Hilton Colombo Residences and TAFA Fun Run on 3 Dec.

By Shannon Jayawardena

With the aim of promoting good health and physical wellbeing, Hilton Colombo Residences, together with the Thaabit Ahmed Football Academy (TAFA), will be organising a fun run which is scheduled to be held on 3 December at 6.30 a.m.

“The Fun Run 2017 is going to be our 10th fun run. It started initially only as a run for our in-house guests but we always wanted to expand to the community. Of course we do this as it is a fundraiser but it is also for us as we want to give back to the community as well as help them build better health,” said Hilton Colombo Residences General Manager Karim Schadlou.

“This year we have partnered TAFA, the reason being they are a perfect match for our event and will help us gain a better reach. Hilton as well has an internal program which is called ‘Thrive’ which promotes sports activities and health to our team members and at the same time our community,” he added.

TAFA Founder Thaabit Ahmed stated: “We started TAFA with intention of giving children the opportunity to play football in a fun, safe and organised environment and what started as a little dream back in 2009 has now grown into a 14-age group football academy. Aside from football we too have focused a lot on giving back to the community and this is why we partnered Hilton Colombo Residences for the event.”

He went on to state: “We are excited for the event as we too adopt the philosophy of a balanced lifestyle and believe that this event will generate a lot of interest in Colombo. Since our beginnings, TAFA aims to help young people achieve success in life through sports and this event underscores the importance of sports and an active lifestyle at a young age.”  

The marathon will be divided into three categories - the Men’s Open, Women’s Open and Children’s Under-15 category. The route for adults, which will be a distance of 4.2 km, will commence from Hilton Colombo Residences at Staple Street, proceed towards Union Place, Rifle Street, Malay Street and return to the hotel via the D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha end of the hotel, following which the Under-15 age group, which will be a 2 km run, will commence through the same route.

Applications are available at the sports centre and main reception at the Hilton Colombo Residences for Rs. 1,000 per adult applicant and Rs. 500 for children which will entitle them to a t-shirt for the event. TAFA representatives will also be present at the Racecourse Grounds with registration forms.

The charity fundraiser will be donating all proceeds of the event to the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital. 

The money collected will be placed to acquire four infusion pumps which are vital for children suffering from critical dengue conditions. The hospital’s representative said that over 6,000 children were admitted this year and the infusion pumps, which calculate the hourly fluid intake, will truly help save many children’s lives.

Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe