There were a few runners we knew who were taking part in Ben Swee's Craze Ultra, and judging from last year's event, the weather might get blazing hot really fast. So to help aid some of the runners through the heat, Eve had planned to support the 47km portion of the race, at Punggol Jetty.
So at about 1pm on Saturday, I turned up with a table I borrowed from Neo, and met up with Eve to set up our little support station. Adrian Wong had dropped her off at the checkpoint along with the snacks we intended to provide, then went on to join the 100 Mile relay with his friends, wow!
Neo was also making his way down from work and joined us shortly after.
Our main choice of snacks? Snickers, Potato chips, and lots and lots of chilled cola!
The snickers and chips were just addition, we weren't expecting it to be a hit, but the cola, given the weather, was a sure thing. I think we prepared a total of 20 1.5L bottles for the entire afternoon!
Soon enough, there were runners slowly making their way pass the unofficial pit stop. Familiar friendly faces included Dave (Running Man) Koh, Fernell, Faith, Adrian Lee & Ling along with the PRR runners, Kim Lai, Tick Hock, Nicholas Shen, Angelina Then and so much more. We even had Oliver Ker stop by for a quick sip and chat, what a fella!
One runner we were constantly on the look out for was May, whom a few of us runners have been planning to support during the run. Eunice had paced her in the day, but we hadn't had anyone support her for the second half. Thankfully Calvin volunteered and came to her rescue at our checkpoint!
Taking over pacer duties, the two went off towards Checkpoint 5 before u-turning to meet us about 2 hours later.
I had then been contemplating whether to help pace as well since I had a tough morning giving TRX a try. In the end, I decided why not, and got changed, passed Neo the car keys, and on the return route, joined May from the 47km mark to the 30km mark at Checkpoint 3.
As there was a no-food rule for unofficial pacers, I packed a hydration pack along with me, no freeloading, participants come first =) Plus I was kinda full from cola drinking and potato chipping at our own make shift pit stop =P
Though short, the run took over 3 hours to complete. May was starting to have sores and had to walk quite a bit, she may be in pain but she was a tough nut. I ended my run at checkpoint 3 where Neo had driven over to pick me up.
While May and Calvin continued their journey, Adrian Wong, Eve, Neo and I stopped by the cze char restaurant opposite the checkpoint to dinner, and bumped into Kim Lai & co and sat at their table.
After our dinner, we called it a day, it was a long one, but obviously not as tough as the many runners who braved the heat and distance during the ultra.
May completed her 101km at 23hours and about 43mins, gosh, talk about a full day event!
Joining her were Calvin and Din who showed up at the 20km mark to push her all the way till the end...one girl flanked by two studs at the finishing point, must have been a sight. lol.
It's been two days since the Craze Ultra had ended, but photos and comments are still flowing in...the event, as usual, was a success, everyone had super huge smiles on their faces at the end of the day.
As usual, it was fun being somewhat part of Craze Ultra 2013, ultra marathons are never easy to plan, they take up a lot of time and manpower, the logistics is a nightmare and my salute goes out to those who take on the challenge to host such an event.
Thank you so much for this awesome race, I hope to again be somewhat part of it next year. =)
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