Monday, May 15, 2017

Calling all runners: The Sabah Salt Trail Challenge is back


KOTA KINABALU: Mercy Malaysia's Sabah Chapter is organising the Salt Trail Challenge fundraising event as part of its plans to provide better healthcare to local communities in remote villages.

The run will be held from Aug 12-13 at the Crocker Range Park, where many species of flora and fauna endemic to Borneo can be found.

With this year’s theme ‘Trail of Hope’, Mercy’s event coordinator Jerry Ong said the non-governmental organisation aims to raise RM80,000 to support Mercy’s activities.

“This challenge is unlike any other running event. We encourage nature and running enthusiasts to join in our Salt Trail Challenge for a good cause,” he told a press conference here today.

“Since 20013, we have provided primary health care services for the communities in Sabah. We have conducted more than 100 mobile outreach clinics throughout the state and conducted disaster relief responses.

“The (Salt) trail symbolised hope for the people in the olden days as they used this route to exchange their produce for salt. Today, it is a trail of hope to the communities to seek better healthcare facilities and education,” added Jerry.

He said Sabah Mercy has more than 700 volunteers who are mostly from the medical field, adding that the team will annually trek to isolated villages in far-flung areas to provide basic healthcare and awareness.

The run is being organised for the fourth time this year in collaboration with the state government conservation-based statutory body Sabah Parks and two other local NGOs, Sabah Amateur Radio Society and Partners of Community Organisations in Sabah (Pacos) Trust.

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