I had never heard of OneCity prior to this, but when I signed up for the MRCA Charity Run, I had to go to OneCity to collect my race pack first.
OneCity is a rather new, quiet open – for want of a better word – mall. It was actually an office tower with eateries lining the ground floor, and a SkyPark at the roof. There are no retail shops, except for a few stalls selling phone casings on the first floor. The SkyPark is obviously quite new, as the only green things there are a few squares of grass in water. There are meeting rooms at the edge of the SkyPark which are open to booking.
So… I wouldn’t recommend OneCity as a place to visit. Unless you were here for a reason like I was, like to collect the race pack for a morning run, or to join the run itself.
RUN DAY 30 NOVEMBER 2014
Parking was quite easy that morning. There was ample parking (free, for now) at the basement.
It was quite an awkward arrangement in OneCity. We kept walking from one entrance (in the middle of the mall) to another trying to find the starting point. We did see a bunch of stalls with food and drink, which turned out to be the sponsors for the free snacks for the runners just for the day. Warm-ups were done in the middle of the mall, but because it was quite a small space, only a small number of runners were able to fit there, and most of the others spilt into the little lanes in front of the cafés on the ground floor.
There were distance markers placed along the route. However, according to my GPS-based pedometer, the overall distance was only 9.3km. As for the run, it was not overly difficult in itself, but the weather was quite humid, which made the run more difficult than usual. I wasn’t able to improve my average pace.
The 5km runners got a medal and certificate, whereas the 10km runners only received a medal, as the certificate would be issued online later. We didn’t receive a goodie bag, but we were each given a card to claim our free food and drink from the earlier mentioned stalls. I didn’t claim from every stall as the lines were very long, but I did manage to sample a few items. Most of the items were not bad, but I couldn’t finish the hot tea from Kluang Station as it was overly sweet.
Overall, it was an okay run. The organization of the run was not too bad. The only weird bit is the venue as the mall space was quite narrow and it was difficult to navigate from one end to another through the crowd.
