Law Society Virtual X-Country Run 2021

November 2021

4 min read

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The lack of sporting events on our 2021 calendar has been a disappointment for many of us. Our annual cross-country run/race has always been a firm feature of our sporting calendar and is an event that many in the fraternity look forward to each year. It is an event that has helped to cement cohesion, promote healthy competition as well as physical activity amongst the fraternity.

Given the prevailing pandemic and the recent spread of COVID-19 cases locally, however, we were naturally in two minds as to whether or not to proceed with staging our annual cross-country run this year even as a virtual event. 2021 had after all begun with much promise. After the successful staging of last year’s run as a virtual one, we had looked forward to a physical run and race this time round. Alas that was not to be. Not to be deterred though, we eventually decided to push ahead with our run/race once again as a virtual event.

It goes without saying that virtual runs have gained in popularity in the light of COVID-19, offering much flexibility and convenience to runners. Our virtual run took place over the weekend of 2-3 October 2021. Runners were given the flexibility to run at a location and time of their own choosing. This year, we kept with our team marathon relay event, which we first introduced at last year’s edition of the race, where teams participated as a group of six runners running a combined distance of 42km. Each team had to comprise both male and female runners as well as runners in different age groups.

A total of 12 teams participated representing various law firms, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) as well as the Judiciary. Team Rajah & Tann LLP emerged victorious and have now retained the Winners’ Challenge Shield for the third year “running”. Team Allen & Gledhill LLP and Team AGC finished Runners’ up and in third place respectively. Some of the run times clocked by our runners were mind-blowing to say the least. There were also individual events this time round, both 5km and 10km distances run competitively as well as non-competitively. It is noteworthy that the individual events were for the first time open to any individual working in the legal fraternity including in-house counsel and non-legal, business staff. The idea behind this move was to be more inclusive. We had also taken on board feedback from last year where there was a call to allow for more in the fraternity to participate in the event. We thus had an amazing turnout of close to 150 runners! When one adds the number of runners in the team event, we saw over 220 runners participate in this year’s run/race. It is clear that interest in the event is truly well and alive, that too in a pandemic year! We do think it is fair to say that many of us are starved of physical activity and interaction so this year’s run/race was something to look forward to. A dedicated event such as this proved to be the impetus for some of us to train up so as to clock a better run time than last year or a PB and for others to get on our feet to exercise.

This year’s run/race participants all also received exclusive medals and t-shirts as their prizes and/or finisher medals. Congratulations once again to our all our prize winners and finishers! We hope to bring you a physical run in 2022! In the meantime, stay safe, keep running and do also spread the word about the event amongst your friends and social circles in the fraternity. We look forward to seeing many more runners participating next year!

Selected results of this year’s run/race are set out below: