STRONG: Participates of the ABC Run in purple and red t-shirts with the organising committee members in blue t-shirts.

RUNNING FOR A CAUSE: Funds raised during the ABC RUN will be channelled towards the UCSI Public Health Campaign.

WINNERS: Asst Prof Sylvester Lim (in white) with the ABC Run Men’s category winners.

UCSI FOR ALL AGES: A member of the public shows his support for the ABC Run.

TEAMWORK: Cheong giving a token of appreciation to a volunteer yoga trainer from the Malaysian Yoga Society.

KUALA LUMPUR: It was a unique concept of rousing the community to get fit and also raise funds for free public health check-ups. UCSI University’s (UCSI) recent Active and Burning Calories Day 2014 was held at its Kuala Lumpur (South Wing) Campus and was well supported with more than 800 participants in total. 

This fundraising event consisted of two activities; ABC RUN, which is a five and ten kilometre marathon and ABC Yoga, a one-and-a-half hour yoga session. Opened to the public, the ABC RUN saw more than 600 registered participants while the ABC Yoga session was joined by more than 200 participants. Notably, the participants consisted of a mix of UCSI students and non-students. 

“I have run the Standard Chartered and Penang Bridge Marathon. This marathon is smaller but very well organised, with well-placed water stations and marshals at every checkpoint,” said the Men’s 10km category first place winner, Hong Zhi Shen, a software engineer. 

The second place for the Men’s 10km category went to Joshua Ian, while the Men’s 5km category first and second places were won by Calvin Chan and Abdul Muaz. The Women’s 10km category first and second places were won by Tea Si Ying and Emmeline Lew while the 5km category positions were won by Tao Ler Xr and Lai Jie Hui. 

Medals were awarded to the top 10 runners in each category while the next 20 runners were awarded finishing certificates. 

The yoga session was also popular with 200 participants. Meiwan, a yoga instructor from the Malaysian Yoga Society, added that she was impressed by the number of participants for the yoga session. 

The support of the community is something that UCSI has always held in high esteem. 

“This year, UCSI will focus on more community engagement activities,” shared Asst Prof Sylvester Lim, deputy vice-chancellor of the Student Affairs and Alumni Division. 

Judging from the professional way the event was organised, it is impressive that the entire event was organised by a group of students. The UCSI University Pharmacy Student Association (UCSIUPSA) handled every aspect of the event from getting sponsorship to liaising for traffic police escort to ensure the safety of the runners. 

In line with UCSI’s praxis™ approach of hands-on learning, this experience is clearly one that the pharmacy students enjoy. 

“It is different when we are actually out there and meeting people to get the job done. We learned how to communicate with people, like sponsors, in a non-classroom setting,” says Cheong Sok May, the event’s organising chairperson. 

The proceeds from the ABC Day will be used to fund the 13th UCSI Annual Public Health Campaign (UCSI PHC). Held annually since 2002, this is a public awareness campaign that sees UCSI’s pharmacy students, under the guidance of their lecturers, conduct free health screening tests. The event will also have health exhibitions and a drug compounding session. 

This year’s UCSI PHC is themed, “Treasure your Health, Prevent Diabetes”, and will be held on the 26 – 27 July 2014.