It was a beautiful morning for the international trail running community at the second annual edition of the MSIG Singapore Action Asia 50 ultra-marathon on Saturday morning, 16 July 2016. The beautiful weather was a blessing considering the past 3 days of heavy rain and thunderstorms.

Starting and ending at the Chestnut Nature Park, over 1,300 runners from over 21 countries were in high spirits as the sun shone brightly upon them as they raced distances in 10km, 21km and 50km, on a route with a mixture of grass track, trail & road, starting from 5.30 a.m in the early morning.

The winner of the 50k Men's division goes to Kenyan Haron Kiprugut Bor who finishes in 4 hours 18 minutes 33 seconds. His previous record was a 4th in the 2015 MSIG Singapore Action Asia 50 race and a 2nd in the MSIG Hong Kong AA50.

Winner of 50 K Men's, Haron Kiprugut Bor- Kenya - 04:18:33

Bor who is very happy with getting the lucky number 1 race number said:

“The race was like an adventure as not easy when dark at 5:30am with the most challenging part I think the second half of the race, where I was already tired from facing the challenges on the trail. Compared to last years MSIG race, there is no big difference, but I liked the race this year more because the course last year was too difficult with large exposed sections on the 2nd half making you suffer, but a nice change with more sheltered shade this year in the 2nd half in the hot sun. I would definitely like to come to the race next year as across Asia I would say Action Asia is one of the best in organizing challenging trail events that make you suffer”

The second place in the men’s overall 50km goes to Ahmad Lamchannak from Morocco who completed the race in only 4 hours 39 minutes and 29 seconds. He revealed:

“I am feeling happy. The course was very challenging. It is not the first time for me to attend this race, but this is the fastest time I have run. As for the race, I think it was really good because it is organized well and I love the up and down. Running in the dark is the most challenging part. But while we were around the reservoir, I thought it is very beautiful.”

Local runner, Singaporean Ahsiao Runsforspring won the 3rd prize of S$750 in the 50k men's category with an addition of S$300 of the national award.

As a first time participant of the MSIG Singapore race, he was surprised to win the 3rd placing. He said:

“I feel very good about the race and it’s very challenging and nice. I have lots of good friends running with me. I think the route is very challenging, it is more important for me to run and learn from the race rather than to win money. I attended this race for public welfare and run for those leukemia patients, hoping that I can help others with my effort.”

Kenyan Susan Jemutai Kosgei was the Women’s champion for the 50k category in a time 4 hours 18 minutes and 41 seconds. Only after a few minutes, Rebecca Nakuwa also coming from Kenya finished the race in 4 hours 30 minutes 2 seconds, winning the second place overall female 50k awards. In third sweeping the top of the podium in the 50km race came Kenyan runner Viola Jepchirchir Kimeli in 4 hours 45 minutes 39 seconds.

Winner of 50 K Women's, Susan Jemutai Kosgei – Kenya – 04:18:41

Other Race Results for MSIG Singapore AA 50 – Singapore

Here's the result of the Top 5 Men and Women for the 10 K race category.

(Excluding the last person on the right) 10 K Top 5 Men from L-R: Tom Rune Brendhaug (4th) - Norway - 51:32, Lexxus Tan Swee Tiong (2nd) - Singapore - 45:01, Bijay Sunuwar (1st) - Nepal - 45:00, Loh Yuan Y (3rd) i- Singapore - 48:39, Sivakumar Subramaniam (5th) - Singapore – 53:09

(Excluding the first person on the left and right) 10 K Top 5 Women from L-R: Brenda Fong (4th) - Singapore - Salomon - 57:26, Kellyn Tan (2nd) – Malaysia – 52:09, Anna Helowicz (1st) - UK- Singapore Shufflers- 51:00, Stella Lee (3rd) – Singapore – 56:42, Mary Loehr (5th) -USA – 01:01:33

“The Singapore edition of the MSIG Action Asia 50 series took off to a really great start on this slightly changed course and extremely grateful to NParks for allowing us to use some of Singapore’s most beautiful green areas in making the MSIG event a success. This really helped us to give our runners a great race route.”

To help preserve the historical route, the MSIG Singapore Action Asia 50 operated a strict No Cup Policy as event organisers encouraged participants to bring their own refillable hydration packs and to try minimise waste.

The organisers also clamped down with race regulations where runners would be disqualified if they are found to have thrown rubbish on the track. These measures helped to save over 6,000 paper cups and thousands of plastic bottles that could end up in the landfill sites.

Presented by Sponsor MSIG Insurance Singapore, the MSIG Singapore AA 50 - Singapore is an annual trail running event in Singapore. Do stay tuned for more news about the next edition of the MSIG Singapore AA 50 in 2017.