The pounding of running shoes echoes through a shopping mall as fitness enthusiasts desperate to exercise take refuge from choking haze.
Smoke from wildfires in neighbouring Indonesia has sent air quality in the city-state plummeting to its worst levels in more than a decade in recent weeks, cancelling outdoor activities.
Those seeking exercise, including runners training for international events, have found an unconventional alternative: air-conditioned shopping malls.
On Sunday, more than 80 runners turned the corridors of Marina Square shopping centre into makeshift running tracks, clocking laps past storefronts on two floors before shops opened for business.
There are strict rules.
“No sprinting, no overtaking, no shouting or yelling,” Eugene Beh, 52, founder of Singapore Runners Club, told about 60 members before their run.
Spitting and wiping sweat on the floor are also banned.
Beh said they had to cancel several runs outdoors because of the haze blown in by the wind from forest and peatland fires in Borneo and Sumatra.
Angeline Zeng, 57, who works in banking, completed 10 loops at the mall, or about 10km.
With a half-marathon in Taipei in less than a week and a full marathon in December, Zeng needs to clock as much mileage as she can.
Since the treadmills at her neighbourhood gym are often full, she and her fellow runners were excited when they heard about the mall runs.
“We were like, wow, we didn’t expect that at all,” she said.
“I love it because the aircon makes you feel like you’re running overseas where there’s cold temperatures, so it’s really great,” Zeng added.
But she said that circling inside the mall becomes “boring” after a while.
“Maybe for shorter runs this is okay but if you need to do long runs, maybe not so suitable,” she said.
Singapore Runners Club member Doris Tan, 42, said she thought running indoors would be a bit suffocating.
“I didn’t expect it to be so cool... but if you have to ask me, I still prefer outdoors,” she said.
Paul Wong, a 54-year-old retiree from a club called X-Run, completed 21 loops inside the mall, or about 21 km.
With just over a month until the Singapore International Marathon – which many other fellow runners are also training for – Wong would have to run up to 80km per week, but the haze has forced him indoors.
“For the last two weeks I’ve been running close to 100km on the treadmill. The longest I’ve run is 28km for two and a half hours; it’s very mental,” Wong said.
“The mall run is definitely better because the treadmill feels like a hamster run. You just keep repeating the routine.” — AFP
