This year's Safra Singapore Bay Run and Army Half Marathon will not simply be a run round Marina Bay. With each step, NSmen will also be running down memory lane.

Graphic-novel style placards depicting milestones from National Service will line the route, reminding NSmen of, for instance, the ritual pre-enlistment head shave, braving the Standard Obstacle Course, and the final Passing Out Parade.

Nostalgic army songs such as Purple Light and Training to be Soldiers will also blare from speakers along the route.

It is all part of what organisers promise to be a "multi-sensory experience of sights and sounds" related to NS.

For the first time, immediate family members of NSmen will receive discounts if they register for the run.

Said Acting Minister for Social and Family Development and Senior Minister of State for Defence Chan Chun Sing, who attended a preview of the run at Marina Bay on Wednesday: "We want to honour the role of our NSmen, and also the role of their families supporting them ... there's a larger message behind all this: that everyone who comes for the run plays a part in the defence of this country."

Registration for the run, which takes place on Sep 1, closes on Aug 1. Some 35,000 participants have already registered.