24 Mar Yes! We did it: first mass event in Singapore in a year
Very soon, the Singapore events industry will have all eyes upon us, scrutinizing how we deliver a brand-new style event, the MetaSprint Series Aquathlon ORIGIN on Palawan Beach, Sentosa.
We have thrown out the old rule book for physical events and placed COVID safety features at the heart of the event, to ensure that all athletes remain safe throughout. This means there are many different features in 2021 events compared to what you’ve seen us deliver in previous years.
‘Out’ goes our large spectator tent and club tents as they encourage gatherings. This is the same with vendor tents, massage and Award ceremonies. Instead, we’ve added chaperoned one way flows through the venue, social distancing ambassadors and even an extra day of racing! We’ve also managed to reduce contact points. All this will result in a fantastic and safe event, full of challenge, competition, sweat and cheer.
Upon arriving at the venue alone (and at the allocated time) the normal procedures – a temperature check and using the Trace Together app, will apply. Then athletes will enter our one-way system and join (at a 2m distance) a 50-person bubble with the other athletes in their wave group. It will be a bit like being back at school! Athletes will be led by their Wave Marshal through the pre-race preparations (bag deposit, transition, warm-up swim) to the race start. Everyone must wear a face mask up until their warm-up swim.
Instead of a mass start, athletes will safely queue for a rolling race start (in pairs) setting off every 10 seconds.
The swim takes place in the calm, warm waters off Sentosa and the flat, beach fronted run route is perfect for racing.
Post-race, each athlete will have a maximum 10-minute period to catch their breath in the recovery area after crossing the finish line. We will provide each athlete with a new face mask, medal and water before bags are collected upon exiting the venue. It is important to remember that everyone must leave after they have finished their race and not linger outside the venue.
As different as it is, we are confident that our participants will have a safe, competitive and exciting event, as always, but the event venue is now more of a hub for athletes to pass through, rather than a gathering and social space. All results are posted live on our website and we love celebrating your successes via social media.
Let’s hope for a very successful Aquathlon ORIGIN event to enable future events to take place in the city.
