Ken Khaw
Ken's TeamUoB London Marathon 2020
Fundraising for University of Bristol
Story
Finally running my one and only marathon in 2022 after the Covid-19 deferral from 2020
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Hi. I am Ken and based in Singapore. I am a husband to a wonderful wife and a father to 3 young girls – 1 month to 7 years old. I graduated from the University of Bristol with a LLB(Hons) in 1992 and am a career banker by profession.
I was never too active in sports particularly in my middle years. However since reaching my 40s I have been a little more active in sports but due to time pressures I have focused on quick and efficient sports such as squash which I play at least once a week. I have never been keen on endurance sports since my school days as I have found them honestly to be pretty boring and I was just not much good at it. However I have done 3 half marathons in Singapore partially to fundraise as well as to challenge myself but have been an inconsistentrunner and have not run for over 6 months. I tried running this week and was barely able to scrape past 5km so the challenge of running a marathon will be big.
By chance I came across the Bristol alumni email to run for Healthy Minds at the London Marathon. The University’s Health Minds program is a physical activity intervention at the University that taps into the proven benefits of exercise to support students affected by mental health difficulties. By teaching students about how building exercise into their daily routine can grow their confidence, identity and community. It encourages them to make a positive, long-lasting
lifestyle change.
lifestyle change.
I strongly believe in the empowerment of education which however needs to be bed rocked on basic needs, decent healthcare and a solid mind.
Thus supporting the combination of education and mental health was appealing to me as
- at close to 50 the physical element of the full marathon will already be a challenge but more importantly the mental strength to complete will be key and ties into this worthy cause
- I have ones dear to me who have suffered from some degree of mental health difficulties and the amazing strength but yet fragility of the human mind is an issue I am passionate about
- calling out and recognising mental illness without prejudice or stigma in society is important as I note an increasing number of young children with differing degrees of mental health diffciulties
I am honoured to have been chosen to run for this worthy cause and by the Grace of God I trust I will complete this challenge to support Healthy Minds.
Your support for my run and this cause would be highly appreciated.
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