NOVEMBER, 2019 | The HEALTH
EXCLUSIVE
27
Him and his dad after
completing a 42km
run in Gold Coast,
Asutralia.
rather harshly, but his remark hurt Loh
tremendously.
“i called home for the fi rst time and broke
down. i wanted to give up on my studies.”
He felt like ending his life then.
“i wanted to just do it, but when i think
about how my parents will be devastated by
my passing, i felt the urge to be better.”
He simply had to be stronger than them.
SPARTAN SPIRIT:
Lesser
turned superior
Carrying a log of
wood while passing
obstacles at the
Reebok Spartan Race
World Championships
in Lake Tahoe, USA.
Meet CK Loh, the one-armed
Spartan warrior
T
He famed Spartan obstacle race has
a slogan: ‘You’ll know at the fi nish
line’.
after fi nishing the gruelling test
of strength and endurance, one-
armed boy wonder CK Loh knew he
was just the same as everyone else. He proved
to the world that you didn’t need all four limbs
to conquer the Spartan race.
The arm he never wanted
as an ipoh-born child with a diff erent set of
abilities, he was made to wear a prosthetic
arm at the age of seven that weighed close
to 4kg. Yet without any control over the fake
limb, it proved to be a burden for him rather
than an advantage.
“i never liked wearing it, and the arm cost
rM15,000, which was a big fi nancial burden
for my parents.”
Loh says the artifi cial arm made him feel
like an alien as people always stared at him,
and so he was compelled to wear long sleeve
shirts all the time.
“i skipped gym classes, and shy away from
all sports activities which eventually led to
obesity,” says Loh, who was constantly bullied
and discriminated when he was in school.
A comment that changed him
He had hit his lowest point in life when a
lecturer in his university made fun of his
design work.
“i had to cut a lot of things with a pair
of scissors for an assignment, but the fi nal
product was not that great. i remembered the
lecturer saying: ‘You can’t even do this assign-
ment well. Maybe i should cut your other arm
too,’ which got my classmates laughing.”
it was clear then the lecturer was joking
CK Loh went through
a transformation in his
20s, physically and
mentally.
Making a diff erence
He pursued with his study in design, and
graduated, despite his so-called disability.
He was even able to fi nd himself a job as a
designer, earning his own money and making
his parents proud.
Th ings, however, started to slide for Loh
when he gained a lot of weight due to stress
from work. His self-esteem went down the
drain due to his physical appearance and
unhealthy lifestyle.
But it started to turn around again when
a former colleague urged Loh to sign up for a
gym membership. He decided to give it a try
and start with a thr ee-month membership.
He went from weighing over 80kg to a
mere 57kg in just three months, fi nding his
confi dence throughout the journey. in 2012,
he completed his fi rst ever 10km run at the
nike We run KL. He also got the chance to
fl y to gold Coast, australia to run a full 42km
marathon for the fi rst time in 2013.
“Th e best part about running that race was
the fact that my dad was waiting for me at the
fi nish. Th at really spurred me on to fi nish the
race,” he recalls.
Overcoming obstacles,
one race at a time
a year and many runs later, Loh decided to
push himself even further. He signed himself
up for an obstacle race event: the reebok
One Challenge. Th e organisers were just as
surprised as the people admired him for his
courage and determination.
“i just wanted to break my own record.
Since i’ve tried everything else, i wanted
to do something new, running 21km with
obstacles.”
When one of the world’s most intense
obstacle races, the dreaded Spartan race, fi rst
hit Malaysian shores in 2015, Loh registered
in a heartbeat. His fi ghting spirit earned him
a Spartan Trifecta medal after completing the
Sprint, Super and Beast events, which consist
of over 40km and more than 70 obstacles
altogether.
One of Loh’s most unforgettable moments
came when he was chosen to participate in
the reebok Spartan race World Champion-
ships in Lake Tahoe, USa. Dubbed the most
diffi cult race among the Spartan series, the
race consisted of over 30 obstacles spread
out in a distance of 21km and an elevation of
over 2,700 metres. To top it all off , it was also
snowing along the way!
Today, the 30-year old stands tall with his
trail of accomplishments, never looking back
at the naysayers.
“i look at people who doubt my abilities as
fuel to become even better.” — Th e Health