While many indulged in festive sales and gift shopping the weekend before Christmas, 90 youths participated in the South West CDC’s first-ever Amazing Wheelchair Race at Sentosa.

Beach revelers at Sentosa on the Sunday before Christmas were in for an amazing sight – 90 youths bearing down on them as they raced around the island. Thirty of them were in wheelchairs.

They were participants in the fi rst-ever Amazing Wheelchair Race, organised in the same vein as ParaGames 2008 – a platform to foster friendship and encourage disabled athletes to achieve beyond their physical disabilities.

And race they did, for three hours, all the way from Palawan Beach to Vivocity. The teams were required to stop at six different stations to complete tasks as varied as tying 75 knots on a single string, pictionary, and creating Christmas art from banana and orange peels.

The tasks were designed “not so much based on diffi culty, but to ensure that everyone could participate and that there would be teamwork”, said Fu Shuyi, a manager with the South West CDC, which organised the race together with the Asian Women’s Welfare Association and the Handicap Welfare Association.

Even so, when Bridge caught up with the teams after the race, they were dripping with sweat. For associate engineer Engelbert Sng, like many others, the sweat was a badge of the hard work involved in racing with a disabled team member who had to be pushed, and sometimes carried, during the competition.

“That was defi nitely the toughest part,” said Sng, 26, who signed up as a participant after hearing about the race from a friend. “But we’d already been
trained on how to manage a wheelchair, so it wasn’t too hard, and it defi nitely wasn’t dangerous.”

All able-bodied participants were required to go through a day’s worth of training on how to push and lift wheelchairs safely. The training – and sweating – paid off for Sng, whose group, Chup Xi (which means 14 in Hokkien), was eventually named the fastest team.

But speed was not the only factor recognised by the judges – medals were also given out for creativity and the group which displayed the best teamwork.

“Disability is a stark reminder of how fragile life can be, but at the same time, it is also a wonderful testimony of victories the human mind can achieve in the face of adversity,” said Dr Amy Khor, Mayor of the South West District, in her speech at the prize-giving ceremony.

To the athletes who took part in the race, she added: “You remind us that nothing is impossible with your perseverance and determination.”

Dr Khor also noted that the South West CDC has continually supported the independence of the disabled, with programs like Emplace @ South West, a job fair for people with disabilities jointly organised with the Workforce Development Agency and Bizlink.

It also has home safety programmes like Safe Home Plus @ South West and 3-in-1 Safe Home Programme @ South West to improve accessibility and safety in homes by installing anti-slip grab bars and offering wheelchair repair services.

Such schemes help those like Nurulasyiqah Md Taha, 23, who is diagnosed with muscular dystrophyand moves around with the help of a motorised wheelchair.

Part of the team that was named Most Creative during the race, Nurul was also one of a few participants in the race who participated in the 4th ASEAN ParaGames in Thailand, a biannual multisport event held after every Southeast Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities.

The Games, which kicked off on 20 January, saw Singapore sending 62 athletes, including a record number of 25 athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Nurul represented Singapore in the team sport of boccia, which is similar to the game of bocce, and involves the throwing of balls as close as possible to a white target ball. It is designed to be played by those with disabilities that affect motor skills.

Touched by the board of well wishes signed by the race participants for the ParaGames athletes, she said: “It means a lot because we’ve all shared this experience together, and they understand a bit more about what we (the disabled) can achieve.”

Echoing her views, Dr Khor said: “If you think about it all of us have disabilities; we have our own limitations, our own fears. This race teaches us to look beyond our disabilities.”

Sharing an inspirational statement from US-based disability empowerment organisation Courage Centre, Dr Khor concluded: “We are guided by the vision that one day, all people will not only live but also work, learn and play in a community based on abilities, not disabilities.”