Having a ‘run-time’ of their life
If you were in Kandy last Saturday, lots of young people in white T-shirts with “RUN” printed in bold across their chests, actually running here
Lions team: The roaring winners
and there may have got in the way of your leisurely morning. No, they didn’t want you to run from anything, but to run for better health.
A lot of us have a general understanding that it is good to have a healthy lifestyle, but not many of us realize how unhealthy our lifestyles generally are. RUN, a health-awareness project built around the tag-line “Stay Healthy” was organized by the Gateway College Alumni Society and the Rotaract Club of Kandy to bring this concept to light.
Running, jogging and walking are simple and effective ways of maintaining health and fitness, and the concept for RUN was based on this fact. Teams of 2-4 took part, performing a number of health and fitness related tasks as well as random activities assigned to them at RUN “checkpoints” stationed across Kandy city.The single and final command at each checkpoint for the teams was: “Run!”
Team “Lions” who won the first place cash prize of Rs.30,000 were in fact one of the younger participating teams, having four members between the ages of 11 and 19. They finished the full event with a timing of 153 minutes.
The ICBT challenge: Skipping for 60 seconds
“It wasn’t just a run, it was interesting,” said team leader Dinuk Ratwatte. “We learnt a lot at each station.”
One of the most educational checkpoints was the first, at Torrington Square sponsored by Flora, which teams discovered by deciphering a crossword puzzle on a “clue sheet” they were handed on registration. Here, one of the basic measures of health and fitness levels – BMI or Body Mass Index of individual participants was calculated.
Dinuk was greatly encouraged by the fact that his team-mate and younger brother, 11-year-old Dinara, was first introduced to the concept here, and that they were all prodded at another station to creatively reconsider the implications of smoking, by colouring in and titling an emotive stencil.
Runners-up team “Clenzos” received a month’s free membership at Kandy’s newest state-of-the-art fitness facility, Sky Gym, for having completed the event in 163 minutes. “We felt healthy and really happy that we completed it,” said team member Jameel Hassan, “and even more happy when they announced us as Runners-up!”
Ready, steady, go: 15 minutes to come up with a creative health-based radio jingle
Jameel feels that their team performed well at probably the most physically challenging checkpoint on the list: the Fire Station.
The teams started this challenge by running up the stairs to the first floor of the building and coming down the escape ladder from the balcony. Then they traced their way, as fast as possible, along a pre-set track rolling beneath fire trucks and climbing back up the ladder to the first floor again. This time, they came down to the ground floor via the sliding pole.
While many of the participants hesitated at this step (some needed quite a lot of encouragement and cajoling to work up enough courage to take the twenty-foot drop), one of the check-point volunteers, Rehan, took only a few hours to become a pro at it. “I’ve been doing it all day,” he laughed, while demonstrating yet again for another participant. “Just hold tight, no matter what.”
To complete the Fire Brigade challenge, team members were made to haul hoses. Two participants stand one behind the other, the one in front with a hose firmly grasped in his arms, the other pushing him from behind. The motor
Slippery challenges: Down the sliding pole at the fire brigade. Pix by Ushan Malshika
on the water pump rumbles as a fire-fighter powers it up, the hose bulges, and water begins literally exploding out of the hose. The players start walking across the parking lot. It’s a simple matter of 30 feet, but with water spurting at 3barr pressure, they are now dragging a load equivalent to 25kg with them. Not all the teams managed to make it through this round.
Dinuk, from the winning team, agrees that this was physically the most challenging part of the race, but also points out the “jingle” checkpoint was more challenging, though in a different way.
“That was, well, awkward!” he said, laughing.
This checkpoint was set up at the E-Soft campus on Peradeniya road. Teams were given a keyword from a list including “proteins”, “calories”, “diabetes”, “carbohydrates” and “pressure” and then 15 minutes to come up with a creative radio jingle of 20-30 seconds, centred on that word.
“They were quite funny,” laughed checkpoint official and Rotaract member Fawaz, “we [had] having a happy time of it!”
The challenge at the Gateway Graduate School Checkpoint was of a culinary nature. Participants were given desiccated coconut, ground chillie, salt, lime and onions and asked to create the best-tasting pol sambol they could. Reportedly, some frantic phone calls were made from this checkpoint, conversations beginning something like “Ammi, how do you make pol sambol!?” Volunteers at this checkpoint were probably stuffed that day from having tested the participants’ creations, to pass or fail the teams.
The young men participating in RUN managed to cook up a decent pol sambol, “for spoilt boys”, joked checkpoint official and Gateway College alumnus Onida. She pointed out the fact that there were no female participants at RUN, guessing they would have found it easier than the boys, also highlighting the fact that Kandy’s ladies seem not to be so enthusiastic on fitness.
Exercise and general fitness is an integral part of staying healthy, and Sky Gym sponsorship of the event conveyed this message clearly. This new state-of-the-art fitness facility in Kandy also served as a checkpoint for the event. Here, teams were given a short exercise routine including push-ups and squats. While the routines were not so easy for the younger participants, most teams completed this challenge within two minutes. The ICBT Checkpoint challenge was similar to that at Sky Gym, 60 seconds non-stop skipping to test their physical stamina.
The checkpoint behind the Bogambara Stadium highlighted the role of casual sports in staying healthy. Teams were given a soccer ball with which they were instructed to run a particular course and then score two goals.
For a first-time event of such nature to be held in Kandy, RUN created quite a splash and left a strong impact on its participants, encouraging them to get fit and learn more on how to do it effectively. Unfortunately, unavoidable circumstances leading to schedule changes dropped participation from an originally estimated 200 to around 40, but the organizers are not discouraged. They hope to reorganize the event for next year and keep pushing for a healthier community.