Singapore, 19 February 2012 - For the third consecutive year, the Men's Health Urbanathlon, an obstacle race organised by SPH Magazines and sports event management company HiVelocity today, received rave reviews from both participants and sponsors. 

Engineered to be significantly tougher than the race in 2011, the Urbanathlon 2012 - a mix of nine new and upgraded obstacles along a 14km course - pushed each of the 2,300 participants' fitness levels to the limit. However, despite the increased difficulty of the race, the runners were full of praise for its uniqueness and innovative formula.

Some of the toughest obstacles in this year's high-octane race included Corporate Ladder, where runners had to ascend and descend the viewing gallery of The Float@Marina Bay; Monkey Business, where participants were required to swing across four sets of monkey bars placed side by side - laterally, instead of longitudinally; and Down And Dirty, the final obstacle which consisted of two skip tanks - one filled with mud, and the other with water.

Individual category winners

At the end of the race, this year's individual category was won by Thomas Kiprotich, with a timing of 50 minutes and 51 seconds. The 24 year-old Kenyan proudly walked home with S$10,000 worth of prizes. Clinching the second place with a timing of 52 minutes and 59 seconds was 40 year-old British Mark Williams, while Foo Gen Lin, a 28 year-old Malaysian took third place with a timing of 53 minutes and eight seconds.

Corporate category champion

This year's race also featured a new corporate category, where more than 90 corporate teams, each comprising three to five runners, slugged it out for the grand prize worth up to S$10,000. A team of three Nepalese runners, Dev Rai, 30, Nabin Kumar Rai, 28 and Kamal Magar, 30, from the Singapore Police Force emerged victorious. The teams from the Singapore Prison Service and Morgan Stanley took second and third place respectively. 

Runners with a cause

Another noteworthy moment of this year's Urbanathlon was when paratheletes Adam Kamis ("One Arm Runner") and Shariff Abdullah ("Singapore Blade Runner") crossed the finished line in an amazing display of grit and determination. Adam and Shariff took part in the race for the first time to help raise the awareness of disabled athletes in Singapore.

Mr Shariff Adbullah, 43, completed the entire race and successfully conquered all nine obstacles. He said: "I took part in the Men's Health Urbanathlon to challenge myself and hopefully, in the process, inspire other disabled Singaporeans to live life to the fullest. As I arrived at each obstacle, I told myself that I can overcome it as long as I believed in myself. The other participants and their supporters were also very encouraging and supported me along the way. It was a wonderful experience."

Other celebrities who took part in the race were ESPN presenter and ex-Formula One race car driver Alex Yoong and award-winning author Neil Humphreys.

Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development, and Member of Parliament for East Coast GRC, was present as Guest of Honour for this event.

Mr Sherwin Chua, Editor of Men's Health, said: "For three consecutive years, the race has been a hit with runners. We would like to thank the race participants for making it a bigger success than last year's. We designed this year's event to be more challenging, but at the same time also more fun. We will continue to improve the race, so participants can expect it to be even better in 2013."

The excitement did not end after runners completed their race. After collecting their finishers' T-shirts and medals, Urbanathletes joined in the fun at the post-race carnival, where they got to take home a commemorative snapshot, recover with sports massage, try out new products and games at sponsors' booths, and enjoy the complimentary food and beer which flowed freely.

"This year's Men's Health Urbanathlon received a tremendous amount of support and positive feedback from our sponsors and partners, and we would like to thank them for contributing to its success," said Mr Eugene Low, Deputy Managing Director, SPH Magazines. "We'll continue to capitalise on this achievement to organise an even better Urbanathlon event for both runners and sponsors next year."

The Singapore Men's Health Urbanathlon is jointly organised by SPH Magazines and HiVelocity, and presented by Subaru. Adidas is official apparel of this race, and the main sponsors include Biotherm Homme, Davidoff Fragrances, 3M Futuro, Guess Watches, Kaplan, Olympus Tough, Polar, Redken and Sony Ericsson. Event partners are Durex, H-Two-O and True Fitness.

ISSUED BY SPH MAGAZINES PTE LTD. 

Co. Regn No.: 196900476M 

For photographs of the event and more information, please contact:

Adrian Cheong

Manager, Corporate Communications

Singapore Press Holdings Ltd

DID: 6319 2261

Vicky Yong

Team Lead, Marketing

Men's Health

SPH Magazines Pte Ltd

DID: 6319 6190

Denise Khoo

HiVelocity Pte Ltd

DID: 6372 6831

About SPH Magazines

A leading publisher in Singapore and the region, SPH Magazines Pte Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of media organisation Singapore Press Holdings Limited. 

With a proven track record for sterling editorial content, award-winning designs and creative solutions, SPH Magazines raises the bar as a dynamic publisher. In its stable are about 100 titles in the region, in English, Chinese and other languages, covering lifestyle, fashion, beauty, society, bridal, health, men's lifestyle, automobile, parenting, decor, new media and business. All the newsstand publications, including flagship title Her World, and other titles such as Female, Cleo, The Women's Weekly, The Peak, Home & Decor, Nuyou, Torque and HWM are among the highest-circulating titles and best-read in their respective lifestyle categories. It also publishes Harper's BAZAAR and Cosmopolitan in Singapore and Malaysia with Hearst Magazines International.

In addition, websites such as herworldPLUS.com and HardwareZone.com have extended its reach online, engaging readers with interactive content, capturing audience beyond print. 

SPH Magazines' established editorial unit provides excellent custom publishing services to major corporate clients by producing custom lifestyle magazines, newsletters and other collaterals to meet their business needs. clickTRUE Pte Ltd, an associate company of SPH Magazines, is a Pay Per Performance online marketing company specialising in Online Media Planning, Search Engine Marketing and Optimisation, Web Analytics Consultancy and Landing Page Optimisation. 

With a vision to continue regional growth, SPH Magazines is set to hold a leading position in publishing in Asia, with a presence in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines and Vietnam. 

In line with this vision, SPH Magazines acquired 34% of Antarctica Interactive Private Limited, the holding company of the Luxury Insider Group. It is an integrated luxury media company which owns online publications Luxury-Insider.com, Inluxe.cn, as well as the luxury print BACCARAT Magazine in Hong Kong. Other titles include Luxury Properties, Action Asia, Asia-Pacific Boating, China Boating, JET Asia Pacific and Asia-Pacific Spa published through wholly owned subsidiary, Blu Inc Media, in China and Hong Kong. 

As a Publisher of Choice, SPH Magazines aims to deliver the best to meet the diverse needs and interests of readers and advertisers.

About Men's Health Singapore

Men's Health is the "100% Useful" magazine for the sophisticated and active man focusing on men's fitness, health, sex and relationships, grooming and style. Men's Health is Singapore's no. 1 men's magazine, with a readership of 96,000 (Source: AC Nielsen Media Index 2011). For more information and to subscribe, log on to menshealth.com.sg.

About HiVelocity Events Pte Ltd

Started by athletes, HiVelocity Events is a company built on pure passion and love for sports. The company specialises in sports marketing and sports event management. HiVelocity Events is amongst the top sports event agencies in Singapore and has developed quality sporting events in Asia for a diverse range of organisations and audiences. 

It is the company's vision to inspire, motivate and create a great sporting experience for all. Successful large-scale events include the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore Triathlon, which is the best organised Ironman 70.3 in the Asia and offers qualifying slots to the World Championships. Other well-received events include the 2011 Nike We Run SG, adidas King Of The Road, J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge. The company is also the creator and organiser of the unique Sundown Marathon - Singapore's only night run that consists of a 100km ultra marathon race.www.hivelocity.com.sg.
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Ce noodl a été diffusé par SPH - Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. et publié initialement sur http://www.sph.com.sg. Il a été distribué par noodls le 2012-02-20 07:57:38 AM sans aucune modification. L’émetteur est seul responsable de l’exactitude des informations fournies.