By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Nov 12: More women than men are participating in the first-ever Deka Fit competition organised in Southeast Asia today.
Sarawak Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman said 1,288 people participated in the Deka Fit Sarawak 2022 held at Stadium Perpaduan, Petra Jaya here.
“One thing I noticed from my observation; there are more ladies than men participating in this event.
“Looks like the ladies are very conscious about fitness, while the men are probably busy campaigning,” he jokingly said when officiating at the event.
The international event was also joined by foreigners from 12 countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and South Africa.
“There are many participants from outside (of Sarawak), such as Singapore and the Peninsula, which is good for our tourism.
“I do hope this kind of event will be coming back (to Sarawak) in the future,” he added.
Deka Fit Sarawak 2022 is an international decathlon of functional fitness competition under the Spartan brand where athletes compete through Deka zones preceded by 500 metres of running in between each zone to reach the finishing line.
It provides a well-rounded functional test for all fitness levels with 10 functional areas of movement: lunges, rowing, box jumping, farmers carry, air bikes, tank pull, and many more.
The zone sequence and flow are designed to start with basic movement throughout the early zones, followed by full body focus in the last five zones.
There were three categories — Open, Group Age, and Elite, where athletes would vie for the top prize of RM2,000.
The main organisers were Sarawak Obstacle Course Racing Association and Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC). Other corporate sponsors were Malaysia Airlines, Under Armour, Pullman Hotel, Waterfront Hotel, Plaza Merdeka, UCSI Hotel, So Sole and Standard Issues.
Amongst those present were Sarawak Fire and Rescue (Bomba) director Datu Khirudin Drahman@Hussaini; Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts (MTCP) permanent secretary Datu Hii Chang Kee; SSC chief executive officer Morshidi Fredrick; Head of Spartan Global Michael Goodwin; Spartan Southeast Asia representative Carter Wei and Sarawak Obstacle Course Racing Association president Gordon Chung. — DayakDaily
