The 2019 edition of the flagship event of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, the NUS BizAd Charity Run, took place last Saturday afternoon, kick-starting the new year with over 1,500 runners comprising the public, alumni and current students.
As Singapore’s flagship university, NUS offers a global approach to education, research and entrepreneurship, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise.
The university has 17 facilities across three campuses in Singapore, as well as 12 NUS Overseas Colleges across the world.
Two Segments To The Run
And the charity run had comprised two segments – the competitive 10KM run as well as a 5KM Fun Run that was themed “Colours” this year. Both routes took runners through the university’s Kent Ridge campus.
Participants of the Fun Run however, also got the chance to get their hair colour-sprayed while collecting stamps from three carnival station games that will allow eligible runners to redeem a free cup of bubble tea upon their completion.
Ran In The 10KM Event
I took part in the 10KM Competitive Run, which was apparently the more popular event; in fact, for the first time, this category had been completely sold out.
As the 10KM event flagged off at 4.30pm in the afternoon from the university’s Mochtar Riady Building, I reached the NUS campus just in time, at about 4.10pm.
Upon getting to the event site, I noticed that there were several tents that were set up selling food items ranging from churros to popcorn, all of which had looked rather tempting. But I didn’t want to eat anything before I ran, so that I would not upset my tummy.
Flagging Off The Run
I made my way to the start line at roughly 4.20pm.
The 10KM race had been flagged off at about 4.29pm, according to my watch.
New Route, But Still Hilly
A newly introduced route this year, the 10KM run had brought runners around the NUS campus, passing sights such as the National University Hospital, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, University Town, Yale-NUS Colleges and the Central Library, before returning to the Mochtar Riady Building.
As the race had started on a downslope, I noticed many runners dashing off out of the blocks, but I remained conservative and ran at an Easy pace, knowing that there would be plenty of slopes to come during the course of the run.
After all, this year had been my third time running in this event, and the NUS BizAd Charity Run is well-known amongst the local runners in Singapore, for its numerous slopes.
And sure enough, the slopes did come, within the first kilometre. They never let up at all throughout the race, too. I was thankful that I had started at a slow pace.
But as I continued running, there was one stage when I literally began to wonder to myself, whether the NUS BizAd Charity Run route has been progressively getting more and more hilly each year… or whether it was just because I had simply forgotten how hilly the route always is!
With the constant up-and-down slopes, it had been quite hard to keep my heart rate under control but I tried as best as I could to do so, and to take my mind off the slopes, I attempted to focus on my music and the sights that were passing me.
Still, it felt as though the kilometre markings were passing by me ever so slowly, and as a result, it had seemed as though the run and the constant up-and-down slopes had been never-ending.
But I had told myself that whenever there was an uphill, it would surely be accompanied by a downhill… and this had helped to keep me going, whenever I had felt like quitting.
Some NUS Sights And Sounds
Also, as it had been a Saturday afternoon when the race had taken place, there wasn’t too much going on around the NUS campus, except at the sports field area which we had passed at roughly the third kilometre of the race, where several groups of students were busy entertaining themselves with various ball games.
The slopes aside, I would say that the 2019 run route had been a rather nice tour of the NUS campus and it provides runners with a good glimpse of the campus and all the facilities that the university has to offer.
And at the same time, running through it, in this way, also made me realise that the NUS campus is really very big indeed. No wonder buses are always needed to transport students from one part of the campus to another during the term time.
Staircases En Route
On a few occasions during the run, I have to mention that we also had to climb up some staircases and I felt that these had been a little bit disruptive to my running rhythm. But at least the staircases had not been too long or winding, thankfully.
Marshals Did Well Enough Job
During the run, the roads around the campus were not closed to traffic, and buses and cars were allowed to traverse the running paths.
But despite that, I thought the marshals stationed along the route had done a decent enough job in terms of controlling the traffic and preventing any accidents from happening.
As well, the marshals were also there to show runners in the correct direction, too, and in this aspect I thought that they had been pretty alert and attentive, which was good.
Race Hydration
The hydration was also quite decent for a 10KM run, with four aid stations along the route serving both water as well as 100PLUS isotonic drink.
Both drinks were ice-cold. And as electrolytes are important to replenish the lost salts during exercise, having both drinks available to the runners, had been very welcomed.
Last Few Kilometres
The kilometres could not pass by quickly enough, though, and when I saw the 8km followed by the 9km marker, this gave me an extra spring in my step because it meant that the hilly run was finally going to be over soon.
The final couple hundred metres of the run, once again, took place on a downslope, like the start point This too, provided me with a reason to cheer, and I took the chance to pick up the pace in order to finish the hilly run on a strong note.
But I have to point out that there had actually been one area early in the run, which I felt had caused my GPS watch had been playing up a little. This had been when we were directed to run through the tunnel that was linking the university campus to the the Kent Ridge MRT Station.
So as a result, this portion of the route had created some inaccuracies, throughout the rest of the run, in terms of my Garmin’s distance measurements.
The Run Is Finally Over
I think that this had been why my GPS measurement had been only 9.5km, instead of 10km, when I had eventually crossed the finish line.
Nonetheless, it felt good to have completed the run. Now I could finally check out the race village and see what was available.
Collecting My Finisher T-Shirt
After taking in some water to replenish what I had lost through sweating, I headed over to the finisher’s tent to collect my Finisher t-Shirt.
The Finisher t-Shirt entitlement for the 10km runners is a new item for runners this year; previous editions of the NUS BizAd Charity Run had given out Finisher Medals instead of t-Shirts for the 10KM Category.
There had actually been a bit of a queue for the t-Shirts, which I admit had worried me at first. But fortunately for me though, this had moved fast enough and I had been able to pick up my t-Shirt after about 15 minutes or so.
Replenishing My Energy
I then headed back into the Mochtar Riady Building to check out the race village, and picked up a few of the freebies that were being given out, to replenish my energy levels.
These were a cup of Gong Cha bubble tea, a soya bean milk drink and a Tofu Fa dessert and I thought they were all very welcomed as I was beginning to feel a little peckish by this time.
After that, I headed over to the stage area where the main events of the evening would be taking place.
These had included some stage performances put out by various NUS student groups, as well as the mandatory prize presentation ceremony for the various categories of event winners.
Presentation Of Cheque To Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore
And there was also the presentation of the cheque from the NUS Business School to their adopted charity, the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore (CPAS), too.
According to CPAS, cerebral palsy is a misunderstood diagnosis in Singapore, so this year’s NUS BizAd Run community hopes to raise awareness about the neurological disorder and inspire hope for cerebral palsy individuals in Singapore and their families.
Record S$250,000 Raised For Charity
And a record S$250,000 was raised this year, with S$40,000 going to CPAS to support programmes and services for those with cerebral palsy and multiple disorders.
Said Latha Kutty, Executive Director for CPAS, “The funds raised will go a long way in empowering our beneficiaries through three core programmes – namely the Early Intervention Programme for infants and children, CPAS School, and CPAS Adult Services.”
She continued “Beyond the monetary donations, the charity run also provides a platform for the public to learn more about our beneficiaries with cerebral palsy and multiple disorders.”
Indeed, the CPAS also had a booth at the NUS BizAd Charity Run, to educate and explain to runners about what they do; they also had merchandise for sale, hand-made by people with cerebral palsy and I thought that these items had been very intricately and beautifully designed when I had looked through what was on offer.
And as well too, S$210,000 was raised for student bursaries and scholarships, in particular, the NUS Business School Alumni Association Bursary Fund and the NUS Business School Support Fund.
Presenting the cheques to the beneficiaries on stage, was the event’s guest-of-honour, Lawrence Wong, Minister For National Development And Second Minister For Finance.
Organising Committee Are Happy With Event
The NUS BizAd Run Committee was pleased with the 2019 event and the money raised.
Said Steven Yeo, Vice President of the NUS Business School Alumni Association Bursary Fund and an alumnus of the NUS Executive Master Of Business Administration Programme, who took the helm as Chairman of the BizAd Charity Run 2019, “The run is a great cause that not only helps the less privileged undergraduates achieve their goals in NUS Business School, but also to support a community beneficiary. I am pleased to be a mentor and to be able to provided guidance to the student committee managing this special and meaningful project.”
And added the event’s student project director Nathaniel Tan, “As part of the preparations for the NUS BizAd Charity Run, my team had the opportunity to volunteer at CPAS. This made the work we do for this event, even more meaningful.”
Continued Nathaniel, “It is an honour to be in-charge of such an important event that also allows undergraduates such as myself to contribute back to the society.”
Great write up! Thank you n see you all in 2020!
Thanks for your kind words! Glad that you liked the article.