This third quarter of the Singapore running calendar is the mid-distance running season, this time with the Real Run 2025. While the last 2024 edition saw a run at the sports hub along the Kallang Basin, this year’s run takes a new venue at the spanking new Punggol Digital District. It sees us a rather flat route around the Seletar reservoir region and passing by landmarks like Coney Island. I will talk about the race as a whole as well as pre-race activities and runner entitlements.
Notably, Real run had been around for quite a while on the Singapore running calendar. I remembered running my first real run in 2005 and 2006 where it was held in Sentosa. It was then known as a cross-terrain race with a mix of sandy terrain as well as road and gravel elements. That was almost 20 years ago when I was still in school and it was sponsored by New Balance as a title sponsor.
The Nexus at Punggol Coast Mall is where the activities begin, located at 88 Punggol Way, the area is a vast hall which houses a central stage for prize presentations. The Race village opens at 3pm and closed at 7pm. Also, the race flag off was at the long walkway beside the Punggol Digital District Nexus square. This long walkway connects the various academic blocks of the SIT campus distinguished by the network of red overhead bridges.
A mid-day race event
Moreover, this year’s 2025 Real Run is one of the few races starting mid-day. Most large event races such typically starting in the wee mornings before 6am. I am glad that the weather was cloudy and shaded. A 4pm start time can lead to 2 possible extreme scenarios, firstly with a lot of residual heat accumulated mid-day making the run extreme hot-soaked. Or, with the monsoon season almost in full swing, a 4pm event time tad a risk itself as thunderstorms which typically takes place late afternoons.
The 10km run is reasonably priced at $55 for early bird and $70 regular price. The flagship 10km event started just after 4pm, the 5km run started at 4:35pm, with the last runner crossing the start line at about 5pm. Also, the 1.6KM fun walk flagged off at 4:50pm with a race time of 1 hr.
Also, all routes under covers part of the main 10km route, with the 5km route U-turning at the Punggol Promenade Nature walk area. The race start pen is split into compartmentalized starting areas depending on your desired pace. All elite runners starts in the first pen, while I recommend starting from the back for the thinner crowds.
The shady 4pm clouds offered a hint of coolness that made the wait more bearable. As the horn sounded, the crowd moved in rhythm, each step echoing the shared goal of finishing strong while soaking in the scenic route that wound through one of Singapore’s most beautiful park connectors.
A recommendation to avoid the crowd rush at the start line. You should start at the last as far back for your event pen. Here, you let the bulk of the adrenaline-filled runners rush ahead of you and clogging up the front of the pack, while you can enjoy completely clear running path for your first 2km at least until you start to catch up on the slowing crowd ahead.
10km Race route and points of interests
The first kilometer takes you on a long downhill stretch passing by several SIT campus blocks left and right. This includes passing by the new digital Fairprice supermarket towards the riverside promenade.
You hit the Punggol Coast HDB estate before making a turn into Coney Island Park West Entrance linkway leading into the Island’s main gates itself. You enter the Coney Island Park West Entrance at around the 2km mark, the route veers toward Coney Island.
Along this stretch, you run beside mangroves, creek tributaries and verdant nature corridors. The path winds around gentle curves, offering occasional glimpses of the estuarine habitat and the quiet side of Singapore’s northeast coast. Also, here, you can catch with views across the Punggol waterways, shaded greenery, and the early morning light glinting off the waterway. The Punggol Waterway Park lies nearby, with its landscaped promenades and theme gardens quietly welcoming early risers. The Coney Island stretch has bit of a gravel path, but nowhere close to the uneven beach sand of the Real Run events of the yesteryears.
At about the 3 km point, the route continues deeper into the Coney Island grounds. You traversing forest tracks interspersed with shrubs, trees, and patches of scrub. There is even a small new activity area managed by Outward Bound.
This section brings a sense of retreat from urban surroundings, with birdcalls and the rustle of foliage, and occasional breaks in the canopy that allow glimpses out to sea or across lagoon inlets.
Crossing into Lorong Halus
After passing by the PUB Coney Island Pump Sump, you exit out the east entrance of Coney Island via the Serangoon East Dam and Serangoon Tidal Gates.
Here you can see the mainland on the right and Malaysia on the left side of the tidal gates. Also where you find you second water, H20 isotonic drink point and the first race chip check-in point.
The path head leads along the restored Lorong Halus Wetland area along the eastern bank of Serangoon River. It tad immerses you in a rich ecological zone: mudflats, shallow channels, reedy grasses and waterfowl in the morning light. Also, many local bird species frequent this zone, including kingfishers, herons, and potentially small migratory species. Also, the area here is a nicely shaded mangrove side path. Notably there were a family of monkeys here.
Approaching halfway, you cross the iconic Lorong Halus Bridge. the bridge is also known as the Lor Halus Red Bridge. Here, this striking red pedestrian bridge spans over the Sungei Serangoon estuary and river mouth, and connects the wetlands area to further paths toward Pasir Ris and Coney Island.
Also, the bold red colours of the bridge provides a vivid contrast against the wetland greens and reflective river surfaces. The bridge incline itself is very gradual and does not affect your pace much.
Punggol East shaded straights
After the bridge and wetland stretch, the subsequent 4- 5km segment curves around back toward the Punggol East region. You turn left at the Waterway Sunrise II HDB estate on a 1km stretch before U-turning back (with another race chip mat at the far end U-turn point) towards the Lorong Halus Bridge again.
This 5 km and 6 km part of the route loops outward around local green corridors. You pass by community gardens, nursery sites (e.g. Seed farm) near the container park). You also go under the Pasir Ris Bridge flyover serving Paris Ris industrial Drive 1. This area has a path-side toilet stop which was useful for few runners needing a mid-run toilet stop with a drinking water fountain.
Also, this part of the route is where things starts to get more congested with runners. As I caught up with the main pack, I found the path at some points are pretty narrow and difficult for large groups of participants to pass. This is especially as the path is not totally closed and shared with other non-event public park goers and cyclists too.
Punggol East Container Park straight and U-turn
Moving on, the straight flat path here skirts some edges of the Punggol East Container Park area. Notably, the Waterway Sunrise estate is also home to some F&B outlets here. You can also find community gardens, nursery plots and landscaped green corridors. This area is a mixed recreational and dining enclave along Tebing Lane, housing food stalls, cafes, container-styled eateries, and a social innovation park vibes.
After the U-turn you return back to the Waterway Sunrise and Lorong Halus Bridge on your return leg of the two-way park connector path back. Here, is where you find your first of two uphill climbs, first at the Sunrise Bridge at Waterway Sunrise estate.
This U-shaped bridge sits at the mouth of which feeds into the Punggol waterway. It offers an elevated view of the waterway and the Lor Halus Red Bridge.
Last 2km stretch and uphill finish
Around 6-7 km, you run back along the west bank of the Punggol Promenade Nature Walk. You follow the riverside tracks once more, with gentle undulations and water views along the Serangoon and Punggol river estuary. This area is also well-shaded with tall trees and vegetation.
Here, you cross the Punggol Promenade Bridge with views of Edgefield plains in distant left west side and Coney Island on your right.
The last 2km stretch is also very well shaded, with small spots of open sunny areas. It is a simple relatively flat run from 7 to 8 km mark. At the 9 km stretch, the route curves back toward the Punggol Digital District and starting precinct zone. You retrace your outward route back to the startline area.
Lastly, this final leg leads you back into the Punggol Digital District, the last 500m of the stretch is an uphill one, which provided a good 300m uphill sprint section before crossing the finishing line. This uphill is also what separates the better runners from the weaker runners. Notably, many runners were mostly seen all walking up this final stretch despite being so close to the finish line.
Also, the common finish line is pretty inconspicuous, distinguished by the red race chip mat and a small vertical LED screen on the left of the finishing line. Many runners remarked missing where the end-line is, as many would had expected a grander overhead gantry or sort.
Area for race improvement
The organisers should not close the 10km race route so early. Even with the advertised cut off time of 2-hours (6pm) for the 10km competitive, after flag off, the track security marshals were strangely observed to be too eager to quickly close off the 10km route at Coney Island 30 mins from flag-off. This forced several late or slower 10km runners to detour and do only the 5km route. The organisers should ought to look into the early closure of the 10km route (probably 1hr from flag-off) and not force runners off to another event distance they are not supposed to run in.
Also, the post-race bottle neck at the finishing line could be better managed with a larger tent to accommodate runners at the finishing line. At some points, the jam even extended before the finishing line. Finishing line drinks were all run-out for a number of 5km runners too with no replenishment.
This jam started from the finishing line leading to the medal and finisher shirt collection area created a bottleneck. Here, runners have to snake back into the Nexus area going down the performance stage area steps funnelled runners into a tight spot which could be much better thought-out. Collection after the chokepoint however was brisk with several counters in wait to distribute the finisher medal and Tee entitlements.
Wrapping up with Race expo and runner entitlements
Wrapping up with Race expo held at HomeTeamNS Khatib, where you collect your runner entitlements 2 weeks before the event date on 27- 28 Sept. The race pack collection was well organised, brisk and fast, you be done with your collection within 10mins, less any additional time spent on lucky draws and commercial sponsor booths.
Your race pack contains your event singlet, your bib race chip combo, a bottled drink and a pretty hefty voucher pack envelope. It contains an eccentric mix of different coupons and vouchers. Topping up the remainder of the runner entitlement is your finisher Tee and medal, which you get after crossing the finishing line on race day.
You can also have the race pack snail-mailed to you at $10 or collection on race day too. The finisher’s medal has a weird and gimmicky separate spinning ring.
All in all, that wraps up race of this year’s real run. I was going in expecting it to be a heatwave of a run, but the cloud cover and the choice of a shaded vegetated route was a great welcome. Still, I managed to clock in a 10km race chip timing of 58min 05s, which is not a PB, but surprisingly shorter than I expected considering the time I spent constantly taking photos along the route. This year’s new route had offered a refreshing visit with lush greenery, a brief but good escape from the city’s noise. The run’s largely flat route and pleasant great weather made it an enjoyable 10km. Not a bad run overall and looking forward to next year.
You can check your race timing at the racetime website here.
