Running Is More Than Just A Sport

Banjamin Quek tells us why he thinks that running is more than just a sport.

Banjamin Quek fell into his passion for running almost entirely by chance. The 27-year-old freelance tutor, who recently graduated from the National University of Singapore’s School of Engineering, is a pretty impressive middle-distance roadrunner, with a HalfMarathon Personal Best time of 01:16:23.

He counts the five to 21km distances as his most confident race categories, but he was not always a sporty person.

“When I was 13 years old, my main claim to fame was that I was good at video games. I did not exercise, and I loved to indulge in late night suppers, feasting on unhealthy foods like fried chicken. My parents would also encourage me to eat more, as it was the typical Asian way of showing love,” he tells us.

The young Banjamin was a chubby little fellow, though he did join a uniformed group upon enrolling into Secondary School. It did not bode well initially, because of the physically intense nature of a uniformed group’s activities. He could not do a single push-up, was unable to even finish a 2.4km run, and it didn’t take too long before he was sidelined during team games.

He says, “The rejection was real, and while I could have chosen to mope about it and direct the blame elsewhere, I knew that I was genuinely out of shape, and decided to do something positive about it."

The plan was for him to lose weight, and also get fit enough to join in the games and outdoor activities with the rest of his schoolmates.

He started running, as he had been told that it was the fastest way to lose weight and gain fitness. Like any overweight teenager though, the start was rough, but rather than seeing it as a chore he sought to get inspired through running.