A Celebration Run by MAH Johor in 2023

 

In past years, the Johor Chapter of Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) have organised the MAH Games, an annual event to gather hotels together in friendly competition to play a range of popular games and sports.

 

One for the album: Participants at the
MAH Johor Celebration Run 2023

The MAH Games, which started in 2008, was last organised in 2019, the year before the global pandemic reached our shores.

 

I had the pleasure to witness the prize-giving and closing ceremony of MAH Games 2019 and saw the positive effects of this sporting event which developed a better sporting spirit and strengthened the relationship among the hotels here.

 

In 2023, the Committee of MAH Johor Chapter decided to organize a five-kilometer MAH Run held at the Gateway Garden in Bandar Medini of Iskandar Puteri to celebrate the resilience among hotels in Johor through the challenging pandemic years.

 

Flag off by YB Raven Kumar Krishnasamy,
Ivan Teo and the Iskandar Puteri City
Council representative

On the evening of October 11, some 578 staff from 39 hotels in Johor joined the Celebration Run, created with the tagline, Run to Empower Hospitality, and completed it with much energy and enthusiasm.

 

The participants were flagged off by YB Raven Kumar Krishnasamy, Johor State ExCo for Tourism, Environment, Heritage and Culture, Ivan Teo, the Chairman of MAH Johor Chapter, and the representative of Iskandar Puteri City Council.

 

“We are celebrating our resilience post-pandemic when many hotels ceased operations and some closed permanently during the height of the spread of Covid-19, we survived. 

 

Cheering on the first female participant to
complete the Run at the Finish line

We are glad to see the surge of more hotels joining our Chapter and that overall hotel business has picked up, although not yet at par with pre-pandemic levels. 

 

We are still facing various challenges and we need such an event to continue motivating our employees who are our assets,” said Ivan Teo, Chairman of the MAH Johor Chapter. 

 

“Many hotels stood together in solidarity during the difficult period during the pandemic and we realize how important it is that we continue to strengthen ties among the hotels in Johor. 

 

The purpose of the Run is also to promote a healthier lifestyle, carrying a salient message that we need to be fit in order to resist any kind of infection,” he added.

 

Happy participants at the Celebration Run

Meanwhile, the Organizing Chairperson of the Run who is also the General Manager of Pulai Springs Resort, as well as Honorary Treasurer of the Chapter’s Committee, Sunny Soo, commented that organizing a Run was definitely a more well-rounded sport where everybody could participate, unlike previous Games which required individual expertise in specific sports.

 

The response to this inaugural MAH Run was encouraging, especially as there was a Challenge Trophy – generously presented by Legoland Malaysia Resort – so the Committee hoped that the MAH Run will become a recurring event.

 

There were three winners each from the Male and Female categories, with an overall champion among them. And for their participation, every participant received a finisher medal. 

 

In the Male category, the top three winners were Khairul Anuar (Legoland Hotel) in first place, Narendar Kumar (Pulai Springs Resort) in second place, with Man Kumar (KSL Hotel) in third place.

 

In the Female category, the top three winners were Nurhamizah Mustafa (Legoland Hotel) in first place, Lee Sze Yin (Westin Desaru) in second place and Nurul Azimah (Somerset Medini) who came in third.

 

C. S. Lim of Legoland Malaysia Resort [Left]
handing the Challenge Trophy to YB Raven
while Ivan Teo looked on

The overall hotel champion was Pulai Springs Resort with accumulated points from the top three runners from the same hotel.

 

The MAH Run 2023 follows an earlier series of friendly football matches among hotels that culminated with a match against MAH Melaka in which MAH Johor won.

 

Recently, several of the players were selected to represent the Johor chapter together with players from the other 12 state chapters to play against ex-national football heroes, Dato Wira Soh Chin Ann, Dato’ Dollah Salleh and Dato’ Zainal Abidin Hassan in a friendly exhibition game held on 10 October 2023 to raise funds for ex-national football players.

 

MAH Johor is currently the state chapter with the second largest number of hotels with 95 members, totaling 18,710 rooms nationwide, after Kuala Lumpur.