Run Jolly Pace Group Making Sports a Daily Habit in Singapore

A Few Friends, Two Instagram Posts, One Big Idea

It did not begin with a plan. It began with a solo runner looking for company. Hibshamir, one of the two founders of Run Jolly Pace Group, had been logging kilometres on his own around Singapore when he crossed paths with Justin, a friend who was curious about running together. That simple conversation opened a door. The two decided to turn their shared interest into something more structured: a weekly group run session. They spread the word the way most things spread in Singapore these days, through their personal Instagram accounts, keeping it casual and low-key. The response was modest at first, as it always is with something built from scratch. The first session drew a small group of three or four friends from each side, a handful of people gathered at the riverside with no particular agenda beyond moving their legs and enjoying the company. That evening, Run Jolly Pace Group found its third cornerstone when Ash showed up and quickly became a captain of the crew. Luqman, co-founder alongside Hibshamir, helped shape the crew's direction from the very beginning. What none of them anticipated was what happened the morning after. The posts they shared from that first run generated an overwhelming response overnight. Messages came in. People wanted to join. Something had clicked, and the founders realised they had stumbled onto something worth nurturing. Run Jolly Pace Group officially launched in October 2019, born from a spontaneous meeting, a shared Instagram story, and the simple human desire to not run alone.

The Name Is in the Format

There is a quiet wit to the crew's name that rewards a second look. The abbreviation JPG, as in Run.JPG, is borrowed directly from the world of computing, specifically from the image file format that anyone with a smartphone or laptop will recognise instantly. In Singapore's tech-literate, digitally connected culture, the reference lands naturally. But for Hibshamir, Luqman, and the rest of the founding team, the letters mean something else entirely. JPG stands for Jolly Pace Group, and that double meaning is not accidental. It reflects the crew's character: familiar, approachable, and just a little playful. The idea of a "jolly pace" is central to everything Run Jolly Pace Group does. It is not a speed, not a number on a GPS watch, not a qualifying standard. It is a feeling. The pace is whatever keeps the group together, moving comfortably, finishing collectively. Nobody sprints ahead to prove a point. Nobody gets dropped and left to find their own way home. The jolly pace is the social contract of the crew, the quiet promise made at the start of every session that this run belongs to everyone who shows up, regardless of fitness level or experience. The JPG framework, both as a concept and as a cultural nod to the digital world the crew grew up in, gives Run Jolly Pace Group a personality that is distinct from the more performance-oriented running clubs that populate Singapore's increasingly active fitness scene. They are runners who post photos, share moments, and understand that a run is also a story worth telling.

Making Sports a Daily Habit

The founding philosophy of Run Jolly Pace Group can be expressed in five words: Make Sports A Daily Habit. It is the crew's guiding principle, and it shapes every decision about how sessions are structured, who is welcomed, and what success looks like for the group. The founders were self-described amateur runners when they started. They were not chasing personal bests or preparing for ultramarathons. They were people who wanted to sweat, stay fit, and share the experience with others. That honesty about where they started is part of what makes the crew's ethos so accessible. The goal was never elite performance. The goal was consistency, community, and the kind of low-threshold engagement with sport that makes it sustainable over months and years rather than just a seasonal burst of enthusiasm. In Singapore, where the heat and humidity can make outdoor exercise feel like a genuine obstacle, the crew's commitment to keeping things enjoyable rather than punishing is a thoughtful approach. Running at a jolly pace means running at a pace you can talk at, laugh at, and return to the following week without dread. It means finishing a session feeling better than when you started, not hollowed out by effort beyond your current capacity. The philosophy also removes a common source of anxiety for newer runners: the fear of holding others back. Run Jolly Pace Group explicitly addresses that fear by building it into their founding principle. Nobody is too slow. Nobody is in the way. The group waits, adjusts, and moves as one. Around 40 members have found their way to this approach, and the crew continues to grow organically, the same way it started, through shared posts and word of mouth between friends.

Clarke Quay as Home Ground

Riverside Point at Clarke Quay is where Run Jolly Pace Group calls home. As a meeting point, it is both practical and atmospheric. Clarke Quay sits along the Singapore River in the heart of the city, a stretch of waterfront that has anchored Singapore's civic and commercial life for well over a century. The colonial-era shophouses that line the riverbank have been repurposed into restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues, but the water itself remains the constant. Running from here means running alongside history, past the bridges and bumboats, through the connective tissue of a city that has always moved. For a crew built around the idea of making sport part of daily life, the location is fitting. It is not a remote park or a specialised athletics facility. It is the city itself, accessible by MRT, walkable from the surrounding neighbourhoods of Chinatown, Boat Quay, and the Central Business District. Runners arriving for a Wednesday evening or Thursday morning session do not need to travel far or plan extensively. They show up, lace up, and go. The river route that unfolds from Riverside Point offers options in multiple directions, allowing the crew to vary their path while keeping the gathering point consistent. The waterfront is also forgiving in its terrain, flat and open, which suits the jolly pace philosophy perfectly. There are no brutal hills to separate the group or force a natural split between faster and slower runners. The path keeps everyone together in the way the crew intends.

Two Sessions, One Rhythm

Run Jolly Pace Group runs twice a week, and the scheduling of those two sessions reflects a genuine understanding of how people live and move in a busy city like Singapore. The Wednesday evening session kicks off at 7:00 PM, a time that works for those coming directly from offices or wrapping up the mid-week workday. The Thursday morning session starts at 7:00 AM, catching the early risers before the heat of the Singapore day takes hold and before the city's working hours fully begin. Together, the two sessions create a rhythm that members can slot into their weekly routines without major disruption. The spacing between them, roughly thirty-six hours, also means that someone who runs Wednesday evening can comfortably join again Thursday morning if their body is up for it. Alternatively, members can pick one session per week and build from there. The flexibility is part of the crew's inclusive design. Both sessions begin and end at Riverside Point at Clarke Quay, maintaining the geographic consistency that gives the crew its sense of place. Knowing exactly where to go, at exactly what time, twice a week, removes the friction that often prevents people from following through on their intention to run more regularly. Run Jolly Pace Group has thought carefully about reducing barriers, and the simplicity of the schedule is one of those quiet, practical decisions that makes a real difference for members who are still building the habit.

A Community That Runs on Honesty

What Run Jolly Pace Group offers its members is not glamour or high performance. It is something quieter and more durable: a dependable, honest running community in one of Southeast Asia's most dynamic cities. The founders built it without a business plan or a marketing strategy. They built it by showing up, sharing what they were doing, and welcoming whoever responded. That authenticity remains the crew's foundation. Around 40 people now run under the Run Jolly Pace Group banner, drawn together by the same basic impulse that started it all: the desire to move, to connect, and to make sport a real and regular part of life. The crew does not sort its members by ability or set minimum pace requirements at the door. A runner joining for the first time will find a group that adjusts to include them, not one that tolerates their presence while sprinting ahead. That inclusive culture is not something the crew stumbled into by accident. It is a deliberate expression of the jolly pace philosophy, carried through from the founding conversation between Hibshamir and Justin to every session that follows. Singapore's running scene has grown considerably in recent years, with dozens of crews, clubs, and events competing for the attention of the city's fitness-conscious population. Run Jolly Pace Group sits within that scene on its own terms, not trying to be the biggest or the fastest, but committed to being the most consistently welcoming. For runners who want to find their stride in Singapore, who want a crew that meets them where they are and runs at a pace that keeps everyone together, Riverside Point at Clarke Quay on a Wednesday evening or Thursday morning is a very good place to start.