A familiar face from the running community, Sydney Marathon-bound Denis Ho's love for the sport lies in giving back through cheering on his fellow runners and sharing brews
“When I started out, I didn’t like running.”
It’s a common narrative amongst runners, especially the ones who take it to the next level by going the long distances. It can be a grueling few hours of going one stride at a time, running on nothing but grit and the adrenaline pumping through your veins. For many, the way to endure it all is to run with friends, and it’s no different for Sydney Marathon-bound Denis Ho.
A defining member of popular local run club Running Department, Denis sees it as paying it forward. After all, it was at the run club where he found his love for the sport.
Anyone part of a collective would know that there’s no better feeling than the magic of being surrounded by like-minded people who bring the best out of you. For Denis, the connection between him and the runners, spurred on by marathon season, is the best part of his community.
Upon hearing that over 400 Singaporean runners have been confirmed to be hitting the streets of Sydney in September, Denis could not contain his excitement. “Wow, that’s amazing! I’m honoured to be part of such a big community. I sincerely hope Sydney Marathon becomes a World Major next year.”
“I found running to be very challenging. However, I met various people in Running Department and received lots of help and support from them. I hope to lend my support to those who want to try running but face difficulties. I was there once,” Denis shared.
Having joined Running Department to improve his army Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT), it was evident that his love for the community had since grown beyond achieving his own goals. Even after our photo shoot at Marina Bay after a long day of work, Denis decided on a whim to join his fellow runners at Bishan.
“During a marathon training block, especially the long training runs that can go as far as 33km, it can get quite difficult to keep your focus with the fatigue kicking in. I feel connected to the fellow Running Department runners who come every Wednesday evening to run together, help one another, chit-chat, check-in on one another, eat together and share life together.”
And share life together they do, as Denis has managed to fuse his two hobbies together — running and brewing kombucha.
Just by going through the “Kombucha” highlights on Denis’ Instagram, the popularity of his homemade drink is etched on the faces of his happy customers at Running Department. The runners even went as far as to encourage Denis to sell them the kombucha, instead of giving them out for free, which is how it initially began.
“Before my cousin taught me how to brew my own kombucha, I was spending $80 a month to buy it. Sharing kombucha came about while I was talking to my friend at Running Department, Gina Teo. I was initially quite hesitant about sharing the kombucha that I brew as different people may respond differently to kombucha but Gina told me that she was willing to help me test the kombucha and the different flavours I was experimenting with,” shared Denis.
“With her encouragement and help, I started brewing more and shared with other runners and through word of mouth, more and more runners got to know about it. I think Melissa Foo and Daniel Fang’s posts on Instagram about my kombucha helped! When people tell me that they enjoyed it, I feel really, really happy.”
It’s still to be seen if Denis’ kombucha will make its waves through the Sydney Marathon crowd when the runners begin touching down in New South Wales’s capital city. Denis — and most Singaporeans — look forward to the weather most.
“Running in hot and humid Singapore has made me appreciate running in countries that have lower temperatures and lower humidity,” he shared.
Kombucha won’t be the only thing brewing though, as excitement too begins to build with less than two months to the big day.
Signed up for this year's Sydney Marathon presented by ASICS ? Singapore based Sydney Marathon participants can enjoy exclusive partner discounts - find out more here.
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