Lamenting the scarcity of trails in Singapore, and ranting about the default upgrading policy in place, lets us users too easily of the hook. I’ve written about the seemingly unused trail opportunities in Singapore before, and am repeating myself here, but the reccees for route I’m currently working on – the South and Southeastern coastal route – take me on so many kilometers of grass and sand without ever encountering another runner that it is a message that apparently needs repeating and repeating and repeating….

Based on my reccees, a good guestimate of a possible out and back from Marina South MRT station, following the water from the cruise centre to the end of the East Coast park and returning to the starting mrt station, would be 41k of which 30k can be on grass and beach. How much of that can be on beach is dependent on the tide: low tide would allow for maybe 15k.

Typical image to market East Coast park to outdoor enthusiasts. @https://greatruns.com/singapore-east-coast-park/

If one looks at East Coast park only, from Marina East Drive to the National Service Resort & Country Club, out and back that’s sort of half marathon distance 90-95% of which can be run on grass and beach. Plenty of runners in the East Coast park, but all pounce the PCN concrete.

Yes, I feel justified to rant a bit about Singapore policy, and yes, Singapore needs way more trails. But if of the little that is available, substantial sections (I mean: East Coast park’s one-way metrics are very comparable to Singapore’s most famous trail: the MacRitchie trail circling the reservoir) remain unused because they do not live up to our oddly limited vision of what a trail should look like, we users equally deserve a rant.

Fellow runners: we need to open our eyes!