By Mahadhir bin Monihuldin
GOMBAK, 13 December 2017 – A team of five young IIUM students, four of them from the Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS) and one who hailed from Thailand, won first place in the Explobike 2017 held on Saturday (9 December) in Gombak campus.
This is the first time a cycling competition of this nature, involving oBike as its sponsor, has been organised by final year Communication students with the idea to encourage using of bicycles by the campus community.
Considering that most of the members in the team were among the youngest out of the entire Explobike game, it was a shock to them when they found out that they had won first place.
The leader of the team, 18-year old Nurul Dahiah binti Darmawi said, “At first we weren’t expecting anything. We were simply playing for the fun of it. But after everyone started giving their commitment we realised we were finishing each game at quite a fast pace, and then we started feeling like we could actually win it all.”
Dahiah’s team grabbed a prize of RM500’s worth of oBike points.
All in all, Dahiah’s team had a delightful time at Explobike 2017.
“With complete honesty, we really loved the game. It was fun, easy going, nothing too extreme, and it was just a very good time,” she said.
Explobike 2017 is a unique final year project organised by fourth year students from IIUM’s Communication Department where participants of the game were given oBikes to race through six designated checkpoints, complete the tasks presented in each, before finally finishing the game.
The programme was officiated by the Deputy Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Fuzi Omar, and attended by the event’s adviser, Dr. Rizalawati Ismail.
A total of 88 students participated in the event and bravely raced in the competition that took them quite a distance around the IIUM campus.
The objectives of Explobike were to educate the IIUM community on how to use an oBike, encourage them to use oBike as a mode of transportation around the campus, and to promote a healthy lifestyle all at the same time.
The event’s Programme Manager, Naimah Sazaki hoped these goals set by the organiser would be successfully achieved.
“I truly hope the Explobike participants are now educated on how to use an oBike properly. Also, it is my hope that they will now choose to cycle more often as an alternative to their regular exercise routine.” ***
