10 Facts About the YOLO Run Disaster That Was Held On Sat

Over the weekend, you’ve probably seen countless Instagram photos of your friends either half-naked or in sports bras running down roads. But before you call the cops on them for public indecency, relax; it’s legit. It was for the Yolo run 2017, where people run, YOLO style. That’s the basic premise anyway.

However, it seems that the event organizers have adopted the same mindset as well, because there were certain… inefficiencies that suggest that the race was planned without real care as well.

So what were the inefficiencies? Let’s find out.

Yolo Run 2017

The Yolo run 2017 was held on 11 Nov 2017.

There were three categories for the race: 5km, 10km and 21km.

Registration fees were S$48, S$58 and S$68 respectively. Early birds were entitled to S$10 off.

As the name suggests, runners were encouraged to free themselves and live the #YOLO style, or at least for the length of the marathon.

It drew flak. A lot of flak.

After the event ended, many people took to Facebook to vent their anger.

Some have even dubbed it “one of the worst runs ever organised in Singapore”.

You know something’s bad when it ranks right behind train breakdowns in a ‘worst thing to ever experience in Singapore’ list.

It was delayed between 50 minutes and 1 hour

It seems that the race was doomed from the start.

Firstly, there was the issue of delays, which would have usually been applicable to trains alone but for some reason stuck its nosy ass in this race too.

The Yolo Run was supposed to start at 5am on Saturday morning.

Supposed.

But it didn’t quite happen that way. Here’s how I envision it:

Everyone’s at the start line, all pumped and ready for a great marathon. The guys and girls ogle each other, but try not to show it (except for the ah peks and cougars who openly stare because #YOLO)

Yet something’s wrong. Time’s ticking, but the race’s not starting.

To make things worse, there were no updates. As a result, everyone’s just looking at each other like, “Hey, why isn’t this shit starting yet?”

Just when they were seriously contemplating whether to go home and get a pizza instead, the race, at long last, kicks off.

That 50-60 minutes must have sucked. Big time. After all, people took cabs or Uber / Grab just to meet that timing…only to realize that public transport started running before they did.

It was a total “mess”

Firstly, the race pack collection took hours. Two hours in fact. What’s this… a USS ride?

Secondly, there were bottlenecks and congestion throughout the entire running route: instead of conventional outer-most lanes, runners were forced to stick with narrow pedestrian walkways. Occasionally, they even had to run against oncoming traffic, with no marshal to be seen.

Worst thing? Runners were going in opposite directions.

I can only imagine the literal sardine fest going on at this bridge…

Thirdly, hydration points weren’t well-planned.

Aside from running out of cups, they were also set up on just one side. As a result, runners going the other way had to join the queue as well.

Entire 1.5-litre bottles of water were distributed to runners, who took a sip. And naturally nobody wanted to drink out of the same one after.

Can’t fault them; I wouldn’t too. You never know whom you’re sharing saliva with.

Bags were left out in the open

You would normally expect personal belongings to be guarded with a fierce passion, complete with Dwayne Johnson sized security guards and murderous hellhounds.

Alright, an enclosed environment with a sleepy old security guard would be sufficient too.

But the organisers seemed to have been practicing method acting, and fully immersed themselves in the theme #YOLO.

Like literally.

Well…

I hate to be the guy who breaks it, but that was bad. Real bad. If someone had left a raw egg in his or her bag, it would be cooked by the time it’s retrieved.

10km run… or “10” km run?

The world record for a 10km run is 26 minutes and 17 seconds.

One runner in the event apparently completed the “10km” run in 24 minutes.

Which would of course been cause for celebration, had the route not been dished out a proper re-measurement.

In essence, the 10km runners were technically running 7km.

Sucks for the guy; it would have been great to be in a Guinness’ book.

The 21km side, however, is a whole other story.

Those with GPS discovered that they ran close to 21.6km, instead of the politically correct 21.1km.

That’s 500m more than what they signed up for. Value for money, no?

On a serious note…

According to the Yolo Run organisers, this was a miscalculation by the event’s external consultant, who had made slight tweaks to the course.

Well, guess who’s not getting a job at the event same time next year?

And oh, we all hope the event’s external consultant has been responsible for our IPPT 2.4 km course.

Stairway to Heaven, or Hell?

Welcome, runners, to The Stairway To The Finish Line.

At least, that was what it was called. The end result was more of a Stairway to Hell kind of thing.

Must suck for those keeping track of their timings, huh?

Attendance

15,000 people attended the Yolo Run 2017, up from 3,000 in 2015 and 9,000 in 2016.

Honestly I would be surprised if the pattern continues into next year. But what would I know? People do have a tendency to give second chances.

But the prizes were actually pretty… good

While the event left much to be desired, the prizes were definitely not lacking.

There was even a damn car on offer!

Why hold onto a car for 3 days and 3 nights, when you can just run a half-marathon?

The event organisers have apologised

It seems that even the organisers are aware that it was nothing short of a disaster.

But kudos to them for making the apology. The request for feedback could only mean an improved Yolo Run 2018 too.

So yeah, not everything’s bad.

Moral of the story

Don’t go for marathons.

Get pizza instead.

#YOLO

(Okay, that’s because I’ve run out of points by my editor insisted on 10 points)

Since you’re here, why not watch a video about an NTU student who went all out to impress his crush, only to end up in…tragedy? Here, watch it and do remember to share it (and also subscribe to Goody Feed YouTube channel)!

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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• 5 things to know before running your first marathon / half-marathon
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Featured image: YOLO RUN