1ArmRunner

Welcome to 1ArmRunner's Blog Site. The site is still a work-in-progress. Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.

In this blog site, you will get to know a little more about me, 1ArmRunner, my dreams, my accomplishments and others.

Anyway, I hope through my runs (and recently, swims too), it will help to raise public-awareness about disability sports and also, I hope it will lead to increase participation among the disabled in sport as it has a rehabilitative effect and will make one active, and in the process, allow one to make new friends along the way.

In addition, through my achievements, I hope it will sends a message to others like me who has physical disabilities that they are still able to achieve greatness in spite of the obstacles. My spirit is best reflected by my own personal mantra, "What you want to do, and what you can do, is limited only by what you can dream." Therefore I hope, it will give people around me the courage to reach for and accomplish their dreams. Before I end this welcome note, I will like to thank the following for their wonderful support, believe, encouragement and contribution:

My family, Ally, my friends, Singapore General Hospital staff, 1 Guards 10th Mono Intake commanders & men, MAN Diesel & Turbo Singapore Staff, Swissôtel & Fairmont Singapore staff, Singapore Press Holdings staff, Singapore Polytechnic Graduates Guild staff, Singapore Disability Sports Council staff, JS Athletics coaches, Mediacorp Press staff, Mediacorp Radio Station staff, Singapore Sports Council staff, Tan Tock Seng Hospital staff, Standard Chartered, Fulford Public Relations staff, UOL Group Limited, Velocity, HiVelocity, Band staff, Keypower International, Haffiz from MyRunningAddiction, Alex, Mike & Saffry from Adidas, Patrick from 2xSFB Sports, Bryan & Brenda from One Putt, Kenneth & Kristian from Sports 360, Ocean Health staff, MP Mr. Teo Ser Luck, North East CDC and MP Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan.

Last but most important of all, I will like to dedicate all my achievements to a special person in my life and a long-time friend who both are no longer around. The first is my late grandmother and the second person is is my ex-Guardsmate, Hau Teck.

My Dream - Living Life To The Fullest

How you can help

Just like anyone, we disabled are no exceptions; we too have dreams. And my dream is living my life to the fullest, living to its full potential and making it a very meaningful journey by helping to raise public-awarness about disability sports, being an inspiration and motivation to others, and helping those in need.

My dream consist of the following:

1. To be an ironman by participating and completing a full ironman triathlon event by 2013.

2. To be a complete ultramarathoner by participating and completing the 4 deserts race including the ultra-trail du mount-blanc by 2014.

3. To participate and compete in major overseas marathons such as the new york marathon, boston marathon, london marathon, berlin marathon and tokyo marathon.

4. To participate and compete in major overseas vertical marathons such as the Taipei 101 International Run Up Race and the Empire State Building Run Up.

5. To set-up a successful business in the sports industry where disabled individuals will be offered positions in the company and part of the monthly company profits will be donated to charity and/or used for good causes such as spnsoring disabled athletes/teams and etc.

However, to make the above-mentioned dreams come true, I'll be requiring help, assistance, donations, pledges, contributions, sponsorships and investments from individuals, groups, corporate organisations, benefactors and investors which I'm currently searching for.

If you are very much interested to help turn my dream into reality, or know of anyone that can, please contact me. And if you would like to donate/pledge, you may use one of the following methods:

Local Bank Funds Transfer

POSB Savings Bank

Bank Code - 7171

Branch Code - 081

Account No. - 052-15804-4

Name - Adam Bin Kamis

Overseas Bank Funds Transfer

For US Currency

Pay To - Bank of New York Mellon, New York

Swift Code - irvtus3n

Aba No. - 021000018

A/C Of - DBS Bank, Singapore

Swift Code - dbsssgsg

Overseas Bank Funds Transfer

Non-US Currency

Pay To - DBS Bank, 6 Shenton Way, DBS Building, Singapore 068809

Swift Code - dbsssgsg

Cheque/Money order

Please make the crossed cheque / money order payable to 'Adam Bin Kamis' and post/mail it to:

'Blk 296, Yishun Street 20, #06-07, Singapore 760296'

Credit/Debit Card

via PayPal - oboogah@gmail.com

Cash

Please contact me.

Currently, I'm having a couple of fundraising projects which are in need of donations, pledges and sponsors:

1. Bike Fundraising Project *urgent*

2. ING New York City Marathon Dream

Please check the above projects out and please help to spread-the-word.

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Bike Fundraising Project

How you can help

My determination and will power to succeed against all odds and hopefully, one day, realizing one of my dreams: To become an Ironman.

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break.

By participating and completing this event, I hope to prove to society that 'Disabled does not mean Unabled, we are in fact THISabled' and at the same time, to raise public-awareness about disability sports, to garner more support and contribution from the public towards disability sports and its athletes, to increase participation of disabled community in sports, and, to inspire and motivate others.

But to be able to accomplished such feat, I require a huge amount of help from individuals, groups and corporate organizations in terms of financial support, products sponsorships and etc, which I'm still searching and seeking.

One of the immediate and urgent help I need is fund to purchase the Cannondale Road Tandem 2 (http://cannasia.com/bike/recreation-urban/tandem/road/road-tandem-2) and cycling accessories. I have less than 3 weeks to raise an amount of SGD5,000, and so far total amount raised is SGD1150.00.

Together with a cycling buddy to help me balance and steer, the bike will allow me to train my cycling and also, allow me to participate in local cycling and triathlon events, and thus allowing me to spread my quest and mission in raising the profile of disability sports and inspiring more people until I'm able to source a modified/customised bike or trike which will allow me to balance and steer by myself.

So if you would like to donate or pledge to the fund-raising project for my bike, you may do so via one of the following methods:

Local Bank Funds Transfer

POSB Savings Bank

Bank Code - 7171

Branch Code - 081

Account No. - 052-15804-4

Name - Adam Bin Kamis

Overseas Bank Funds Transfer

For US Currency

Pay To - Bank of New York Mellon, New York

Swift Code - irvtus3n

Aba No. - 021000018

A/C Of - DBS Bank, Singapore

Swift Code - dbsssgsg

Overseas Bank Funds Transfer

Non-US Currency

Pay To - DBS Bank, 6 Shenton Way, DBS Building, Singapore 068809

Swift Code - dbsssgsg

Cheque/Money order

Please make the crossed cheque / money order payable to 'Adam Bin Kamis' and post/mail it to:

'Blk 296, Yishun Street 20, #06-07, Singapore 760296'

Credit/Debit Card

via PayPal - oboogah@gmail.com

Cash

Please contact me.

All donations and pledges received will be treated with integrity.

If you have any enquiry, question or in need of clarifications, feel free to ask me.

I thank you all in advance for your support and contributions.

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Article from My Paper

About Me

January 30 2012

Life's no obstacle for one-armed runner Adam

By Daryll Nanayakara

A horrific motorcycle accident nine years ago severed one of Adam's arms and left the other paralysed.

However, that is not stopping Adam from being the first disabled athlete to take part in Men's Health Ubanathlon on Feb 19.

The freelance graphics designer is determined to tackle the nine obstacles along the 14km course with the help of his younger brother, Kamsani, despite his disability.

The gruelling Urbanathlon is in its third year and will take its men-only participants on an obstacle-course route through the city.

Several new challenges have been added to this year's race, such as Quantum Leap, where participant have to jump over five 1.3m high horizontal beams, and Down and Dirty, where they have to wade across a water hole and a mud pit in skip tanks.

The five fastest contestants in the individual category stand to win prizes worth almost $2,000 to $10,000.

However, for Adam, just being given the chance to participate in the event is a bonus.

He though of taking part in the Urbanathlon two years ago, but decided against it, after considering his condition.

However, after completing the 100km marathon at last year's Sundown Marathon, he decided to revisit the idea of taking on the obstacle course.

"After the 100km run, I thought to myself, 'What's next?', The Urbanathlon seemed like the next step forward in pushing myself," he said.

"It is like a glorified version of the Standard Obstacle Course that I cleared during my national-service days."

The former Guards officer approached the Urbanathlon organiser and got permission to take part, with his younger brother helping him along the course.

They have yet to come up with a plan on negotiating the obstacles. Al they have done so far is analyse illustrations of the course, and hope that everything works out.

"The goal is to overcome the obstacle as much as we can," he said. "It comes with a big risk of injury but using myself as a tool is the only way to do it."

The only obstacle that he will not clear is Monkey Business, as participants are required to swing across four sets of horizontal bars.

"That one requires arm power entirely, and even with my brother helping, there's just no way I can do it." he explained.

Adam, who runs in marathons under the moniker "1ArmRunner", hopes that his participation will pave the way for other disabled athletes to enter such competitions.

He said: "I use myself as a tool to inspire and motivate them. Yes, we cannot compete at the same level as most people but I want to prove to people that we disabled athletes deserve equal opportunities and respect."

The former marine engineer started running in 2008 on the advice of his doctor, in order to build up his stamina and muscle mass in preparation for a complicated 15-hour procedure on his paralysed left arm.

Doctors will need to harvest muscle from his thighs and nerves from his diaphragm for the operation, which is expected to affect his ability to run, eventually.

He will go for the operation in 2014. In the meantime, he aims to run as much as he can.

Every weekend is spent at running events, from short-distance runs to longer ultramarathons, he said.

He trains almost every day, doing interval runs, conditioning exercises and going on loops of up to 35km around the Yishun estate where he lives.

While his devotion to running may seem crazy to some, sports was his main route back to normal life after his accident in 2003.

He said: "In OCS (Officer Cadet School), we were taught to live by our motto - to lead, to excel, and to overcome. We are officers till today and that is what keeps me going."

Next year, Adam intends to take part in a full Ironman triathlon. For this year's Sundown Marathon, he has signed up in three categories: the 10km, the 21km half-marathon, as well as the full marathon.

"(There's a) little bit of crazy in me to keep going, until the fight is over," he said simply.

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My ING New York City Marathon Dream

How you can help

Last year, I almost had the chance of fulfilling one of my dreams which is to participate in one of the major and exciting overseas marathon event which is the ING New York City Marathon (http://www.nycmarathon.org/). But I felt like the opportunity was robbed from me.

I entered a contest in facebook which was organised by one of the leading local ointment company where participant had to submit an inspirational video about him/herself and also, to explain why he/she deserved to be the winner.

The following is the video that I submitted:

The above-submitted video garnered the highest number of Facebook 'Likes', positive comments and support. However, I suppose I was penalised due to the fact that for the trip and for any overseas trip, I'll be requiring the company of a caregiver to assist me with my daily needs.

Thus, I feel that perhaps the organiser do not want to incur extra cost in having to pay for 2 persons instead of just 1. Therefore, the organiser chose an able-bodied participant as the winner even though the winner's video was in the 2nd position and the support received was miles away compared to my submitted video.

But since the organiser has the rights to make the final decision, I just had to accept it even though many were displeased by the organiser's decision, and some even tried to persuade the organiser to choose me as the winner.

Therefore, for this year, I hope to participate in the marathon event on my own and also, with yours and others help as well as I need to raise a substantial amount of money for the race registration fees, the flight cost, accommodation cost, meals cost and etc.

So if you would like to help make one my dreams come true, and would like to donate, you may do so via one of the following methods:

Local Bank Funds Transfer
POSB Savings Account
Bank Code - 7171
Branch Code - 081
Account No. - 052-15804-4
Name - Adam Bin Kamis

Overseas Bank Funds Transfer
For US Currency
Pay To - Bank of New York Mellon, New York
Swift Code - irvtus3n
Aba No. - 021000018
A/C Of - DBS Bank, Singapore
Swift Code - dbsssgsg

Overseas Bank Funds Transfer
Non-US Currency
Pay To - DBS Bank, 6 Shenton Way, DBS Building, Singapore 068809
Swift Code - dbsssgsg

Cheque/Money Order
Please make the crossed cheque / money order payable to 'Adam Bin Kamis' and post/mail it to:
'Blk 296, Yishun Street 20, #06-07, Singapore 760296'

Credit/Debit Card
via PayPal - oboogah@gmail.com

Cash
Please contact me.

All donations received will be treated with integrity.

If you have any enquiry, question or in need of clarifications, feel free to ask me.

I thank you all in advance for your support and contributions.

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