Sport Singapore's (SportSG) implementation of precautionary measures at ActiveSG venues due to the coronavirus pandemic has met with hiccups in the first week since the national sports agency introduced them last Sunday.
Lane segregation at tracks and swimming pools was enforced but led to overcrowding in some lanes.
Track and field coach Leon Ho encountered this when he conducted his coaching sessions at Bedok Stadium from 6pm to 8pm during the week, with runners trying to squeeze into the available lanes.
The 26-year-old said: "Before the lane segregation, it wasn't so messy. But once the lanes were cordoned off, the crowds congregated at the available lanes and we had a hard time finding what lanes we could use. There was lane segregation because of social distancing (measures), but now it's squeezing everyone together."
Mr Chan Whye Mun, who runs at MOE (Evans) Stadium twice a week, noted that there were also runners who did not stick to the available lanes on Tuesday night.
"I don't see people doing intervals agreeing to take alternate lanes or observing this because they are fast - they have to overtake people who are running slowly," said the senior vice-president at a manufacturing company. "There wasn't anybody enforcing (measures). I saw a few signs but... I was running too fast to read them."
Some runners at Toa Payoh Stadium also felt that the lane segregation could have been done more effectively. While there was a notice at the stadium entrance indicating that two lanes had been blocked off, several did not realise that it was part of precautionary measures due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
At the ActiveSG swimming complexes, lane ropes were introduced to allow swimmers to swim only the length of the pools. At the Toa Payoh and Bishan swimming complexes, certain lanes were allocated for classes and lap swimming, with the remaining lanes available to the rest of the swimmers. Two people The Sunday Times spoke to said that the segregation was counter-productive as it only led to more people gathering in those lanes.
There were also long queues to get into the swimming facility at Our Tampines Hub (OTH) from 8am to 10am yesterday, as one of the measures imposed by SportSG is a limit of 250 people in a swimming complex at any one time.
Some waited up to 40 minutes in the morning, but when this reporter arrived at OTH at 5.45pm yesterday, there were no queues.
Before the pandemic, the swimming complex usually accommodated 500 people during peak hours.
Madam Esther Kuek, who took her two children for swimming lessons at about 5pm yesterday, queued for 10 minutes before entering the venue. But the bank officer did not mind the wait, saying: "During this period of time, I believe all these steps that the Government has implemented are for everyone's good. Having to wait is just an extra step that we have to take."
For some recreational shuttlers, their bookings were cancelled because only alternate courts were in use. However, they were also understanding of the situation. Civil servant Yeo Chok Lih, who organises twice-to thrice-weekly badminton sessions for a group of 16 colleagues and friends, had one of his two court bookings at Toa Payoh Sports Hall cancelled on Monday.
The 44-year-old said: "It was a bit rushed for us to make the last-minute arrangement because we had to explain to the group (why we had to restrict the number of people). But it's understandable... when the virus is spreading so quickly, so we just have to make do with what we have."
ST reached out to SportSG for comment but it could not respond by press time.
• Additional reporting by Nicole Chia
