From Kuantan To Zombies, The Uplifting Story Of The 24-Year-Olds Behind Run For Your Lives
SAYS' Mei Mei Chu went into an interview with the founders of Run For Your Lives Malaysia expecting a normal chat about the event, but left the session with an inspirational story of two 20-somethings realising their dreams.
By Mei Mei Chu — 27 Nov 2014, 06:20 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago
When I was given the assignment to speak to the organisers of Run For Your Lives Malaysia (RFYL), a zombie apocalypse themed run, I expected men in their 30s with years of experience in organising events
Imagine my surprise when two 24-year-old childhood friend from Kuantan strolled into the interview session with the bright eyes and infectious enthusiasm of a young 20-something
(From left ) Delon Yong and Desmond Leong, founder of Dusty Monkeys. (Right) Carson Chia who later join the company.
Image via Mei Mei Chu/SAYSThese were the boys who brought Kuantan its very first marathon. After organizing two runs in Kuantan, they are now embarking on the RFYL international franchise with a 400-strong team behind them.
Run For Your Lives is a 5km zombie-themed obstacle run, brought over from the United States. It is of an international level and will be the first time it is held Malaysia. It’s has been to Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and will soon head to China, Japan, and Australia.
Delon Leong, a university dropout, and Desmond Yong, then a fresh graduate, started event organizing company Dusty Monkeys in 2012 on a whim- there were no marathons in Kuantan
Desmond: Delon and I were sitting in a café one afternoon thinking “There are no marathons in Kuantan, let’s organize one. Can we do it? I don’t know, let’s go ask the town council.” And so we did. The town council asked us to write a letter. Two weeks later we received a reply, asking us to get permission from the traffic police. The traffic police eventually gave us the thumbs up, and we said “Let’s do this.” And that’s how Dusty Monkeys was born, to create the 13km Kuantan Run 2013. We didn’t know the first thing about organizing a marathon, so we winged everything. But, we knew what we wanted; we set our target, and just figured it out along the way.
Introducing marathons to Kuantan was a difficult endeavour for the two boys. Firstly, they had to prove to people that they are capable despite their young age. They even started getting hate messages and rumours from the local running group.
Desmond: The local running group didn’t like us. They asked “Who are these two young fellas organizing a run?” They started spreading rumours saying that we were scamming people and that the run is not happening. They even asked us “Who are you to organize such a thing?" People were calling us at one in the morning to harass us, nasty emails and SMSes. It really got us down.
Skeptical of their business, their parents complained that they were wasting their time and money by not getting a real job
Desmond: My mom said for every month that I don’t work, it’s salary down the drain. It was depressing. She would give us looks when we were working from my home. She would ask what did you go today? When are you going to get a job?
Delon: I felt like I was ruining Desmond’s career. My mother also did not see a future in our start up. I kept telling her that it was just a matter of time before things would get better.
For one year, they survived on RM300 a month, eating RM4 chicken rice every day
Desmond: It was never about money. We wanted to start something. We are both long-term thinkers. Our living expenses were RM300 a month at that point. We were eating RM4 chicken rice everyday and we couldn’t even afford to order a drink. This lasted for a year.
But they were determined to prove all their non-believers wrong
Delon: The more people try to put me down, the more I will stand up. If you tell me I can’t do something or it won’t happen, I will make sure it happens. I would prove them wrong.
Desmond: Misery loves company. Knowing that somebody was going through the same thing together made it easier. We believed in ourselves. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will believe in you.
Their first success came when they were invited to pitch their idea to Datuk YB Shakar, exco of Tourism Pahang amongst CEOs of other big corporations. The invitation came after spending six days at the Datuk's office, waiting for a chance to meet him.
Desmond: We went to his office for six times before we managed to get an appointment. Every time we would go and talk to his PA (personal assistant) and she would tell us to sit and wait. We would spend an hour or two, waiting and dozing off on the couch. One day, his PA called us and said that Datuk wanted to meet us. We thought it was a scheduled appointment, but it turned out to be a pitching session.
Their friends and family said two penniless Chinese boys could never win the pitch. But their charisma and confidence helped them win the pitch fair and square. “There weren't any discrimination,” says Delon.
Delon: This is Malaysia, it’s our culture to believe that sometimes you have to “grease the system under the table” to make things happen. Everyone told us that we can’t just go in, two Chinese boys, and pitch our idea and get the support.
Desmond: We were very nervous, but we were not intimidated. We never focus on our age. We focused on what we can deliver: We promised them publicity for Kuantan, draw in a crowd of 2,000 people nationwide, and the money that we can generate for Kuantan. Charisma, posture, and confidence. And he [Datuk] gave us his support.
Delon: The Datuk was actually surprised and happy to see Chinese people for a change. They were giving us genuine smiles. They were more focused on performance and results than anything else. I really believed we were given an equal chance. If someone else had pitched a better idea, they would have won the pitch too.
Kuantan Run was a success. All 2,000 spaces were filled with people from all over the country; hotels, and restaurants were fully booked.
The Brooks Kuantan Half-Marathon Panaromic Pahang that was held in May 2014.
Image via Dusty MonkeysDelon: When we first told them (Tourism exco) that we will bring 2,000 people to Kuantan to join the run, they were like “You boleh tak….?” Then, we received over 2,000 participants including people from KL and Penang. On the night of the run, all the restaurants in town were full, even the hotels were fully booked. The datuk was very happy because we brought such an amount [of tourists] into Kuantan and generated so much profit.
From a run with 2,000 participants, the boys are now organizing the 10,000-capacity RFYL zombie-themed run. I asked the boys to give us a little teaser for RFYL.
Desmond: Run For Your Lives is a 5km fun run with 10 obstacle courses. Participants get to choose two roles – the Zombie, or the Survivor. There will be one zombie for every five survivors. Zombies, come early, get your professional make up done, get into character, and chase some people around. For the survivors, you may have to run as fast as you can to dodge all the zombies. It’s going to be very thrilling, you won’t get any rest during the route, expect to sprint and run. We want participants to immerse themselves in the zombie apocalypse. Joey G will be hosting the event, there will be a massive after party with performances, music, food, drinks, and prizes.
Delon: Come with your friends, it’ll be much more fun. Or if you come alone, make new friends. There is strength in numbers. Also, Watch a few zombie movies to get into the mood. Bring your friends and family along, it’s free admission for everyone. It’s an open site, so they just would not be able to enter the race route. They can also join in the after party. There are also a few big surprises on that day that we’ve been working on, but you have to come to find out.
Their young age once worked against them but now, their youthfulness was what won them the rights to Run For Your Life Malaysia. It was their passion that made them tough enough to endure the challenges.
Delon: It was never a question of whether we wanted to do this or not. We knew we had to do this. It never felt like work, it’s been tiring and challenging, but so much fun.
Desmond: Anything is possible if you really put your heart into it. We had no idea what we were going to do after college, and look at what we’ve achieved. Many young people complain that they don’t have money to make things happen, that’s not necessarily true. We didn’t have any money when we started, we were broke, but we still found a way around it.
Delon: The world is full of possibilities, you can do anything that you want as long as you dream it and act on it. Never lose an opportunity, time doesn’t wait for you.
