22nd September 2013, Sunday – This date was earmarked by Reebok as the date of the Reebok’s first ever obstacle race in Malaysia, and the first of its kind event in Malaysia. The Reebok ONE Challenge 18.95K was organised with the objective of offering a new and unique experience to the running community in Malaysia of the evolution of running. The distance of 18.95 km was chosen with an eye on the history of the Reebok brand, which was founded in the year 1895 as J.W. Foster and Sons and were the producers of the first spiked running shoes.
The event was co-organised by Twenty First Century Sports alongside Hooha.Asia the online portal, Perbadanan Putrajaya which was the venue host and a partner from TV broadcast, Astro Awani. It was graced by the presence of YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri (DR) Aseh bin Hj. Che Mat, President of Perbadanan Putrajaya and Reebok SEA + Global team from Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia & Reebok Global US.
2209 participants not only from Malaysia but also Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Germany, Switzerland and Kenya flooded Taman Cabaran, Putrajaya at the wake of Reebok ONE Challenge 18.95k 2013. As early as 5:30 in the morning, participants who were clad in Reebok running vest (received as part of race kit from registration fee of RM80) warmed up intently before the challenge. At the venue, participants were seen occupied at booths set up by a number of partners and sponsors. Apart from Reebok who had its station set up directly across the stage, various sponsors like Sharp Aquos, Toshiba, TIMEX, Ford, Optimum Nutrition, Gatorade, DailyMuscle, Chi Fitness, Fitness Concept, iON Action Camera, Teledynamics, Power Bar, KT Tape, Shu Care and Salonpas & Dutch Lady secured their settings at the venue.
At 6:30am, a total of 1725 participants from men category flagged off from Taman Cabaran, Putrajaya, ensued by 484 women who set their feet off 15 minutes behind the men participants. A cut off time of 4 hours 30 minutes were given to all participants to complete the challenge. Along the 18.95km challenge distance, the course were readied with 9 obstacles.
Upon completing 9km of run, participants’ strength were first put to test. The fisrt challenge was to carry a sand bag weighed in at 15kg and run for a distance of 80 meters. The actual contents of the sandbag were rice packets, which were then all donated to Kechara soup kitchen. Their strength and stamina were further tested on monkey bars, hurdles, ant hills challenge, gradient challenge, trail run and speed shift (tire challenge) that came consecutively one after another.
Right at km13.5 stood 6 walls of 10 feet that marked the number 8 obstacle. The last challenge that stood between the participants and finish line was the climb over the Ford Rangers. Approximately 800m from race completion, participants from both men and women category were seen nearing the finish line.
After just 1 hour 7 minutes and 17 seconds into the challenge, a figure emerged into sight. It was Charles Kimingi Thaiya from Kenya who took the number one spot for men category. He successfully challenged himself to the finish line and seized cash prize of RM1,500 from Reebok. He also walked away with in-kind prizes worth RM28,323. Nattawut Innum (Thailand) narrowly secured second place at official time of 1:08:26. Running not far from finish line after Nattawut was a Malaysian participant, Mohamed Affindi bin Nudin with official time of 1:11:39.
The lady that did the women proud, Noor Amelia binti Musa from Malaysia emerged champion with official time of 1 hour 22 minutes and 12 seconds. She received RM1,500 cash prize and in-kind prizes worth RM28,413. The first and second runner up title gone to Suwaree Deenak (Thailand) and Kimbeley Yap Fui Li (Malaysia) having set their best time at 1:29:50 and 1:36:27 respectively.
Lastly and not in the least Reebok would like to thank all the sponsors and all the participants for making the Reebok ONE Challenge 18.95K a great success and for all the great feedback that we received on our facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/ReebokMalaysia.
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