Community spirit of Champathon leads to generous support for student financial aid
In an inspiring show of support for students in financial need, 2,850 participants from Duke-NUS, SingHealth and the general public clocked an impressive finish during the inaugural Champathon virtual run, covering 217,522km and raising over $75,000 for the Student Financial Aid Fund.
As a graduate-entry medical school, Duke-NUS attracts students with diverse backgrounds. However, while pursuing the calling of medicine, some students quietly shoulder heavy financial burdens, such as coping with retrenchment of family members or having to support multiple dependents. Over 60% of Duke-NUS students currently receive some form of financial assistance.
Special thanks to the top 790 participants, who went all out to support our students by running 100km or more within a mere 28 days!
The amount raised will empower Duke-NUS students with financial need to complete clinical training and research that will one day save countless lives and unlock new treatments to diseases. Among them is Ms Katherine Nay Yaung, an MD-PhD student researching the autoimmune disease lupus, who was encouraged by the community’s support. “I’ve heard a lot about Champathon over the past few weeks and am so glad that people took the time to participate. Thank you so much to everyone for committing your time and effort to Champathon, an initiative that will benefit so many of us students at Duke-NUS!”
Lincoln and Deborah were the 1st and 3rd place runners respectively, among Duke-NUS and SingHealth participants.
Celebrating our biggest champions
Out of all the participants, 790 completed the stretch goal of walking or running 100km during the month-long race in February. Among Duke-NUS and SingHealth participants, Mr Lincoln Fong Yee Wei and Ms Deborah Seah Hui Sin stood out as the top male and female runners, respectively.
Lincoln, a Lead Clinical Research Coordinator from Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), clocked a phenomenal 1070.43km over 28 days due to his admirable discipline and strategy. “I planned at least a half-marathon distance daily after work and ultra-marathon distance on every weekend or off day including Chinese New Year. My legs couldn’t take it after a few runs in the first few days. So I just alternated running and walking on weekdays. For the weekend ultra-marathon distance, I spent most of the time brisk walking, as I would rather conserve my stamina to cover a longer distance. I’m glad that I also had the moral support from my wife throughout the event.”
Deborah, a Senior Executive from Duke-NUS Medical School’s Information Technology Department, came in with an impressive mileage of 685km. “I enjoyed the Champathon very much and it has driven me to exercise at a greater intensity than my usual exercise regime. I ate a lot of my favourite bak kwa and pineapple tarts during Chinese New Year, thus I was extremely motivated to burn away the calories and to continue working on my weight loss goal. It was also my peak period at work in the month of February and running helped me to destress. More importantly, I believe in this meaningful cause of championing our future clinicians and I feel passionate about it, especially when my boss encouraged our IT Dept to participate in two teams which has made this event very fun.”
Congratulations and deepest thanks to all participants and supporters, for going the distance together and being tireless champions of our future clinicians at Duke-NUS!
(If you wish to give to Student Financial Aid Fund or know more about the impact of giving to the Fund, you can do so through Giving.sg or this link.)
Top teams among Duke-NUS and SingHealth Participants
1st place winners Team SERI from Singapore Eye Research Institute – (from top; L-R) Chua Xin Yi, Anna Sim, Kelly Wong, Stella Ng, Ooi Ya Ying, Lincoln Fong, Marlina Tay and Evelin Tan.
2nd place winners Team ITDEPT1 from Duke-NUS Medical School Information Technology Department – (from top; L-R) Irwin Wong, Loh Swee Nam, Esther Wan, Charmiine Ng, Deborah Seah, Teh Hsin Yee, Goh Liang Shing, Fahmeeda Banu.
3rd place winners Team KATSU (Duke-NUS staff + friends of Duke-NUS) – (from top; L-R) Charles Low, Desiree Ong, Katsu (the team mascot), Lim Eng Soon, Jiang Peiyun, Anirudh Sharma, Karen Chang, Nicole Lim, Jason Low.
Most Creative Team Photo winners LEADSHIELD22 from KK Women's and Children's Hospital and Singapore General Hospital – Luke Toh, S Chandramohan, Tan Poh Hwa, Xiong Hong Fang, Ho Hee Shen, Freya Bulacan Jayma, Natalie Grace Fontiveros Feguro, Lai Hui Qi.