SINGAPOREANS know how to enjoy a walk down Orchard Road.
That's a gimme.
They know how to saunter down Singapore's most famous shopping strip to window-shop.
But run down Orchard Road?
Well, that's what our featured Sporty Boss, Chris Robb, is asking Singaporean women to do on 10 June.
Yes, that's right.To be held from 5.30am to 10.30am, he is asking Singapore women to run the mile along Orchard Road.
It will be a historic first for Singapore, when the Anlene Orchard Mile - which he is organising - is flagged off that Sunday morning.
The mile is the athletics standard (the metric equivalent being 1.6km) made famous in 1954 by former British runner Sir Roger Bannister, who became the first man to run it under four minutes.
Modelled against other "mile runs" in cities such as New York and London, The New Paper why he thinks Singapore women will be eager to take to the Anlene Orchard Mile next month.
"If you look at the recent marathons held here in the past few years, the number of women runners has been increasing," he said.
"But we saw an alternative from the recent marathons and all-women's running events last year.
"These events had either the 10km event or the 5km event for women to take part in."
For the past few years, the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon has seen women tackling the 10km.
Last year, the first all-women's run - the Shape Run (conducted by Shape Magazine) - and the Great Eastern Run, saw 2,500 and 3,400 participants respectively.
ENTRY LEVEL
Robb, though, is looking to get 5,000 women to join the event."From my experience, it may be the trend, but to do those 5km and 10km events for the first time, you need to be a fairly serious runner before you enter,"he said.
"We saw the mile as a perfect entry-level event to get more women in."
The 2005 National Sports Participation Survey conducted by the Singapore Sports Council shows that only 42 per cent of women in Singapore participate in sports regularly.
Robb added: "We're looking at the active, the young, and even the heartland aunties.
"The mile doesn't require much intensive training, so it will encourage morewomen to take part."
Robb, 42, is himself a runner.
But even at an early age, this Sporty Boss - born on a farm in Zimbabwe and schooled in a university in South Africa - realised he had a flair for organising sports events.
"I represented my schools in cross-country, athletics, the 800m, 1500m and steeplechase, hockey and rugby," he said.
"But at the age of 16, I organised my first fun run in school.
"I was the president of my athletics club in my second year in university, and I guess I simply had the passion for organising inter-campus events for rugby,running, swimming, tennis and so on."
He graduated with a bachelor's degree in commerce - in personnel management -but, instead of going back to the farm in Zimbabwe, he decided to pack his bags and see the world.
"I was there at Wembley Stadium in 1988 when Liverpool were beaten 1-0 by Wimbledon in the FA Cup final," recalled the Liverpool fan.
"Sure, it was disappointing for me as a Liverpool fan, but the experience I had that day at Wembley was unforgettable.
"It was one of those sports spectacles that reminds you why sports may be more about business today, but it's still, ultimately, about the passion."
Then, 15 years ago, he decided to settle in Australia.
"I've watched the Melbourne Cup, the Adelaide Formula One Grand Prix, cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground," he said.
"The best thing about Australia is the tremendous passion the people there have for sports.
DEVELOPING
"I sat in the lead safety vehicle for the marathon in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
"And to go through the heart of the city, seeing all the people cheer the leaders on, was something else.
"That's why I can see the Singapore sporting landscape developing in the next few years.
"The spectator culture for sports has still not been cultivated, but the good thing is that there's interest from people here."
Robb's company, Sporting Spectrum, has offices in Singapore and Australia.
The managing director lives in idyllic Coff's Harbour between Brisbane and Sydney, but shuttles here often for work.
His company has been organising the annual JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge in Sydney and Singapore for the past three years.
And for the Anlene Orchard Mile, he will be relocating here for at least the next three months.
"I love running and kayaking, too," he said. "And I am looking at paddling on the Kallang River or to the nearby islands.
"Scuba-diving will also be on my priority list."
But, first, this Sporty Boss will have to get Singapore women down to Orchard Road on 10 June.
As he noted: "A mile of fitness therapy, followed by retail therapy in Orchard Road.
