After months of preparation, and some injury scares, author Neil Humphreys finally faced up to the challenge of the Men's Health Urbanathlon (and lived to tell the tale). | read more
Even as you’re chugging beer and ogling the Urbanathlon babes, take these steps to help yourself recover from the lung-busting, muscle-tearing effort you’ve put in during the race. | read more
INDIVIDUAL $128 per participant $118 for 2010 or 2011 MH Urbanathletes
CORPORATE (3-5 members) $118 per team member
Registration is now closed.
* Route, distance and obstacles are subject to changes.
For the third consecutive year, the Men's Health Urbanathlon, an obstacle race organised by SPH Magazines and sports event management company HiVelocity, received rave reviews from both participants and sponsors.
Engineered to be significantly tougher than the race in 2011, the Urbanathlon 2012 – a mix of nine new and upgraded obstacles along a 14km course – pushed each of the 2,300 participants' fitness levels to the limit. However, despite the increased difficulty of the race, the runners were full of praise for its uniqueness and innovative formula.
Some of the toughest obstacles in this year's high-octane race included Corporate Ladder, where runners had to ascend and descend the viewing gallery of The Float@Marina Bay; Monkey Business, where participants were required to swing across four sets of monkey bars placed side by side – laterally, instead of longitudinally; and Down And Dirty, the final obstacle which consisted of two skip tanks – one filled with mud, and the other with water.
Individual category winners At the end of the race, this year's individual category was won by Thomas Kiprotich, with a timing of 50 minutes and 51 seconds. The 24 year-old Kenyan proudly walked home with S$10,000 worth of prizes. Clinching the second place with a timing of 52 minutes and 59 seconds was 40 year-old British Mark Williams, while Foo Gen Lin, a 28 year-old Malaysian took third place with a timing of 53 minutes and eight seconds.
Corporate category champion This year's race also featured a new corporate category, where more than 90 corporate teams, each comprising three to five runners, slugged it out for the grand prize worth up to S$10,000. A team of three Nepalese runners, Dev Rai, 30, Nabin Kumar Rai, 28 and Kamal Magar, 30, from the Singapore Police Force emerged victorious. The teams from the Singapore Prison Service and Morgan Stanley took second and third place respectively.
Runners with a cause Another noteworthy moment of this year's Urbanathlon was when paratheletes Adam Kamis ("One Arm Runner") and Shariff Abdullah ("Singapore Blade Runner") crossed the finished line in an amazing display of grit and determination. Adam and Shariff took part in the race for the first time to help raise the awareness of disabled athletes in Singapore.
Mr Shariff Adbullah, 43, completed the entire race and successfully conquered all nine obstacles. He said: "I took part in the Men's Health Urbanathlon to challenge myself and hopefully, in the process, inspire other disabled Singaporeans to live life to the fullest. As I arrived at each obstacle, I told myself that I can overcome it as long as I believed in myself. The other participants and their supporters were also very encouraging and supported me along the way. It was a wonderful experience."
Other celebrities who took part in the race were ESPN presenter and ex-Formula One race car driver Alex Yoong and award-winning author Neil Humphreys.
Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development, and Member of Parliament for East Coast GRC, was present as Guest of Honour for this event.
Mr Sherwin Chua, Editor of Men's Health, said: "For three consecutive years, the race has been a hit with runners. We would like to thank the race participants for making it a bigger success than last year's. We designed this year's event to be more challenging, but at the same time also more fun. We will continue to improve the race, so participants can expect it to be even better in 2013."
The excitement did not end after runners completed their race. After collecting their finishers' T-shirts and medals, Urbanathletes joined in the fun at the post-race carnival, where they got to take home a commemorative snapshot, recover with sports massage, try out new products and games at sponsors' booths, and enjoy the complimentary food and beer which flowed freely.
"This year's Men's Health Urbanathlon received a tremendous amount of support and positive feedback from our sponsors and partners, and we would like to thank them for contributing to its success," said Mr Eugene Low, Deputy Managing Director, SPH Magazines. "We'll continue to capitalise on this achievement to organise an even better Urbanathlon event for both runners and sponsors next year."
The Singapore Men's Health Urbanathlon is jointly organised by SPH Magazines and HiVelocity, and presented by Subaru. Adidas is official apparel of this race, and the main sponsors include Biotherm Homme, Davidoff Fragrances, 3M Futuro, Guess Watches, Kaplan, Olympus Tough, Polar, Redken and Sony Ericsson. Event partners are Durex, H-Two-O and True Fitness.
All participants MUST collect their race packs from Athlete's Circle during Race Pack Collection. You can also find out more information about race, including the Race Route, obstacles and the fun activities available on race day.
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