CGH
Staff Rallies for
Health Relay 100
CGH
co-organised the second President’s Challenge
Health Relay 100 (PC HR100) with SingHealth this year.
Many supporters valiantly “sacrificed” their beauty
sleep
and leisure time to participate in the overnight President’s
Challenge Health Relay Run from 9 to 10 July 2005.
Commemorating the 100 years of medical education in
Singapore, 300 staff of 24 healthcare and affiliated
organisations ran a 100km relay, passing through hospitals
and key healthcare institutions throughout Singapore. The
CGH team, comprising 17 runners ran a 9km stretch from
CGH to Parkway Parade in the middle of the night.
More than 100 patients and survivors of serious illnesses
such as breast cancer, stroke, diabetes, and heart and lung
transplant including some young asthma patients also
participated in a 2.2 km “Walk-a-Jog with Survivors” on
the
morning of 10 July 2005.
 Joined by another 1200 staff from numerous public and
private healthcare organisations, this walk of solidarity with
the survivors was flagged off by Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Minister
for Health from a field at the junction of Havelock Road and
Clemenceau Avenue. Joining him was Dr Vivian Balakrishnan,
Minister for Community Development, and several hospital
CEOs.
The relay and walk-a-jog ended at the National Dental Centre
where the runners were received by the Guest-of-Honour,
President S R Nathan with great fanfare.
Mr See Hung Foo, Deputy Chairman of Medical Board, CGH and Chairman
of the Organising Committee said, “When the runners
ran in with their institution flags, it was a majestic sight, and
definitely a proud moment for everyone. The public and private
healthcare institutions have come forward and work together for a
common good.”
$300,000 was raised through a myriad of fundraising activities including
pledge card drives, corporate donations and the “Adopta-
Step” fundraising drive.
These funds will benefit the 47 beneficiaries under the President’s
Challenge. Amongst them are young children with special
needs, elderly in dire straits, families in crisis, patients with
serious illnesses, the terminally ill and the handicapped.
IS Executive, Edmund Lee was the team leader for the CGH Health Relay
team. He
was bitten by the running bug after he joined the CGH running club
in 2004. His
account about his experience running the Health Relay:
“ This is my second President’s
Challenge with CGH. CGH had 17 runners from different departments
participating in the relay. Our plan was to complete the
9km leg from CGH to Marine Parade together!
At 3:30am, I arrived at CGH. A few other runners were already getting ready for
the relay and doing their stretching, while others were pacing around with their
water bottles in hand, getting themselves adequately hydrated before the run.
By 4:00am, almost everyone had arrived and we started doing our warm-up exercises
together. As the minutes went by, I was getting increasingly anxious to start
our relay leg.
Finally, the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore’s runners arrived and
we received the baton (the “East-West Pennant Scroll”). With that,
our conquest of the CGH – Marine Parade route began! Like a flash, our
entire team was hitting onto Simei Street 3, towards Simei Avenue. The feeling
was exhilarating as we were treated like “Kings of the road”, with
the traffic police stopping traffic to pave the way for us!
Shortly after turning into Upper East Coast Road, the front runners were slowly
breaking away from the slower runners And the gap just got bigger and bigger
as the “power houses” were finally showing their prowess! Being the
team leader, I had to constantly ask the adrenaline-pumped runners to slow down
so that the slower runners could catch up. There was applause of encouragement
when the back runners reunited with the group for our final lap towards the Marine
Parade transfer point. We reached the transfer point as a team in 1 hour and
10 minutes. The East – West Pennant scroll was successfully passed to the
SingHealth Polyclinic team to continue their relay leg to Raffles Hospital.
At 7:00am, runners representing different institutions gathered at Raffles Hospital
to run the last 3.6km leg, from Raffles Hospital to Health Sciences Authority.
Besides running this last leg, I was also tasked to carry the East – West
Pennant scroll to hand it over to the President when we arrive at National Dental
Centre.
This is the most enduring run I had ever done as my calf muscles ached with every
stride I took. Spurred on by the charitable cause and the encouragement from
my colleagues, I gritted my teeth and pressed on until I completed the final
leg.
At 8:00am, flag bearers for all participating institutions were lined up with
the two pennant bearers following behind. After the emcee announced for pennants
to be passed to the President, I walked up the stage and handed over the pennant.
Wow! I felt proud to represent CGH.”
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