DBS Marina Regatta returns with land and water obstacle course

SINGAPORE: The DBS Marina Regatta returns this weekend for a seventh year – this time, with an obstacle course that features both land and water obstacles.

The event, which also sees the region’s top dragonboating teams face off, will be held at The Promontory at Marina Bay over two weekends on May 26 and 27 and Jun 2 and 3, DBS said in a media release on Wednesday (May 23).

However, the pop-up urban beach that featured prominently in previous editions of the event will not return this year. 

Instead, the Battle Bay Extreme obstacle course – billed by the bank as “Southeast Asia’s largest and most technically challenging” – will take centrestage. It features three levels of difficulty – a beginners’ level with water obstacles, and intermediate and advanced levels with land obstacles.

Online registration for the event has closed, but those who want to take up the challenge can register on-site, according to a spokesperson for the bank. 

Visitors can also check out the second instalment of ArtBox Singapore, which will feature more than 400 lifestyle, food and fashion stalls, including social enterprises from across the region. 

There is also a Creators Market, where ticketed workshops on green living and holistic wellness will be held. 

The free yoga and fitness sessions were fully booked, the spokesperson said. 

In the water, more than 90 dragonboat teams and 3,500 paddlers from the region will compete for a total of S$147,000 in prize money – the largest prize purse for the sport in Asia, the bank said in its media release.

For the first time, the competition will see more than 60 youths aged between 14 and 21 take part in a special youth invitational category. There will also be a new adaptive category for paddlers with special needs and/or physical disabilities, as well as a category for cancer survivors, DBS added. 

Admission to the regatta is free but the Creators Market classes and Battle Bay Extreme are ticketed, the bank said on its website. The event will open from 10am to 10pm on May 26 and 27, as well as Jun 2 and 3.