BY James Kon

Achieving over 440,000 steps, 53-year-old Lim Chun Kiat claimed first place in the 1 Billion Steps Together challenge – ‘BN on the Move’ campaign.

The winner, along with another 19 top participants who achieved the most steps in the challenge, received their prizes in a ceremony organised by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in collaboration with EVYD Technology Sdn Bhd at the Health Promotion Centre (HPC) on Wednesday.

Also receiving prizes were the first 10 participants who registered in the BN on the Move campaign and the 1 Billion Steps Together challenge.

HPC head Dr Hajah Norhayati binti Haji Mohammad Kassim handed over the prizes.

In an interview, Lim Chun Kiat expressed happiness on the unexpected reward.

With a passion for hiking and walking, Lim Chun Kiat can reach up to 50,000 steps in a day.

Working as a forwarder, he said, “My job also requires me to walk quite a distance every day.

“I feel that walking is good for the health and also important in leading a healthy lifestyle. I have enjoyed walking and hiking since I was in my 20’s and I will continue with the hobby.”

While lauding the campaign as he felt that it was a brilliant initiative, he hoped that more people will participate in the next challenge.

Meanwhile, Ling Sie How said he was surprised that he was placed second.

“Before arriving at the ceremony, I was told that I was in the top 20. I was not expecting my name to be announced as the second place winner, but I was on cloud nine upon receiving the prize,” he said.

On his feat, the 33-year-old said, “I found out that I reached around 440,000 steps in the campaign. If time and weather permitted, I would go for a morning and afternoon running session of between eight and 10 kilometres (km) per day.

“If I am feeling good, I sometimes push myself to run up to 15km per day. I am a site supervisor so I do a lot of walking and this also contributed to my total number of steps.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing badminton, but since I arrived in Brunei for work, I was not able to find a badminton partner and I decided to jog to lead a healthy lifestyle. This was in 2012.

At the same time, I took the opportunity to join local running events.”

His advice for the public wishing to begin jogging is to start with brisk walking and then increase the distance of jogging slowly and steadily. “With the will to walk or run, everyone can achieve a healthy lifestyle,” he added.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Faiz bin Mohd Ali was in third place. The BN on the Move is a health campaign to promote the new feature in the BruHealth app.

Its launch marks the beginning of the 1 Billion Steps Together challenge aimed to promote a healthy lifestyle through walking or increasing the level of physical activities by keeping track of the number of steps each day.

In general, adults are encouraged to lead an active lifestyle and walk at least 10,000 steps per day.

Among the benefits of physical activities such as walking are to prevent or manage various diseases including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer and type 2 diabetes; improve blood sugar levels; maintain a healthy weight and lose body fat; strengthen joint muscles; and slowing the ageing process.

The BN on the Move campaign and the 1 Billion Steps Together challenge was launched on August 14 at Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien.

Over 43,000 individuals joined the challenge completed in eight days, three hours and 41 minutes, a shorter time than the initial expectation of one month.

The BN on the Move campaign and the 1 Billion Steps Together challenge are also supported by Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), Imagine Sdn Bhd (imagine), Datastream Digital Sdn Bhd (DST), Gleneagles JPMC Sdn Bhd, Progresif Sdn Bhd, Pantai Jerudong Specialist Centre (PJSC), Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd (RB), Jerudong Park Medical Centre (JPMC), Perbadanan Tabung Amanah Islam Brunei (Perbadanan TAIB), Arrowtech Group, The Empire Brunei and Fitness Zone.

The MoH will launch the next challenge under the BN on the Move initiative and will announce to the public once it is ready to be implemented.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin