Over 1,300 runners turned up for the highly anticipated Standard Chartered Charity Run 2010 early yesterday morning in Jerudong. People from all walks of life took part in the race and ran all the way to the finish line without fail, braving the scorching heat, all for a good cause.
The event began with a mass warm-up session led by instructors from Fitness Zone, followed by the flag-off for the 10.5km run by the guest of honour Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Laila Diraja Dato Paduka Awang Haji Hazair bin Haji Abdullah, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, with Mr Danny Quah, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank.
In his speech, the CEO spoke of the bank’s dedication and commitment in carrying out charitable activities and playing their part in giving back to the community.
“At Standard Chartered Bank, community investment for us is a combination of fund raising, sponsorship support as well as investing our time, our employees’ time and their skills in community initiatives. We definitely have a huge focus around employee volunteering and to give you a very current example, this event today has involved over 135 of our staff volunteering,” the CEO said.
The charity run has been actively publicised over the past few months featuring a 10.5-kilometre route for men and women’s categories in which the competitive route was endorsed by the Brunei Amateur Athletics Association (BAAA) under the Youth and Sports Department of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
To add more excitement and challenge to the race, runners could also opt to be blindfolded with a partner. Hence, runners will be able to go through the experience of visual impairment and understand the challenge. Their partners, on the other hand, will be able to comprehend the challenge of leading them, bringing them closer to the cause.
A total of 480 runners participated in the category with 11 teams in the blindfold challenge. The first-place winner brought home a top prize of $500. Second-place winner received $350 and third-place winner received $200.
Mr Andy Ang, General Manager of Premium Banking at SCB, partnered up with Noralizulrainee Ali Yusop, a visually-impaired Education Officer at the Special Education Unit of the Ministry of Education, under this category.
Tan Feng Ling won first place with a record time of 49 minutes under the women’s category with Kamila Gallagher coming in second with 53 minutes. Sufinah Haji Idris took third place with 54 minutes.
Meanwhile, under the men’s 10.5km run category, Sefli Ak Ahar emerged as champion with time of 36 minutes, followed by Terrence Gallagher in 38 minutes. The third spot went to Muhammad Zulkifli bin Muhamad Jailani with 41 minutes.
On hand to present the prizes to the winners in the men’s category was Pehin Dato Awang Haji Hazair. Handing over the prizes to winners under the women’s category was Datin Hajah Adina binti Othman, Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports.
There was also a 2.5-kilometre route for the Fun Run category in which over 841 participants took part with 35 teams taking up the blindfold challenge. This category also saw the participation of the guest of honour alongside Mr Danny Quah.
The top five runners received gift hampers under the 2.5km category. The winners were Mohammad Ruzaimi bin Mohammad Saiffulah, Mohammad Norliham Haji Hamidon, Ak Nursallehin Pg Ismail, Shamsuri bin Brahim and Mohd Ruzaini Md Saifullah.
Members of the public also had the opportunity to enjoy the event where various food stalls, games and activities were set up by Standard Chartered Bank, Brunei Liverpool Fan Club, BARA, Pusat Ehsan, Pusat Bahagia, There was also a 2.5-kilometre route for the Fun Run category in which over 841 participants took part with 35 teams taking up the blindfold challenge. This category also saw the participation of the guest of honour alongside Mr Danny Quah.
The top five runners received gift hampers under the 2.5km category. The winners were Mohammad Ruzaimi bin Mohammad Saiffulah, Mohammad Norliham Haji Hamidon, Ak Nursallehin Pg Ismail, Shamsuri bin Brahim and Mohd Ruzaini Md Saifullah.
Members of the public also had the opportunity to enjoy the event where various food stalls, games and activities were set up by Standard Chartered Bank, Brunei Liverpool Fan Club, BABA, Pusat Ehsan, Pusat Bahagia, Brunei Darussalam AIDS council, Red Canopy. Saffron, RBC, UNI photo, Dream Cones, Sounds of Hope. Fitness Zone, Armtrix Enterprise, Secret Recipe, Helping Hands Organisation and Malar Setia.
Lucky draws were also held at the event where runners won many exclusive prizes ranging from return air tickets to destinations such as Hong Kong and Singapore, stays at Empire Hotel, dining vouchers and more.
Hundred per cent of the proceeds from the event will be donated to three main charity organisations in Brunei namely Standard Chartered Bank Seeing is Believing Programme, Pusat Ehsan and Persatuan Kanak-Kanak Cacat (KACA).
Ms Jennifer Kang, Head of Corporate Affairs and Marketing, expressed her relief and joy to the Bulletin on the success of the event.
“The event has surpassed our expectations. As the first charity run fully organised by Standard Chartered Bank, it truly is a great honour with the overwhelming response from the number of participants and donations collected for the charity. So far we’ve collected BND$65,000. Surely it was past our $50,000 target. It’s amazing to see Bruneians with such big hearts. We would definitely look forward to doing another event like this next time,” she said.
The official final amount of the funds raised from the event will be announced at a later date and handed over to the relevant charities.
The Standard Chartered Charity Run 2010 was sponsored by Borneo Bulletin, Media Permata, Royal Brunei Airlines, Sunlit Advertising, CSG Marketing, the Empire Hotel and Country Club, Panacom Sdn Bhd, Jerudong Park Playground and Suci.
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