On 1st until 15th October 2021, Post-Graduate Student Society (PGSS), in collaboration with the School of Graduate Studies (SPS) Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), had officially proposed and organized the first healthy lifestyle program known as PGSS UTM Virtual Fun Run@Ride 2020/2021 with a theme of virtual walking/running/cycling.
The emphasis of this fresh and brand-new virtual running, walking and/or cycling was to celebrate the endless efforts and teamwork spirits portrayed by the PGSS UTM Executive Committee for session 2020/2021 and to welcome the new Executive Committee of PGSS UTM for the upcoming term to continue becoming an optimal, responsible, and holistic postgraduate representation body in the UTM. This healthy lifestyle programme was made available to all UTM staff, students, and the public both locally and internationally in two categories: Virtual Fun Run for 5 km (Category A) and Virtual Fun Ride for 10 km (Category B). All interested participants were given the option of selecting one or both of the provided categories (A and/or B).
On 1st October 2021, the first stage of the Virtual Fun Run@Ride began with a registration process via Google Form 1 in which all interested participants received their respective E-Bibliography (E-Bib) numbers based on the categories they registered for: A000 for runners and B000 for cyclists. All participants were given the option of running and/or cycling gradually or all at once using fitness apps such as Runtastic, Strava, Garmin, Nike Run Club, or any other fitness-related apps, regardless of the distance that they wanted to complete. Running and/or cycling can be done indoors or outdoors to ensure the comfort of the participants.
On 10th October 2021, the second stage of the Virtual Fun Run@Ride involved a submission process in which the registered runners (Category A) and cyclists (Category B) were requested to submit their running and/or cycling via Google Form 2 (Virtual Fun Run Submission Form) and Google Form 3 (Virtual Fun Ride Submission Form) respectively.
For the Virtual Fun Run category, all registered participants were required to run the 5 km distance and send the fitness app snapshots along with their selfie or normal photo (with their face in it) as proof for further validation. In total, 229 people (93 UTM staff, 98 UTM students, and 38 public) participated in this category. All submitted photos were compiled, and the overall participants in this category were collaged as follows:
Whilst for the Virtual Fun Ride category, all registered participants were required to complete the distance of cycling (10 km) and the submission process was similar to that of the Virtual Fun Run category. This category had 82 participants (36 UTM staff, 23 UTM students, and 23 public). All submitted photos were compiled, and the overall participants in this category were collaged as follows:
In the nutshell, this PGSS UTM Virtual Fun Run@Ride 2020/2021 marked the end of the PGSS UTM Executive Committee for session 2020/2021. Apart from commemorating and welcoming the former and new PGSS UTM Executive Committees, this Virtual Fun Run@Ride was also a great initiative to encourage all UTM staff, students, and the public to live a healthy lifestyle in an interesting and efficient manner. At the same time, all participants were also able to interact with their loved ones while developing a stress-free mindset.