578 employees from 39 hotels in Johor were flagged off for a 5km MAH Run at the Gateway Garden, Bandar Medini of Iskandar Puteri on the 11th of October 2023. Johor State EXCO Raven Kumar A/L Krishnasamy, of Tourism, Environment, Heritage and Culture graced the said event.
“We are celebrating our resilience post-pandemic; that although many hotels ceased operations and some closed permanently during the height of the spread of COVID-19, we survived. 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, the Chairman of MAH Johor Chapter.
In previous years and the last being organised in 2019, the MAH Games was an annual event to get hotels together in friendly competition played over various popular games and sports. This year, however, the Committee of MAH Johor Chapter decided to have a Run instead.
“Many hotels stood together in solidarity during the difficult period of the pandemic and we realise how important it is that we continue to strengthen ties among Johor hotels. The purpose of the Run is also to promote a healthy lifestyle, carrying a salient message that we need to be fit in order to resist any kind of infections.”
“Organising a Run is definitely a more well-rounded sport where everybody can participate, unlike previous Games which require individual expertise in specific sports,” said Sunny Soo, the Organiing Chairperson who is also the General Manager of Pulai Springs Resort, as well as Honorary Treasurer of the Chapter’s Committee.
As there is a Challenge Trophy for the MAH Run, the Committee hopes that it will become a recurring event. The response for this inaugural run was encouraging. There were three winners each from the male and female categories, and every participant received a finisher medal in recognition of his or her participation.
MALE INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY:
1st Placing: Khairul Anuar (LEGOLAND Hotel)
2nd Placing: Narendar Kumar (Pulai Springs Resort)
3rd Placing: Man Kumar (KSL Hotel)
FEMALE INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY:
1st Placing: Nurhamizah Bt. Mustafa (LEGOLAND Hotel)
2nd Placing: Lee Sze Yin (Westin Desaru)
3rd Placing: Nurul Azimah (Somerset Medini)
The overall hotel champion was Pulai Springs Resort, accumulating points from the top three runners from the same hotel.
The MAH Run follows an earlier series of friendly football matches among hotels that culminated with a play against MAH Melaka in which Johor won. A day earlier on the 10th, 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 meant to raise funds for ex-national football players.
MAH Johor is currently the state with the second largest number of hotels with 95 members, totaling 18,710 rooms nationwide, after Kuala Lumpur.
