BY ‘Inclusivity’ is too often seen as a divisive buzzword, but it is an important step for the able-bodied to work on correcting their ableism and make exercise more open to everyone.
This is the move as illustrated by the organisers of Runninghour, which touts itself as a running event meant to promote integration for differently abled people, and nurture inclusivity between different types of runners.
At 5pm, Saturday, the event blasted off at Bedok Reservoir, and participants set off at a brisk pace. The event was non-competitive, so most were able to complete the distance with not much difficulty or pressure of completing it quickly.
The highlight of the event was of course the Signature Blindfold Run, which required participants to pair up with another and do the race route, taking turns to wear a blindfold and guided around by their partner via a lanyard and instructions, trusting that their buddy would ensure their safety.
Whether 10km, 5km or even 3.5km, entrants ran, walked, brisk-walked or fumbled around the flat race route, which encircled around the reservoir and back again to the finish line, a few meters away from the starting line.
One improvement I would recommend is perhaps rerouting areas for others. Since the primary road for the event is also the primary walking and running route around Bedok Reservoir itself, it would be wise to divert normal users of the park to an alternate path. This will reduce the number of accidents happening between the weary participant running the race route and unsuspecting auntie walking towards the areas near the water to take in the view.
While on the race grounds, we caught sight of a few people who stood out.
Mr Dennis Sim, who is always present with his guide dog, Melba, was seen enjoying the view when approached. He states that he used to be more involved with Runninghour and enjoyed running before he got paired up with Melba, and now tries his best to participate when he can. He was seen sitting in the shade of the tents when we talked to him, and explained he was sitting out of the 3.5km category because he wasn’t feeling too well that day.
Participants Dominic and Edith were participating in the event alongside their company, Autism Partnership. This is the first time they were doing the run, but they said that their company has been involved since the inception of Runninghour. They decided to do the run because they believed that there was a need to challenge themselves as well as support people with autism and special needs like the ones they work with every day.
The event may have been small in comparison to other bigger runs out there but organisers could take a few notes from Runninghour in learning how to make their race categories more accessible to others.
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