Western Slopes, Canterbury Plains

FatBird Weekender @ Mt. Faber, courtesy FatBird DO

More than 50 turned up for the Kingfisher Pre-Ops & Weekender run at the Mt. Faber Region. The weather was cloudy and cool, just nice for a Sunday morning scenic tour of the hilly region of the Western Corridor. Most of the runners were new to the area, and all were so excited at the prospects of exploring new running and ‘pak-tor’ grounds…they were not disappointed.

A tour of the ‘Canterbury Plains’ was the first highlight of the morning, with many soaking in the sights of the rustic colonial estate, with huge dogs, large cars, deep swimming pools, sandy tennis courts, and large pieces of lawn. While we ran at a leisurely, sight-seeing pace, we took time to stop at special ‘FatBird Photo Points’ for group shots. Out from the Canterbury Estates and we gathered at the HortPark area for the next scenic landmark, The Labrador Park Reserve.

It was a scenic loop around the Labrador Park to the ‘Dragon Tooth’ for some prayers for the upcoming Kingfisher Training Program, before proceeding to the entrance of the WWII ‘Tunnels’ for a short briefing and Q&A of Ops Sunbird. A trip from there up the tunnels brought grunts and puffs from all…it was a nice change from the earlier Canterbury Plains. By then, lots had been burnt, and people were feeling a little hungry liao :D

The next spot was around Mt. faber itself. As the runners pass the foot of the mountain, they looked serious and quiet. They were hoping that nobody would ask them to climb Morse Road….Phew, a sigh of relief broke, as we were told that would only be done during Ops Kingfisher itself, not today…LOL. With 3km of hilly terrain to go (nothing much is flat in the Mt. Faber area other than the Canterbury Plains), the weekenders were bracing themselves for a hard finish. The faces turned quite pale as we passed the foot of Mt. Faber at Kampong Bahru. A few heard that that was the steepest ascent to the top of Mt. Faber, part of the famous SAFRA MF 10km time trial route. Being a weekender, we were spared the details of the climb, but still had to take the smaller slope up along Telok Blangah Way. A very slight drizzle started, making it more bearable as we completed the final 1km to the SAFRA ClubHouse.

It was a challenging, but yet enjoyable FatBird Weekender of 16km. The runners liked it so much that they vowed to be back to the area for more of the Western Slopes. Some have asked for visits to the Kent Ridge area and the local ‘mini Lombardi Slopes’…hmm, we will be planning for more scenic FatBird Weekenders in other parts of Singapore, but we shall be back to this wonderful Western 5-Hills training grounds.

Team FatBird Runners Celebrations

It was an evening of revelry and celebrations, of proud and satisfying moments depicted in the video montage, presentations of Certificates Of Achievements and awards to the NightHawk trainees, filled with fun and laughter from the games, topped with great food and company.

A message from Team FatBird (Ops NightHawk Training):

Congratulations to all NightHawks for a job well done at the Sundown Marathon.
Many of us have achieved the goals we set out for ourselves at the beginning of 2010.

Operation NightHawk was a follow-on from the inaugural NightHawk Program we did last year.
This NightHawk program had a few firsts, chiefly a very structured 12-week FlightZONES system; comprising of heart-rate training, running form and posture mechanics, conditioning LSDs in the night and wee hours of the morning, along with nutrition and hydration tips,
dispensed and delivered by a dedicated training team of coach, trainers and running guides.

We were heartened to see many new runners progress from 10km through to completing their first night marathon with very respectable performances at the Sundown, many of you scoring PBs for all the distances, and even go up for a Podium finish. We would like to congratulate the NightHawks on your perseverance, determination and the willingness to put what you have learned into practice, culminating in those outstanding performances at the Sundown. Some of you have even gone on to score PBs and break new records at International marathons like Phuket, KL, Gold Coast. Give yourselves a pat on the backs, and a big round of applause.

We would also like to congratulate and celebrate the successes of the Running Guides & Training Crew, who have gone through this 12-week intensive training program, pace training alongside the NightHawk trainees. The Training Crew, comprising of FatBird Pacers and Sunbird trainees, did a stellar job of bringing the NightHawks to their goal finishes.

We also took the opportunity to thank:
- our training partner Mileage – The Long Run Solution, Coach Lim Kien Mau,
- Key Power International for their generous support for compression wear,
- The Playground @ Big Splash for providing the training venue at The FatBird’s Nest,
for proving support and encouragement to make Operation NightHawk 2010 a tremendous success.

It is heartening to see that through the course of the 12-week training, many of the trainees have become friends, running kakis and have established close bonds of cooperation and friendships that have taken a few groups to participate in races, even overseas ones, together.
The training crew and trainees have come together to organize the evening’s celebrations event, and we would like to acknowledge their efforts in making this happen.

Sundown Has Cometh, The NightHawks Have Emerged!