Unleash the Beasts!

Last Sunday, about 8,000 wild beasts of different shapes and sizes were unleashed and ran wild at Mandai Lake Road. It was a hot and sunny morning when things went seriously wild. It was that time of the year again where males fought to establish themselves as the Alpha Male; while females protected and held their young closely with them. Some packs were seen migrating together; while some rushed for a spot at the water hole. Luckily, no animal was hurt in the process…

Yes, Itchyfingers are talking about the annual Safari Zoo Run, organised in memory of Ah Meng, our beloved late Orangutan! Hahaha!

Like the previous two years, it is the only run that Itchyfingers joined specially for the cute medals!

Look at these cute medals! This year, a new 6km competitive run was introduced….

Tisu Boy decided to stick with the 12 km run like last year, which involved running around the day zoo and the Night Safari twice. As much as I prefer the challenge of a competitive run, (even though I will never ever come up among the top few runners), I ended up signing up for the 6km Fun Run cos it has the most number of animals! Most importantly, it has the Ring-tailed Lemur, which is one of my favourite animals in the zoo!

The starting time for the 12km competitive run was 7.30am while my Fun Run was 10 am. So this time, I was supposed to be the photographer…hahah…

At 7.30 am, the 12km runners were flagged off! The new 6km competitive run was the first category to start at 7 am, but even as late as a few minutes before the 7.30am flag-off for the 12km runners, there were still small groups of late comers starting their runs. I think some of them were late probably cos of the jam at the entrance…

There! Tisu Boy starting his run! I was tempted to run with him cos 10 am would be so hot and torturous to even walk…

I estimated that the first runner would turn up for the second loop at about 18 – 20 minutes’ time, so I tried to make my way there…But had to visit the loo to empty the bladder and thus missed out the action….

But I managed to catch some other fast runners passing by, like this runner dressed as Captain America…

And also the first female finisher, Ms Mok Ying Rong, in action! She topped the female category in 49 minutes! Great job! If you are still unaware, her brother, Mr Mok Ying Ren, is Singapore top marathoner at various runs, including the recent 2013 SEA Game…Both brother and sister are regular faces at the podium. Talk about having the same gene running in the family! Wahahah, pun intended! :D

Also caught Tisu Boy at the halfway point! This time, without me slowing him down, he had a much faster timing!

Though I was supposed to be doing the Fun Run later, I was already perspiring from running from spot to spot trying to take photos…hahah…After taking a big loop to get next to the finishing line, I still missed Tisu Boy when he suddenly appeared and dashed across without pausing for me to take a photo! Arrrghhh!!!!

Nice medal for the 12km Men’s Challenge!

I met up with two friends to do the Fun Run together while Tisu Boy went into the zoo to lounge at the air-conditioned enclosure of Inuka, the Polar Bear.

The folks doing the Fun Run were more relaxed! But the weather was so hot!