Orchard Road Packed With Action As 4,000 Women Gather At Biggest Ever AMORE Womens Day Out

Orchard Road Packed With Action As 4000 Women Gather At Biggest-ever AMORE Women's Day Out

The Amore Women's Day Out (AWDO), one of Singapore's largest and most established women-only fitness carnivals, kick-started today with a record number of 4000 women, a heartening 100% increase from last year, sweating it out together in a series of aerobics, yoga and dance challenges at the Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza.

AWDO 2007 is the highlight of the Singapore Sports Council's (SSC) four-month long "Sport A New You" campaign, which encourages women aged 35 and above to lead a more active lifestyle by integrating sports into their daily routines. The AWDO will also take the lead in kick-starting a series of mass women events in the coming months, including the Shape Run, Asia's First Women's Triathlon, GE Women 10K Run, All Women Bowling Carnival and Women On Skates.

The National Sports Participation Survey 2005 conducted by the SSC showed that only 42% of the women participate in sports activities at least once a week, which is lower than the national average of 48%, out of which, only 36% of women who are married with kids participate in sports regularly. The lack of time due to family commitment is the most frequently quoted obstacle to sports participation by women. Therefore, this year's AWDO also features the first Kids@Play Zone where children of participants can enjoy an enriching session, selecting from a wide scope of sports such as Floorball, Minisquash and Inline Skating etc, under the guidance of professional trainers while their mothers have fun working out at the respective sports categories.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports and MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, shared: "Sporting activities are not just a way for our women to keep fit; they are also great for family bonding. The family that plays together can also enjoy quality time together. As modern women in today's hectic society, we need to be equipped with good time management skills to juggle career, family and sports. Such mass fitness carnivals provide the platform for women to step forward and take up sporting pursuits which can be part of their everyday lives."

The Singapore Sports Council is encouraged by the response to this year's AWDO 2007.

Mr Kelvin Chua, General Manager of High Participation for SSC, said: "It is heartening to see Singaporean women from all walks of life coming out in droves to take up the challenge of leading a more active lifestyle. We are happy to have the six female DJs from SPH Unionworks to join us in the aerobics marathon. This is the first time that they are joining the aerobics marathon and it is definitely a good example to show that it is never too difficult as long as you take the first step. On our part, the SSC continues to instil the excitement and novelty of our WDO events by making them current to the people. For example, tapping on the fitness dance trends, we included the Dance Beat activity this year. There are also more activity choices for women to participate in, including new categories like the Iron Woman and Her Gym Quest which will be making their debut this year."

Also riding on the new wave in women's fitness is Amore Fitness, the inaugural title sponsor of the Women's Day Out. Amore founder and Chief Operating Officer Ms Jasmine Teo, said: "Mass sporting events for women are really fast catching on in Singapore. WDO is a great platform for advocating total wellness for women and Amore is pleased to partner the SSC in this exciting event. Our women today go beyond their traditional roles, and are ever ready to take on a go-getting active lifestyle. A large-scale event like WDO has strong potential to garner widespread interest in women's fitness and total wellbeing which is in line with our company's direction and we are very happy with the enthusiasm and energy levels displayed by our participants."

To mark its 5th anniversary this year, the AWDO is extended to a two-day event with expanded categories of sporting activities to suit women of all ages and fitness levels. The event also featured the first-ever Iron Woman, a 5-hour aerobics marathon challenge for the seasoned sportswoman.

The sporting spirit of the Amore Women's Day Out continues on 2 September at the Ngee Ann Civic Plaza. AWDO also caters to the general public who missed out the registration whereby we introduce a host of interesting fringe activities like rock wall climbing, inline skating, Frisbee, salsa soccer and bowling.

Enclosures
Annex 1: Amore Women's Day Out 2007 Fact Sheet
Annex 2: Amore Women's Day Out 2007 Sponsors