Rucking Events in Singapore: More Than Medals and a Photo Op: Lasting Health
- Alastair Hunt
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
In the next few months I'm doing three ruck events: this weekend the Danish Flyver March, the Norwegian Foot March (NFM) in October and the PARAS'10 Virtual in November. On paper, they're just events: a route, a loaded bergen (ruck), a finisher's photo at the end. But if that's all they were, I wouldn't bother.
What actually happens is quieter and more useful. An event on the calendar changes how I eat, train, and drink for weeks beforehand, not because I've decided to be virtuous, but because the tab (ruck) won't forgive me if I'm not.
As ever, please talk to your doctor or medical practitioner most familiar with your medical history before implementing any changes in diet, exercise or lifestyle, especially if you are under treatment.
Take diet. I don't "diet" for a ruck. Every week I'm paying closer attention to carbs, protein, hydration, so that what I'm eating will carry me for four+ hours under load. The event doesn't ask me to be perfect. It asks me to be honest about what fuels twenty-odd kilometres and what doesn't.
Alcohol works the same way, training blocks and drinking don't coexist well. Even a night of poor sleep and dehydration can show up in the next session's pace. So this year, the Norwegian Foot March in October has become my excuse for a (more) sober September and October. This is not a grand pledge, just a training necessity that happens to double as a reset.
That's the part people miss about rucking events. The accomplishment is real but it's not the only important thing about the day. The more interesting thing for me is that signing up gives one a deadline that the usual "I should really get healthier" resolution never had. It's hard to ignore a 16 or 30km march with a cutoff time. It's easy to ignore a New Year's resolution by February.
I also think this is why rucking (or, say, Hyrox) sticks where other fitness fads don't. You're not doing it alone in a gym: you're training with a group, comparing notes, sharing tips on kit, having real conversations, showing up because other people are showing up too. The community carries you through the long hours - the hard miles - on foot that any real training block requires.
So if you're weighing-up whether to sign up for an event in Singapore, this year or next: the Flyver, NFM, PARAS'10 - don't think of it as a single day. Think of it as a few months of paying attention to your health, with a finish line that keeps you honest. A tangible, opportunity to make lasting change to one's health or, at the very least, to explore what might be.
The best health strategy is one you can stick with - one that fits your personal lifestyle profile. Improving health is about finding motivation, prioritising self-care and taking action. If you want to take effective and targeted steps to that fit into your unique lifestyle, The Whole Health Practice is here to help. Whether you want to improve eating practices, beat chronic illness or enhance your overall well-being, our consultations and programs deliver results that are tailored to your needs.
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Stay Healthy,
Alastair
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Related Resources and Studies
Palmeira AL, Carraça EV, Santos I, Silva MN, Sánchez-Oliva D, Horgan G, Stubbs RJ, Heitmann BL, Mata J. Exercise and eating motivation in weight loss maintenance: revisiting the motivational spillover with the NoHoW study. Ann Behav Med. 2025 Jan 4;59(1):kaaf054. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaaf054. PMID: 40795089.
Jiang D, Albarracín D. Acting by a deadline: The interplay between deadline distance and movement induced goals. J Exp Soc Psychol. 2019 Nov;85:103852. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103852. Epub 2019 Aug 20. PMID: 40959316; PMCID: PMC12435541.
Leasure JL, Neighbors C, Henderson CE, Young CM. Exercise and Alcohol Consumption: What We Know, What We Need to Know, and Why it is Important. Front Psychiatry. 2015 Nov 2;6:156. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00156. PMID: 26578988; PMCID: PMC4629692.
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