which I thought was quite insightful to hear whilst running.

The race route is a pretty flat and scenic one, with barely any slopes and inclines, so I guess that I definitely made the right choice in terms of playing to my strengths in running.

Finishing the race

The app egged me on to give it all I’ve got, when I was nearing the finish line near the singapore sports hub, telling me that I had 400m left to go, 300m left to go, 100m left to go. 

By this point, the only thought I had was ‘finally’, because it was turning out to be such a hot morning, despite our early starting time.

But don’t get me wrong; it was motivating too, and when I actually did finished, the app burst into a loud cheer. This put a smile on my face. 

I finished in a timing of 57 minutes 53 seconds according to the app timing.

This experience is not quite the same as real racing but I suppose that in these difficult times, this is the best that we’ve got, until real racing returns proper.

In the app, after finishing, it was quite nice to check it out and see that my race stats were immediately available, as well as an equaliser time that was about one minute faster than my actual race timing. I smiled to see the app declare that I had 100% nailed my goal timing.

A pretty novel experience 

As well, the same lady staff was still there on our return and she congratulated me and my buddy on our finish.

We were then each given a waterproof adhesive film dressing, probably courtesy of the event sponsors. 

With regards to the race medal, this will be posted to my address according to an email that I received that congratulated me on my race finish.

Thanks to MetaSport for putting together The Green Dot Challenge. It may not be the same as a physical organised race, but it was still fun and a pretty novel experience to follow the app and its guiding directions when running.