A Harmonious New MBR Treadmill Relay by UMS Students

Friday, January 31, 2014

Everyone strolling through the main entrance of 1Borneo Hypermall from the 20th – 31st January 2014 will be greeted by the sight of a runner on the treadmill. The runner is not promoting the treadmill, but is running to break the Malaysia Book of Records (MBR): Longest Distance Run on a Treadmill by a Group for 10 days from Jan 20 to 31, 2014.

The event is organised by the University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Sports Education and Social Development School (SPPS) together with School of Education and Social Development, and School of Medicine, in conjunction with the university's 20th anniversary. Involving 9 runners (8 males and 1 female), they ran the course on a 2-hour rotation for 264 hours, 11 days non-stop (almost 30 hours for each of them).

They succeeded to break the record last Monday at 144 hours and are still continuing with the feat. The previous record was held by UiTM Samarahan in 2012 where 9 selected student (7 males and 2 females) ran the course for six days for 120 hours. The first record was made by 3 Universiti Malaya students in 2012 who ran 864km on a treadmill in 72 hours to make it into the Malaysia Book of Records.

The event kicked off with the first 2-hour run by a special needs student, Abner Moilie, 21. Although partially blind since birth, he was determined to do his very best.

"Unlike others, I have slight difficulty in balancing myself while running, but it won't stop me from being a sportsman," he said, adding that he had won a bronze medal for long jump category in the Asian Youth Para Games 2009 in Japan.

The only female participant, Dora Suan, 22, has been running long distance since she was in primary school and attributed the geographical factor of her village in Kampung Lokos Tamparuli as one of the factors that has strengthened her stamina. “I walk to school every day from my house and I believe that is when I began building up my stamina,” she explained.

The event is not without incident. One of the runners, Zulkilinsius Lairi, had a knee injury which affected his ligament but that did not stop him from continuing with the run. The other runners are Ignitiuse Ganni, Kenson Bin Rubanjar, Louis Muslin, Nitas Bin Camillus Tan Sing Bee, Pang Tsun Kuo and Samzah Lawis, with Josephine Yaban as reserve runner.

The nine participants are assisted in the record-breaking session at the 1Borneo Hypermall by 38 other undergraduates. Looking at the program booklet, I notice that most of the runners are from the interior parts of Sabah such as Tambunan (2), Tamparuli (2), Tenom (1), Pitas (1), Tawau (2) and Kudat (1). I sincerely hope more activities like this, involving Malaysians of all races and religions, will be held to nurture and enhance the spirit of Malaysia.

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