Bonding time for mother-daughter pair at Great Eastern Women’s Run

SINGAPORE – It is not often that Naina Ravi gets to spend time with her daughter Srishti, as they have different schedules.

However, the

Great Eastern Women’s Run (GEWR) at the Singapore Sports Hub on Oct 29

has given them an opportunity for some mother-daughter bonding time as both of them have signed up for the 5km run.

Srishti, a third-year Singapore Management University (SMU) business student, will be heading to Montreal, Canada, for her school’s exchange programme in 2024 and Naina hopes to be able to spend more time with her before she leaves.

Naina, an avid runner, took part in her first-ever race at the 2015 edition of the GEWR. She has also participated in other events such as the Pink Ribbon Run and the Yellow Ribbon Race.

Srishti, 21, said: “(My mum) has always asked, ‘Do you want to come along?’. But every time I would have something on, like my final exams.”

The GEWR is “definitely a good opportunity to exercise and train myself, and also have some mother-daughter bonding time”, added the only child.

Naina, 50, said: “I just wanted more bonding time with her and I insisted on this particular one because I told her, it’s like a fun carnival.”

The former English teacher was not into sports but, since retiring, she has become a fitness enthusiast as she believes she needs to get out of a sedentary lifestyle.

Besides running, she also goes to the gym regularly and attends different fitness classes such as dance, K-pop Zumba, hot yoga and spinning.

Srishti has also been active. When younger, she participated in sports such as basketball and netball.

A bout of hepatitis A in 2019 required Srishti to be hospitalised. It took her six months to recover, but it left her feeling “more motivated” to exercise after she was given a clean bill of health.

At SMU, she took up aquathlon as a co-curricular activity as she wanted to participate in something water-related.

She is also running regularly and building up her stamina to help with her pursuits in aquathlon.

While the pair may be fitness junkies, they will be looking to run at a casual pace at the GEWR.

Srishti said: “We wanted to chill, we don’t want to push ourselves because this is our first race together, so we can talk and run together.”

The duo indicated their interest in joining other races in the future, such as

the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon

. But they will want to “train up first”.

The GEWR is back in full swing this year for the first time since 2019, with five race categories – 5km, 10km, 21.1km half-marathon, “Mummy and me” 2km run and 100m Princess Dash.

Registration is available via

https://www.greateasternlife.com/greateasternwomensrun/index.html

and will close on Monday (Oct 2).