AS AN avid shopper, a four-hour race through three shopping precincts in Singapore seemed like a challenge I could ace. The competition was called “Your Great Singapore Sale Experience” – an Amazing Race-style shopping challege – and it was held in conjunction with the Great Singapore Sale, which is currently running.

Each team, consisting of two shoppers, was given a debit card pre-loaded with S$1,000 (RM2,343) to spend at participating malls in Orchard Road, Marina Square and Southern Waterfront. The challenge was to get the most savings (savings: the retail price of item, minus the discounted price of item) from the shopping spree.

There were two categories – Singaporean and International – and 27 teams from all over the world took part.

I was paired with blogger Cynthia Ong who turned out to be super-competitive and really good with numbers – I couldn’t have asked for a better shopping partner. Plus, she was physically fit and hardly broke into a sweat as we ran through the malls in Singapore.

Karen and Syat, Me and Cynthia

The other Malaysian team was made up of Tongue in Chic writer Karen Wong, and TV station content executive Syatirah Safran.

Before the race, we had a little time to recce several malls in the area. We decided that we would focus on a store in Wisma Atria (at Orchard Road) which had awesome discounts, and buy items that fulfilled the contest requirements in the other precincts.

We had to buy three items from each precinct, and each item had to be different; however, we were allowed to get three blouses from the same store as long as they were of different designs.

Another rule was that a team could purchase a maximum of 10 of the exact same item.

Cynthia and I stayed up until 1am the day before the race, discussing our strategy. We had to make sure that within the four hours allocated for the challenge, we would have time to buy items from all three precincts, complete three tourism-related tasks and, most importantly, make sure we didn’t run out of money!

One of the challenges- a jigsaw puzzle

While some of the shops offered substantial discounts on jewellery, watches and home appliances, we couldn’t put these items on our list because they were too expensive to begin with.

For a fleeting moment we considered throwing the competition out the window and split the cash between us so we could shop for items we actually wanted.

Final calculations - nope, we didn't have any money left for stuff we actually wanted

However, we decided that we would give the race our best shot, if not for the experience, then for the chance to win the S$10,000 (RM23,430) grand prize.

When the race flagged off that hot Saturday afternoon, Cynthia and I made a beeline for what came to be known as the “magic” store, as two other teams had discovered its amazing discounts as well.

We were disheartened to find that team Britain and team Indonesia had reached the store first, and were already paying for piles of items as we ran in.

Nevertheless, we picked up six (expensive, but ugly) dresses priced at S$70 (RM163.80) each, which was about 90% off from the original price! We also took a few blazers. The clothes were bulky and heavy, and hauling them around during the challenge proved to be strenuous.

Apart from just shopping, each team also had to perform a task at every precinct. Upon completion of the tasks, we received a Polaroid picture of ourselves to stick in the race booklet.

We bought a one-day tourist pass for our MRT travelling

Cynthia and I chose these fun tasks – doing a jigsaw puzzle at Harbourfront Centre; decorating a cake at 313 Somerset mall; and posing with the nation’s iconic landmark, the Merlion, at the Merlion Park in Marina Bay.

We got to the finish line about an hour before time was up. We recorded our savings with the tabulation committee and waited around for the results to be announced.

In the end, team Britain (Amanda Zuydervelt and Victoria Lam) took home the grand prize. The duo managed to save a whopping S$24,557 (RM57,463) from their shopping spree.

“The idea was to find out where we could save the most, and to get there before anyone else,” said Amanda, after the race. “We also did a lot of research and made the necessary preparations.”

Team Vietnam, made up of supermodel Ngo Tien Doan and Miss World Vietnam 2009 Tran Thi Huong Giang, came in second with savings of S$12,532 (RM29,324), while team Indonesia (fashion bloggers Diana Rikasari Wahyudi and Hanifah Ambadar), was third, having saved S$10,973 (RM25,676).

We found out that many teams had actually dropped out of the race early on and didn’t even bother checking in at the finish line before time was up – they were too busy shopping!

We bought 6 of these, we kept 0.

Cynthia and I didn’t take home any of the top prizes, and all we had to show for the effort we put into the competition were two bags of clothes we would never wear, but we were glad to have checked in with savings of about S$7,000 (RM16,380).

Running at full speed through Singapore’s MRT stations and crowded malls on a Saturday afternoon, however, is not something I would recommend, not even to shop with someone else’s money.

PS: Thanks Cynthia for all the photos! To read her account of the race, visit her blog at www.thatgirlcynthia.com. Psst..she also has a blogshop at anoldflame.net.

n between running, panting and calculating, we had many deep discussions

One of our tasks was to pose at The Merlion

Our cake decorating skills were put to the test