KUCHING: Hock Seng Lee (HSL) has announced that it will continue its sponsorship of 2022 Asia Trail Master (ATM) Championship runner-up and ultra-athlete Sally Yap.
This will be HSL’s second consecutive year sponsoring Yap, who has a busy year lined up, including the qualifiers of the World Mountain & Trail Championship in Innsbruck, Austria in June.
The 30-year-old athlete thanked HSL for its continuous support and said that without her generous sponsor, she would not be able to take part in these international events.
“HSL began sponsoring me in 2022, just before the Philippines’ Mount Apo Sky Race, and I am grateful for the company’s financial support.
“The sponsorship means a lot as ultramarathoning is a niche sport in Malaysia and I am training hard to ensure every event I attend will bring me good results in order to qualify for bigger events,” she said at a press conference held at HSL Tower here on Wednesday (April 19).
The Chinese-Bidayuh athlete follows a punishing fitness schedule and as revealed previously in December 2022, her weekly training programme involves over 100km of running and up to 2,000m elevation gain on weekends.
This training ensures that she can continue to compete with Asia’s elites and some of the world’s best in her second year of ultra-trail marathon venture.
Among her achievements this year so far are finishing third in Penang’s Komtar Tower Climb earlier this year, scaling 68 floors in 11mins 53secs and third place in the more recent 2023 Miri Marathon, with a time of 3hrs 36mins for the full 42km, which made her the fastest Malaysian in her category.
She also had a great debut year, winning the Borneo Dragon Back Ultra, Borneo Ultra Trail Marathon, Hutan Ration Road Ultra Marathon, Cameron Ultra, Jagoi Heritage Ultra Trail and The Most Beautiful Thing in 2022.
All events involved distances between 50km and 160km.
HSL corporate communications manager Sophia Ong lauded Yap’s achievements and said they were nothing short of extraordinary.
“She truly deserves our company’s support and is an inspiration to us all.
“Yap’s a great example of consistency being the critical driver for success and we are big fans of hers.”
When quizzed by the media on whether or not the Sarawak government, especially the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Entrepreneur Development, had responded to her request for assistance, she said she was still waiting for a reply.
“There’s no update as I have yet to receive any response from the ministry.”
