SINGAPORE: One-armed athlete Adam Kamis has dropped out of the MediaCorp Subaru Challenge and all because of a misunderstanding. He was one of about 10 people who had gone past the 72-hour mark in the annual endurance challenge.
Adam had moved his hand to scratch his nose as he thought the challenge was “temporarily halted” after the marshal told him: “You just need to hold this position temporarily”.
“My nose was itchy and I only have one arm, so basically I literally lifted up my left arm and I scratched my nose. They told me: ‘You can’t do that – the challenge is ongoing’,” Adam told Channel NewsAsia.
“I just accepted it, it’s just a human mistake. It’s a bittersweet experience for me – I am able to do something beyond my own expectations, but because of how I left the whole challenge, it’s a bit sad,” he added. His official timing was 72 hours and 44 minutes in the competition before dropping out.
He added that he was “happy and grateful” to show others that “disabled doesn’t mean unable”.
A contestant from Thailand dropped out about the same time as Adam. Nine people – including the last female participant, Analiza Mokhtar – are in the running to win a 2-litre Subaru Forester worth S$85,000, excluding COE. This is Ms Mokhtar’s eighth time taking part in the challenge.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
