Jog For Hope 2012

15 July 2012. The alarm rang at 5.00am. Quickly getting out of bed in no time at all, they were on the way to Taylor’s College Sri Hartamas (TCSH). More specifically, 1800 of them. Why? For Jog for Hope 2012, the annual charity run organised by the students of Taylor’s College Sri Hartamas. What started out as a simple idea for charity by Chua Kee Aik, the president of the Tree Huggers Club and founder of Jog for Hope, had become a popular event amongst the community in the Sri Hartamas area. Jog for Hope has even reached to people from Seremban and Pahang as well, with participants from many states traveling all the way to Taylor’s College Sri Hartamas to participate Jog for Hope 2012. This year the beneficiary for Jog for Hope 2012 was Support for Parents, Children and Infants Through Early Services (SPICES). SPICES deal with children with learning difficulties and development delays. They help these children to fit into society and also realise their full potential.

Although it is an annual event but the people behind the scenes - the Jog for Hope committee members along with the student council of TCSH - are a fresh batch of students without much experience in organising an event with the magnitude like Jog for Hope. However, they had the determination, dedication and spirit in wanting to do contribute back to society and make Jog for Hope 2012 the best Jog for Hope yet. Leading the team was Brandon Tang who like everyone else was recruited in March and immediately started their job in planning for Jog for Hope 2012. Helping them out along the way were the advisors from the ECA Office who put in as much effort as the committee members.

Prior to Jog for Hope 2012, the committee members worked really hard in promoting Jog for Hope to the local community and had them join. This year, the committee introduced an early bird promotion for two weeks from the 14th of May. Also, a new distance was introduced - the 3KM Fun Run - for those who just wanted to run for charity. It was given a positive response from the public and about a third of participants opted to join it. As the day of the event was nearing the fasting month, many other runs were held around the same time. However, instead of demotivating the team, it spurred them on to keep on the good work for the children at SPICES.

The registration for the event started at 5.30am in the morning. The emcees for the event pumped up the mood for the early crowd into getting ready for the event. By 7.00am, the vicinity of Sri Hartamas had literally turned into a sea of people! Even moving from inside campus to outside became tough as one would need to push through tens of people. Slightly after 7.30am, a warm-up session was done by Fitness First who was also an official sponsor of Jog for Hope 2012. The crowd really liked the session and simply, it got them excited to start jogging for hope!

Flagging off the run was Mr. Lim Tou Boon, president of Taylor’s Education Group. At the sound of the bang, the road was full of people running but in no time at all, it was empty again with all the runners speeding off into the distance. The VIPs present went for a 1KM run. Children from SPICES whom the committee elected to call to attend the run were also present. Needless to say, the children had a wonderful time jogging albeit they got a little tired after that.

The first runner back was a 10 year-old girl, Kristina Price who participated in the 3KM run. After that, runners from the 3KM category started streaming in followed by the 6KM and 10KM category later. The committee was well prepared in receiving the runners at the finishing line and sorted out the winners in no time.

The climax of the event was the prize giving ceremony as well as the presentation of the mock cheque to the president of SPICES, Mr. Simon Hock. At the end, Jog for Hope 2012 managed to raise funds amounting up to RM29,000. This was RM4,000 up the previous year’s collection. However, when the dust has settled, it is effort that the everyone involved put into the event that matters. We all should play our part in helping those in need of help and through this event, that objective is met. Everyone will be looking forward for a better Jog for Hope next year with more funds and greater success. Jog for Hope 2013 can’t come sooner!

BY BRANDON TANG KAH CHUN